Such a thing as Over Optimization?

16 replies
  • SEO
  • |
Is there such a thing as "over-optimization"?

What I mean by this is, if a keyword is already ranking at place 5-3 on the first page, would it be a mistake to keep building links to that keyword? Should I consider that it's reached it's peak and move on or continue to build links?

I just ask this because I read post somewhere of someone who had "over optimized" their keywords and their rankings were high and then fell.

I don't know what kind of linking they were doing, but I build a variety of some low and some high PR links very conservatively and evenly combined with good, fresh onsite content.

Any thoughts, anyone?
#optimization #thing
  • Profile picture of the author kolbywhite28
    Let's see if this thread can rank high for "Over Optimization"


    Over Optimization Over Optimization Over Optimization Over Optimization Over Optimization
    Over Optimization Over Optimization Over Optimization Over Optimization Over Optimization
    Over Optimization Over Optimization Over Optimization Over Optimization Over Optimization
    Over Optimization Over Optimization Over Optimization Over Optimization Over Optimization
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6606732].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author awj888
      HAHA!

      well to answer the question yes there is, however its based on spammy things like >keyword stuffing< and building too many spammy links too fast. they are just trying to combat webspam and not SEO

      Originally Posted by kolbywhite28 View Post

      Let's see if this thread can rank high for "Over Optimization"

      If you have been doing good quality linking with good content you shouldnt worry about it. The other part was if you should still optimize :
      well - you said you rank in the top 5 well dont you wantto be in the top1?

      If you are happy with the rank, you can still build some links but continue and focus on other keywords to keep building thet raffic,

      it would be a grave mistake to just optimize for the one keyword and not go after many. what if people suddenly decide to search for something else?

      Signature

      :: AWJ of Thinking Creativity :: My wifey is a photographer, check out her work @ OLEXIE ::

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6607526].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author sumit1
    Banned
    Even You should keep in process to build back-links in order to make Keyword position safe. Its good to build more natural link building with care like when get a chance build few No-follow back-links too .Don't aggressive to that keyword to achieve rank 1 .
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6606745].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Nicole7575
    Originally Posted by NRC1983 View Post

    Is there such a thing as "over-optimization"?

    What I mean by this is, if a keyword is already ranking at place 5-3 on the first page, would it be a mistake to keep building links to that keyword? Should I consider that it's reached it's peak and move on or continue to build links?

    I just ask this because I read post somewhere of someone who had "over optimized" their keywords and their rankings were high and then fell.

    I don't know what kind of linking they were doing, but I build a variety of some low and some high PR links very conservatively and evenly combined with good, fresh onsite content.

    Any thoughts, anyone?
    Yes there is OOP penalty / Penguin algo.

    You seem to have balanced approach. What you can do on top of it is, SERP analysis of existing top 10 sites for respective keywords.

    It will give you insight into how much the sites at #1 & 2 are stronger than your site and in which area.

    You can also do anchor text analysis of the existing top 10 to fine tune your strategy.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6606778].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author NRC1983
      How do I do an analysis like this?
      Signature
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6606871].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author scottmacair
        Use something like majestic seo to look at your entire backlink profile and also do the same for your competitors.

        Essentially if you keep pushing non brand keywords in anchor text there comes a point where the algorithm will stop counting those links as they appear unnatural.

        Try to keep all non brand anchor text to less than 20% of your entire link profile.

        To be honest once you have a degree of targeted anchor text in your backlink profile you don't need to keep pushing it, just build authority links instead with natural anchor text - this serves top pass trust to the links you already have.

        If you have authority you can rank with less keywords in your backlink profile but you need both i.e. a mix of authority links and exact match anchor text. I work with many sites and even authority sites with authority links struggle to rank keywords highly without some exact match anchors.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6606931].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author indiainternet2012
    [DELETED]
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6607034].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author scottmacair
      Originally Posted by indiainternet2012 View Post

      no it is not like that..if your keywords are under 5 then you can continue your work..but do it very gentely..like submit your link at only high pr sites and try to get quality back links..it will help you to increase your rank very soon..plz check your keywords density on the landing page it must be less than 3 to 4 %..fresh content also..
      Sorry but that is a collection of nonsense statements!

      Keyword density hasn't been a factor for years and quality backlinks are not infallible. If you over optimize anchor text penguin will kick in even if you build links gently.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6607060].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author C Rebecca
    Lets say, you have a keyword 'web hosting' on your page, and you are linking this keyword with same page of another website... This would be considered as over optimization or spamming. As far as I know, link building is a ongoing task, if you stop it at your end probably your competitor will take over you some day.
    Signature

    FREE 30 minutes of Ecommerce Marketing consultation. Consulted clients like Overstock.com, About.com, Lowe's and more...
    Book at: hello@techzui.com

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6607444].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author prismkuet
    Yes, there is something called over optimization and it may cause penalty. No matter whether the position is 3 or 5 or 40. If your links are natural/natural look, you can keep on your link building work. Discussion of scottmacair seems effective and helpful.
    Signature

    check out the Pros and Cons of CPA

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6608088].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author marketwarrior06
    Banned
    build links like human not like bots .
    and you should follow the basic rules of on page optimization. I don't think its a good idea to stop link building ever.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6608706].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Lady Carole
    If your site didn't fall back when the Google Penguin rules happened, your site is probably OK. All that stuff happened fast and pretty much overnight. Good content and conservative on the back links is the way to go. In my opinion, over optimization for the keywords is when people use them too many times in their content or make them the anchor text too many times. Too many times can be more than once or twice in a post. Since the changes, you are supposed to vary the anchor text and vary the main keyword somewhat. For instance if your main keyword is fortune teller, you can use fortuneteller, fortunetellers, fortune-teller, fortune telling and so on for variety. Hope this helps. Carole
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6609356].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Joni D
    I watched a webinar on seo after panda, here's some of what they taught- as far as BL's --continue to build but do more kw variations like make a list of 15 KW's and use a different one each time but stick to the 15. Here is some other points from the webinar---do article interlinking on your site,suggest other pages (keeps people on your site longer and increases your visit time score) kinda like wikipedia (unlike ezinearticles)(suggest or recommend a product in article with a link to another page in your site), write on topics vs keywords and he suggested food dot com site as example of topic writing. Mix some keyword articles with topic articles (kw titles, topic titles) Examples of titles for kw article: "How to cook Prime Rib" for topic article: "Cooking the best Prime Rib I ever had" Quality score for your site is partly on static elements such as a Contact Page, PPpage, page layout, about us page
    along with user experience, time they stay, fast loading and dynamic navigation.
    Do not repeat the same kw and don't overly bold and italisize words (over optimizing )vary the kw a little with post titles, H1 H2, use 3-4 similar but varied kw's per page, like LadyCarole said above and diversify anchor text kw's. A better (panda score) for your site will give you a better ranking with less backlinks then a lot of BL's and low site score. He mentioned that a dynamic navigaton increases your site quality score, that is the navigation changes by showing related posts- for example: youtube changes video choices on the right with category or brings up related videos every time you click on a new category video. (Static navigation is ok in the header and footer.)
    Hope that helps someone.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6610444].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author onedesk
    With the changes I think there is over optimization and varying the anchor text you use is very important.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6610495].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author mcatt
    From the way I see it you need not keyword stuff onsite and have lots of relevant content on page trying to rank. Build links slow and steady with varying anchor text on do & no follow sites. In your niche is great but not in your niche is fine also IMO.
    Good luck
    Signature

    Family Time Cleaning
    8723 Huntfield st
    Tampa, Fl, 33635
    (727) 742-5677
    http://familytimecleaning.com/

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6610812].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author kolbywhite28
    Well, this thread is currently ranked at 26 for "over optimization". With a bit of backlinking ...
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6610850].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author C Rebecca
    Lets say, you have a keyword 'web hosting' on your page, and you are linking this keyword with same page of another website... This would be considered as over optimization or spamming. As far as I know, link building is a ongoing task, if you stop it at your end probably your competitor will take over you some day.
    Signature

    FREE 30 minutes of Ecommerce Marketing consultation. Consulted clients like Overstock.com, About.com, Lowe's and more...
    Book at: hello@techzui.com

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6615581].message }}

Trending Topics