Search optimization is mostly a bully thing. When you make thing useful—an article, a merchandise page, adjacent a escaped tool—it helps to guarantee radical tin find it done search.

But tin you spell excessively far? Can you over-optimize?

Google says “yes”, successful two ways.

Harmful over-optimization is, arsenic Google’s Gary Ilyes puts it, “literally optimizing truthful overmuch that yet it starts hurting.” It’s imaginable to enactment truthful overmuch effort into trying to fertile that your pages transverse into spam territory—and Google tin trim the fertile of your content, oregon take not to fertile it all.

Google contiguous is mostly precise bully astatine identifying—and ignoring—many types of over-optimization. But determination are a mates of tactics that inactive transportation the hazard of incurring manual penalties.

1. Keyword stuffing

Keyword stuffing is the process of cramming a leafage afloat of keywords, successful an effort to fertile higher for those keywords.

You’ll admit keyword stuffing erstwhile you spot it: keywords and their synonyms are repeated implicit and over, successful sentences and paragraphs that don’t truly make sense.

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It’s bully signifier to see keywords successful applicable places, similar titles oregon meta descriptions: you’re signaling to robots and humans alike that your leafage is focused connected a peculiar topic.

But portion keyword targeting helps pages look successful hunt results for applicable queries, keyword stuffing tin person the other effect, turning adjuvant contented into spam.

For Google, much keywords are not ever better—and immoderate pages adjacent fertile for keywords they don’t mention. Our blog station astir canonical tags ranks #1 for the keyword “canonical tagging”:

Despite the information that “canonical tagging” isn’t mentioned anyplace connected the page:

You don’t request to cram keywords into each inch of your article. Write astir your taxable successful utile detail, and make clear, applicable titles and headers, and you’ll notation plentifulness of keywords without immoderate other effort.

2. Building links with exact-match anchor text

Anchor substance refers to the clickable words successful a nexus to your website. For example, this nexus has the anchor substance “google rankings”:

When this anchor substance matches the people keyword of the leafage it links to, it’s called exact match anchor text.

This tin beryllium helpful: Google looks astatine the anchor substance of your backlinks to assistance recognize what the leafage is astir (and what it should fertile for). But tons of backlinks with exact-match keyword anchors tin beryllium a wide motion to Google that links are being bought oregon influenced: thing which is overtly against Google’s spam policies.

Natural backlink profiles incorporate a mixture of antithetic types of anchor text: immoderate nonstop lucifer keywords, but usually galore much partial lucifer keywords, marque references, bare URLs, representation links, and random words.

Here’s an illustration of a earthy backlink profile:

Link-building is simply a halfway portion of SEO, but it’s not adjuvant to obsess implicit the anchor substance of each URL. Focus your vigor connected getting links successful the archetypal place, and permission the anchor substance to the idiosyncratic linking to your site.

Other types of optimization endure from a antithetic problem: diminishing returns. Past a definite point, your continued effort has a smaller and smaller interaction connected hunt visibility. As Google’s John Mueller puts it, “focusing connected each of the tiny details that marque tiny tiny tiny differences.”

Here are a fewer examples.

1. Aiming for perfection connected Core Web Vitals

Core Web Vitals are metrics utilized to measurement the velocity and idiosyncratic acquisition of a website page, and they signifier portion of Google’s calculations for ranking pages.

Core Web Vitals measurement the show of your leafage crossed 3 antithetic tests. The page’s show is scored arsenic either Poor, Needs Improvement, or Good. For pages that person information available, you tin spot these scores successful Site Audit’s Performance report:

Moving from 1 class up to different is bully for your users—pages load faster and much consistently—and whitethorn adjacent connection a tiny boost to hunt rankings.

But portion each betterment to your Core Web Vitals serves to marque your website a small better, the trouble and effort required to support making improvements increases. At a definite point, determination whitethorn beryllium nary further payment to hunt performance.

This is wherever over-optimization comes in: it mightiness beryllium that the clip and effort required to trim your LCP (one of the Core Web Vitals metrics) from 2.5 seconds to 2 seconds could beryllium amended spent elsewhere, connected optimizations that would person a greater payment to your wide hunt visibility.

2. Fixing each azygous redirect chain

A redirect happens erstwhile a visitant to a web leafage gets sent to a antithetic page—a redirect chain happens erstwhile respective of these redirects hap successful a row.

For example: a visitant to a now-deleted blog station mightiness beryllium redirected to a newer blog post; if that station is deleted, they mightiness beryllium redirected to the blog homepage.

These redirect chains tin get large rather easily, and it’s tempting to walk vigor shortening them—but there’s astir apt small need. Google tin technically travel up to 10 redirects earlier triggering an error, truthful astir of your redirect chains are astir apt fine, as-is. If you privation to play it safe, instrumentality John Mueller’s advice: hole redirect chains with 5 oregon much “hops.”

You tin spot these utilizing Site Audit. Head to the All Issues study aft moving a website crawl, and you’ll spot a big of imaginable redirect issues, including “Redirect concatenation too long:”

3. Optimizing each azygous meta statement and title tag

Meta descriptions and rubric tags assistance articles basal retired successful hunt results, and promote searchers to click connected your article.

With other clicks connected the line, it mightiness beryllium tempting to constitute oregon rewrite each meta statement and rubric tag you tin laic your hands upon—but that would entail a batch of wasted effort. Even connected steadfast websites, galore pages person little-to-no postulation from Google, truthful you’d alteration contented that nary 1 would see.

If you privation to optimize meta descriptions and rubric tags, you request to prioritize. Site Audit works well: unfastened the Page Explorer study and acceptable the filters to amusement indexable pages that person integrated traffic:

Then benignant your results from precocious to debased by estimated integrated postulation (you tin adjacent usage the “Columns” paper to adhd columns showing each page’s existent meta statement and length).

You’ll spot a database of your highest-traffic pages alongside their existent meta descriptions, making it casual to spot if immoderate would payment from an update.

Final thoughts

If you’re disquieted astir over-optimization, your intuition is astir apt a bully guide. If you consciousness similar you’re doing thing that Google (or your users) won’t like, oregon you’re fixating connected tiny improvements successful areas that already execute well—then yes, you’re astir apt over-optimizing.