Are You Over-Optimizing Your Website?
Who says SEO won’t ever hurt?
Too much of anything is good for nothing.
When we thought that there’s no limit to optimizing a website, the truth is that too many SEO efforts can actually negatively impact your search ranking.
Let’s dive more in-depth into website over-optimization.
Website over-optimization
When you over-optimize a website, it means that you take your SEO efforts way too far.
Your website is only designed to rank well in search engines but may be designed for something other than users.
This can result in a poor user experience and can even get you penalized by Google.
The over-optimization also involves making too many SEO improvements all at once, which is a red flag for Google bots.
You might over-optimize your website if you’re:
- stuffing keywords and phrases
- creating doorway pages or other low-quality content
- using link schemes to get artificial inbound links
- engaging in aggressive spun content
How to tell if your website is over-optimized?
Here are some signs that your website is over-optimized and needs to be fixed:
Content sounds too robotic
Remember that you write for people first and search engines second.
So if your content sounds robotic or unnatural — keywords stuffing, incomplete paragraphs, forced links, chances are that you’ve over-optimized it.
Use black hats SEO techniques like hidden text or cloaking
Black hat techniques might seem too appealing.
Who doesn’t want to sit on the #1 SERPs in just a few days?
When s thing is good to be true, that’s because it probably is.
Black hat SEO techniques are not only unethical, but they’re also against Google’s guidelines.
If you’re using any of these techniques, stop immediately and remove them from your website.
Your loading page is so slow.
Sure. Visual content comes in handy when it comes to conveying complex messages or just making your design more eye-pleasing.
But too many JavaScript files, videos, or large images on your website. Or it could be a sign that your website is being hosted on a slow server.
Backlink velocity
If you’re acquiring too many backlinks too quickly, this could be a sign of link buying or other black hat SEO techniques.
A sudden increase in backlinks can also be a sign that your website has been hacked and someone is trying to promote it for malicious purposes.
Link buying is when you pay someone for links to your website with the intention of increasing your search engine rankings.
This is a highly unethical SEO technique and is also against Google’s guidelines.
Too many affiliate links
If you have too many affiliate links on your website, this can be a sign that you’re trying to game the search engines by selling low-quality products.
This can also impact user experience negatively, as users may feel that they’re being sold to too much.
Spun content
Creating valuable content constantly isn’t a walk in the park. The idea of ‘repurposing’ the old content using the tool called ‘article spinner’ can be a shortcut.
You can keep your content pipeline full without a hassle. Nope.
Even when you manage to create fresh content daily using an article spinner without even bothering to edit them, search engines are on the lookout for spun content.
If you automate your website’s content too much, it will have a negative impact on your search engine rankings.
Too many affiliate links
High-quality outbound links improve your SEO.
However, if you have too many affiliate links on your website, this can be a sign that you’re trying to game the search engines by selling anything — even low-quality products.
How can you avoid over-optimizing your website?
- Write for people first and search engines second.
- Make sure your website’s design is user-friendly and up-to-date.
- Don’t stuff keywords on your website.
- Avoid using black hats SEO techniques like link buying or cloaking.
- Make sure your website’s content is relevant and high-quality.
- Don’t engage in aggressive link-building campaigns.
Related: How Can Video Content Help Your SEO?
