SEO has become more widespread than ever, especially since the pandemic. Companies have realized the importance of redirecting organic search traffic to their websites. After all, over half of all internet traffic originates from these searches. It’s also the most effective way to acquire new customers.
As a result, businesses continue to approach digital marketing agencies to ask for their help with SEO. This increased demand has also caused the landscape to become extremely competitive, which has resulted in many SEO professionals over-optimizing websites.
The problems with over-optimization
Over-optimization wasn’t always a poor SEO strategy. It helped numerous websites gain high rankings in SERPs in the initial days of the internet. Common practices back then involved stuffing web pages and blogs with keywords. Utilizing spammy links was also the quickest way to boost a website’s rankings in SERPs—but the SEO landscape has evolved considerably since. The best SEO practices have developed and become widespread, meaning over-optimization is no longer useful.
SEO professionals today understand that keyword stuffing and link spamming are quick ways to get penalized by Google. Google and other search engines started penalizing over-optimization and link spamming in 2012, resulting in the death of common strategies that were remnants of the Wild West days of the internet.
Keyword stuffing and link spamming were commonly viewed as the most obvious signs of over-optimization. But it’s important to understand that over-optimization has significantly changed since the SEO landscape has developed so much over the past decade. Today, you’ll want to see if you’re using the following strategies to over-optimize your client’s website.
If you are, consider obtaining white label SEO services from a reputable industry leader like Rocket Driver. Established in 2011, Rocket Driver is a leading white label SEO agency. It has helped countless agencies with their SEO needs. In addition, it also offers other services, like white label web design and graphic design.
Using keyword-rich anchors for internal links
Internal linking is necessary for ranking well in SERPs. But most SEO professionals make the mistake of using keyword-rich anchor text for these internal links. Keyword-rich anchor texts for internal links negatively affect your link profile. The importance of a good link profile cannot be overstated.
What is a link profile? It’s the makeup of links that direct users to your client’s site from other reputable websites and sources.
So, what’s the correct alternative to avoid using keyword-rich anchors for internal links? The best option is to spread the anchor text over a sentence. A long anchor dilutes the keywords and creates a better internal linking option.
Stuffing non-relevant keywords
Over-optimization also involves stuffing non-relevant keywords in your client’s web pages. You don’t need to rank for some keywords that aren’t relevant to your client’s business.
For instance, let’s assume your client runs a sneaker store online. You don’t want to rank well for irrelevant keywords like “classy pumps for women.”
Pumps are also shoes, and your client is in the same industry. But ranking for these keywords doesn’t provide value to your client or users. Your client doesn’t sell pumps. Therefore, people searching for these keywords and finding your client’s website will be left unsatisfied. Google will index your website for various keywords and rank it for relevant queries. Unrelated keywords will affect your client’s website’s overall strength in SERPs.
Thus, it’s better to focus on your client’s primary niche.
Overusing heading tags
Heading tags are important for on-page SEO because they improve navigability and readability. In addition, they also make things easier for crawl bots when crawling and indexing websites. Using heading tags is considered good practice, and Google recommends using them to structure content hierarchically.
But you don’t want to use multiple H1 tags. H1 tags are reserved for a web page’s primary heading. Instead, use H2s, H3s, and H4s.
Redirecting internal or external links to the top navigation pages
You must ensure your link profile doesn’t only link users back to the home page. Instead, it must also link to internal pages. Ideally, you’ll want to maintain a fifty-fifty ratio between linking to deep internal pages and top-level navigational pages.
Linking to websites with low domain authority
Many SEO professionals are so focused on obtaining backlinks that they don’t think about the websites they’re linking to, even though they’re equally important. Linking to websites with low domain authority can have negative SEO repercussions for your client.
If your strategy is to win reciprocal backlinks from other websites, stay far away from websites with low domain authority because they’ll cause your client’s domain authority to decrease. Websites with domain authority below 20 usually have underlying problems, like an algorithm penalty or being over-optimized. Associate your client’s website with healthy and authoritative websites in their niche instead.
Footers overstuffed with keywords
The evolution of SEO and web design has caused a considerable change in footers and headers. Previously, websites would have long headers and minimal footers. Today, the opposite is true. Website footers have become longer. More importantly, SEO professionals have started stuffing them with keywords.
However, this approach doesn’t work. Google doesn’t prioritize footer links. Their position at the bottom of a web page means they receive minimal attention from crawlers. In addition, footers have abysmal clickthrough rates and rarely add SEO value to sites.
Therefore, refrain from stuffing footers with keywords. The biggest mistake SEO professionals make is adding local SEO keywords and links to footers. Adding your client’s name, location, and contact numbers isn’t an issue. But refrain from adding anything else.
It’s also important to design the footer with the user experience in mind. It’s not a sitemap. Instead, it’s a good way to close the page. A footer is a navigable spot that indicates the end of the webpage itself.
Consider getting services from a white label web design agency if you need help creating a footer that prioritizes user experience.
Fix Over-Optimization Issues on Clients’ Websites with Rocket Driver
Over-optimization can negatively impact your SEO efforts, causing your hard work to go to waste. You’ll want to avoid that. If your digital marketing firm doesn’t have the necessary resources or expertise with SEO, consider outsourcing white label SEO services from a white label industry leader.
Partnering with Rocket Driver also gives you access to the company’s white label agency tools. You can use these tools to determine whether you’ve over-optimized your client’s website.
Visit Rocket Driver at www.rocketdriver.com/ to learn about their white label digital marketing solutions. You can also contact them for more information.
If your agency needs assistance with SEO, consider booking a free 45 to 60-minute demo with Tom Lombardi. This demo will showcase how Rocket Driver’s services can help provide better SEO results for your clients.