Over optimization Penalties in Google – Myth or Reality? - Factors that might trigger over-optimization penalties
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The law of averages. Google undoubtedly looks at keyword density values on pages compared with overall text. Thus, it is possible that a page with a very high keyword density (e.g., it repeats the keyword a lot, but has relatively few overall words) could be flagged by Google simply because the density of that page is much higher than what it considers average.
Even if this page is well-integrated with the rest of the site, a very high keyword density could indicate the page is a doorway, especially created for the benefit of search engine spiders. If you want to know how Google feels about “doorway” pages, here is an excerpt from Google’s advice to webmasters.
“Another illicit practice is to place 'doorway' pages loaded with keywords on the client's site somewhere. The SEO promises this will make the page more relevant for more queries. This is inherently false since individual pages are rarely relevant for a wide range of keywords.”
..and..
“If an SEO creates deceptive or misleading content on your behalf, such as doorway pages or 'throwaway' domains, your site could be removed entirely from Google's index.”
Ouch. Okay, so that’s pretty clear. But what isn’t clear is how Google determines that a page is a doorway page. Thus, it is theoretically possible that an innocent page which is highly optimized could be mistaken for a doorway page based on the keyword frequency of your term.
Modified text. Search engine optimization experts (SEOs) employ the use of modified text to enhance the weight of the targeted keyword. Simply put, your term should appear bold, underlined and/or in a heading at least once. But what if your term is modified with all three of these things (e.g., it’s bold, underlined and in an H1 tag)? Could this trigger yet another Google red flag? This thread on the Webmasterworld.com forums debates the existence of over-optimization penalties and, at one point, suggests that repetition of keywords in the various SEO-relevant tags including title, meta description, meta keyword and header tags may trip an over-optimization filter and cause Google to drop your site:
http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum3/24049.htm
Off-page elements. This theory is loosely tied to the modified text theory I mentioned above, only it pertains to off-page elements a.k.a. incoming links. A lot of incoming links that repeat the keyword in the link text and are virtually identical in syntax (e.g., Mike’s blue widgets, Visit Mike’s Blue Widgets, Click here to buy Mike’s Blue Widgets) may trigger a red flag in Google. It is also quite possible that the link text plus your on-page elements (modified text) could be a deadly combination (in the theoretical world of over-optimization penalties).
Next: Is over optimization an issue with Yahoo! or MSN Search? >>
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