Keeping tabs on all of Google’s algorithm updates and penalties can feel like a full-time job, and for some people –namely SEOs – it’s exactly that. Of course, not all of us are professional search engine optimizers and we don’t necessarily know everything that’s going on behind the scenes at Google.

But when it comes to the “over-optimization penalty” that’s set to hit soon, there are some simple ways you can re-arrange your site for better SEO success.

In fact, we believe there are precisely six steps, though if you take any of these steps, you’ll at least be moving in the right direction: preparation.

Step #1: Look at Title Tags

Your site titles should not look like a list of categories that you’d like to see your site rank highly for. Instead, the titles should have a more organic feel, as if they’re, you know, an actual description of what the person accessing your site might expect to see on the page. What a novel concept, huh? But that’s a common theme as it relates to an over-optimization penalty: you can’t look like you’re trying too hard. Even if it means trying hard not to look like you’re trying too hard.too much seo on a web page can seriously harm your site

 

Step #2: Get rid of Footers!

Okay, don’t get rid of them completely. But do clean them up so that you don’t simply have a list of anchor text at the bottom. Instead, you (again) don’t want to look like you’re trying too hard. Google picks up on issues like anchor text and links because they’re clever. Outwitting them means cleaning your site up and being sure that you’re not trying too hard to manipulate the rankings. If this means losing some precious links, too bad!

 

Step #3: Don’t Link to Yourself Unnaturally

Again, this is an issue that screams “over-SEO’d!” to Google, and certainly will when the over-optimization penalty hits. So try not to be so manipulative with your internal links, listing keyword after keyword to make sure that Google knows what each subpage is built around. Google’s not only smart enough to figure that out, but it will also figure out that you’re not very good at SEO and will therefore punish you in the rankings.

 

Step #4: Beware of Link Networks

Having bad sources linking to your site can carry a punishment with it if you’re not careful. Of course, you can’t control everyone who links to you, but you can stop submitting your site to sketchy link promotion sites. Generally, you want to avoid the “reciprocal link” sites.

 

Step #5: Don’t Sound Like a Broken Record

If your site has a lot of pages aimed at similar keywords or key phrases, then it’s time to clean those up, as well – in other words, you may need to simply delete some of them. You want a clean, fresh, and organic web site. There’s nothing more inorganic than a multitude of subpages that all aim at enhancing your SEO.

 

Step #6: User-Friendly Content is Best

If you have blocks of text loaded with keywords that don’t really serve the purpose of the site, then there’s a good chance these could put you in line for Google’s penalty. If the content isn’t useful to a website user, likely there is no use for the content at all & it should be removed from your site.
Chris Turberville-Tully is the owner of “Inspiration Inc”, an internet marketing company providing SEO Reading businesses can depend on. Inspiration Inc provides various digital marketing services including email marketing, branding, SEO, PPC and web design services to clients around the globe.

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