Think it’s useful to repeat the same keyword over and over again in an article? Think again. Keyword stuffing, a black-hat search engine optimization tactic, was once thought of as a hack to get better rankings in search engine results pages. But, as Google develops its systems to better serve its users, keyword stuffing is no longer recommended and, in fact, should be avoided.
Learn more about what keyword stuffing is, what the risks are in doing it, and how to avoid it in your content.
What is keyword stuffing?
Keyword stuffing is the black-hat SEO tactic of adding the same keywords to a web page over and over again in hopes of improving rankings in Google search results. Keywords—the phrases people use to search for information on Google—factor into Google’s ranking system, which determines which sites show up in search results for those respective terms. They’re a central focus for SEO.
In the past, misguided companies believed they needed to have a high number of references to a primary keyword on a web page to ensure better performance in search engine results. However, today’s advanced search algorithms use sophisticated signals to evaluate site quality and user experience, making keyword density less relevant. Keyword stuffing is now considered a spammy tactic by the industry and Google itself.
Keyword stuffing can take various forms, including, but not limited to:
- A block of text containing keywords repeated over and over again with no context
- A handful of keywords thrown into sentences that are not written in natural human prose
- Keywords repeated multiple times in headlines, title tags, meta descriptions, and alt text
- Keywords hidden on a page in white or transparent text
Keyword stuffing examples
Keyword stuffing can occur in different elements of a web page, like the body copy, title tag, URL, meta description, and alt text. While it’s SEO best practice to include one instance of the primary keyword in these elements, the language should be useful to the reader, rather than targeted to robots.
Example of keyword stuffing in website copy
In the example below, the single 100-word paragraph includes the keyword “leggings for runners” five times. This makes the paragraph seem inauthentic and read awkwardly, and it does not provide value to a customer.
Example of keyword stuffing in a title tag
Keyword stuffing in a title tag can be done by including subtle variations of the same keyword multiple times without any valuable description of the page or brand. This can also occur in the headline of the web page, often encased in a <h1> heading.
In the example above, the headline unnaturally repeats the phrase “leggings for runners” with different qualifiers. It’s awkward, doesn’t add value, and clearly prioritizes search engines over humans. A title tag like “Best leggings for runners, from beginners to fast-paced” is more reader-oriented while still including the relevant keyword.
Example of keyword stuffing in a URL
Keyword stuffing in a URL involves including the keyword multiple times, often by using the keyword as a folder (or multiple folders) as well as the slug. The slug is the part of a URL that identifies a specific page in a readable way, usually after the last slash.
In the above example, the URL repeats the target keyword in two different folder levels before using it in the web page slug. This makes it look spammy and suspicious, which can affect the bounce rate of a page and search impact rankings. URLs should be concise and descriptive.
Example of keyword stuffing in a meta description
Meta descriptions appear below a page’s title on the SERP and provide a short summary of what the article is about. They support users’ understanding of a page (and can entice them to click on a search result), but they do not directly affect rankings on Google. When keyword stuffing became a spam issue, Google stopped considering keywords in meta descriptions as a ranking factor.
However, meta descriptions can indirectlyaffect rankings, as the overview could encourage people to click through to the article. Click-through rate does affect rankings—in fact, it’s one of the most important ranking factors. Instead of keyword stuffing in meta descriptions, write an overview that explains the page’s purpose and value. To do this, you can use secondary keywords, related terms that reinforce the reader’s understanding of the subject.
Here’s an example of a meta description that leans too heavily on the primary keyword:
In this example, “leggings for running” shows up five times, but the description offers little information about the value of the page, and it doesn’t entice click-through. Instead, you could write this as, “Looking for quality leggings for runners? Whether you’re a beginner or an expert, our leggings are affordable, durable, and great for all seasons. Shop now!”
Example of keyword stuffing in alt text
Alt text is a short text description of an image. Search engines use alt text to rank your images, and screen readers and other assistive technologies use it to determine the subject matter of the image. Unlike captions, which usually appear on-page below an image, alt text is not visible to readers.
Keyword stuffing in alt text includes adding the primary keyword multiple times in a way that does not clearly describe the actual photo. This limits the images’ potential to rank on Google’s Image search, and it harms the accessibility of your site and can trigger penalties for spam.
Here’s an example of keyword-heavy alt text that might appear below a picture of a model wearing a brand’s leggings:
In the example above, the alt text offers no description of the actual image and does not help screen readers, instead repeating the primary keyword five times within just 130 characters. A better option would be to describe the image as, “A woman smiles while jogging outside in a park, wearing black running leggings designed for marathons.”
What is invisible keyword stuffing?
Invisible keyword stuffing is the practice of hiding keywords on a page in white or transparent text. The keywords are not visible to the human eye unless highlighted, but they are readable by search engine crawlers in the HTML.
Invisible keyword stuffing is a major black-hat SEO tactic and a form of “cloaking”—presenting different content to users and search engines to manipulate and mislead them. Google explicitly prohibits this in its spam policies.
Why you shouldn’t keyword stuff
Avoid keyword stuffing at all costs. It creates low-quality content that provides little value, repels customers, and triggers spam filters—all of which can hurt your search rankings, traffic, and revenue. Plus, Google directly calls out keyword stuffing in its spam policies as a practice to avoid.
Here are more reasons not to stuff keywords:
It can result in penalties or manual action
Google’s algorithms directly target low-quality and spammy content, penalizing entire sites in search rankings when detected. Severe cases can also trigger manual action, where a human reviewer determines that web pages violate Google’s spam policies.
It’s a poor user experience
Spammy content does not provide value and makes it harder for people to navigate the internet and make informed choices. This may cause them to bounce from your website and find what they’re looking for elsewhere.
It can affect brand reputation
Low-quality content reflects poorly on your brand. Prioritize value—it shapes your brand reputation and helps customers trust your business.
In the age of AI search, some brands are producing more content to increase visibility and citations in AI Overviews and AI Mode in Google, as well as chatbots like ChatGPT. Keyword stuffing does not improve visibility in AI search results powered by large language models (LLMs). Since these LLMs are built on Google’s existing search index, the same best practices around keyword use apply. Poor rankings due to spammy keyword stuffing mean poor AI search performance, too.
How to avoid keyword stuffing in your content
- Focus on quality content first
- Focus on one target keyword per article
- Don’t worry about keyword density
- Use semantically connected terms
Follow these best practices to avoid keyword stuffing:
Focus on quality content first
To avoid keyword stuffing, first, write like a person. In the era of AI-written content and prose, it’s important to use a distinctly human brand voice and tone. This is your unique persona, and it needs to be protected. No AI can ever replace a human, and SEO tools that auto-generate keyword-heavy text can do more harm than good.
A rounded approach combines relevant keyword inclusion with a distinctly human touch. There is a lot of content online. To stand out, highlight personal experience, versus just focusing on keywords and rankings.
If you’re writing about a product or service, emphasize hands-on reviews and prioritize important information a customer can’t find anywhere else. Consider the concept of 10x content, which means the content you provide is 10 times better than your competitors. This is how you stand out on search.
Focus on one target keyword per article
It might be tempting to create content that targets a variety of semi-related terms. Doing so can incentivize keyword stuffing to trick search engines into seeing the page as relevant to all included topics. However, in modern SEO the focus is generally on improving a site’s topical authority.
By going deep on a single keyword in each piece of content, you can demonstrate subject matter expertise, improving authority. From there, you can increase the options for linking to other stories that center on related keywords, further highlighting your site’s depth of expertise.
Link all pieces on the same broad topic together with a tag page that can rank for that topic and displays your authority. This provides strong EEAT signals—expertise, experience, authority, and trustworthiness —a framework used by Google’s human raters to determine the value of content on the internet.
Don’t worry about keyword density
Keyword density is how often a keyword is used in a given article, expressed as a percentage. It’s determined by taking the total number of words in a piece and dividing that figure by the number of references to the keyword.
Many SEO tools offer a feature that recommends relevant keywords for inclusion in your content, increasing your keyword density. Although these are useful guideposts, they should not be taken as gospel. If a tool suggests including the keyword numerous times, but doing so leads to copy that’s stilted and awkward, it may do more harm than good.
There’s no magical threshold. Over the course of various updates and iterations, Google has moved away from using keyword density as a ranking factor. It now uses technology like its Multitask Unified Model, prioritizing natural-sounding copy and content that’s useful for semantic search.
Good SEO is now about the natural flow of content. Use a keyword as often as it makes sense organically in the copy. If your article is genuinely worthwhile to a reader interested in the subject, it will naturally include the appropriate keywords.
Use semantically connected terms
Google’s algorithm systems are smart enough to identify when key terms are similar enough that they are semantically related. For a given keyword search, Google may rank a web page using a similar term if it’s more relevant than pages that rely on keyword stuffing. For example, using the word “tights” in lieu of “leggings” diversifies your language, but it still enables you to rank when users search for “leggings.” This ensures a more natural, human flow to your content.
As long as your web pages offer practical information that satisfies users’ queries, you don’t need to stress about keyword inclusion. Search engines are sophisticated enough to determine if your content is relevant, even if you use synonyms and related terms rather than repeating your primary keyword over and over.
Keyword stuffing FAQ
Is keyword stuffing bad for SEO?
Yes, keyword stuffing is bad for SEO. Visible keyword stuffing makes for a bad user experience; customers do not want to read copy inundated with the same words over and over. It can also be considered spam content and may be flagged by Google. This could penalize your entire site.
How do you fix keyword stuffing?
To fix keyword stuffing, review all of your published content and monitor for overuse of keywords. No content should have multiple references to the same phrase to the point that it’s unnatural. Tools like Semrush’s on-page SEO checker, Yoast’s keyphrase density tool, and any keyword density analyzer can help identify if a piece of content has too many references to a phrase. From there, consider whether a simple update to the copy is sufficient or if a full rewrite is worth it. Always err on the side of quality content versus writing for the sake of having an article.
Does Google penalize keyword stuffing?
Google has long penalized sites for keyword stuffing, dating back to the Panda update of 2011. Since then, it has had iterations of updates focused on low-quality and spammy content to try to remove it from the search engine’s index. Now, Google has spam algorithm updates meant to directly target this kind of content.
