We are now all aware that Google recently updated its algorithms to the benefits of some and the downfall of others.

If there was one simple way of summarizing the major changes made by Google it would be to say that Google is looking for results as “natural” as possible.

Perfect is not Natural

Imperfection is the name of the game. Clearly doing great SEO work be it on site or off site certainly helps a lot; yet doing too much of it can hurt you too!

I don’t think I need to elaborate much on on-site over-optimization, most of you probably have heard about that recently.

You know, when you place too many keywords too well located in a too consistent manner on your page, it triggers a signal to Google that you are doing something with the intention of influencing the search engine ranking.

Google doesn’t like that at all, and before you know it, you could be relinquished to the rank of a spammer… not so good.

This is why your on-site optimization should have some flaws, not major ones of course, but your optimization shouldn’t be “perfect”.

One major trigger is often the abuse of keyword in ALL the “alt” text of your pictures. Sometimes having a link to the home page labeled “Home” may just work better for you than a nicely optimized “Make Money Online” in this regard.

Off Site Over Optimization

If most of you are aware of on-site over-optimization, I’m pretty sure however that you hardly ever think of off-site over-optimization.

We all know (though I hope you do by now) that off-site optimization is probably the most important factor in calculating your ranking position in the search engines.

It’s all about inbound links and their anchor text.

Getting a lot of inbound links is great and getting them with powerful anchor text is even better, but like for on-site optimization, too many good things become a bad thing because it’s not “natural”.

Unnatural Link Growth

Google is very wary about abnormal link growth. Sure enough, your exponential link growth could be due to your excellent marketing skill or use of a viral marketing tool and in such case you shouldn’t worry too much thanks to the new upcoming link velocity algorithm.

On the other hand, if your work has been “enhanced” by joining one of those programs that will get you 10,000 links instantly, or even simply 100 (depending of your usual link growth rate), you’ll trigger a red flag signal to Google.

I know, if you are really conscious about your site and your SEO this is relatively unlikely to happen but nonetheless I have to mention it to you.

However, what comes next is an entire different story…

Anchor Text Abuse

Ah… the so ever famous anchor text… people use it and abuse it over and over.

Depending on what anchor text is used, we know that a site can rank very differently for given keywords. This is why it’s very important to choose your anchor text very carefully.

So, what is a “natural” anchor text?

A “natural” anchor text would be anything that people would normally use to refer to you or your site. The most common choices are your brand name (if you have one), your name, or your website name.

Now you have to agree with me that someone you don’t know is very unlikely to link to you referring your site by writing something like:

“I recently came across this great site [link]refinance your mortgage, mortgage for all, instant refinancing for student and unemployed[/link] about mortgage financing.”

Instead, the anchor texts are more likely to be something like:

• “I recently came across this great site [link]http://www.example.com[/link] about mortgage financing.”

• “I recently came across this great site [link]Finatec[/link] about mortgage financing.”

• “I recently came across this great site about mortgage financing by [link]John Doe[/link].”

• “I recently came across this great [link] mortgage financing site[/link] by John Doe.”

If more than 10-20% of your anchor text links are optimized ones instead of the more “natural” ones, you may raise again a red flag and may get the value of those backlinks devalued too.

This is another cause of loss of PageRank recently alongside with the “unnatural link exchanges” devaluation.

In Conclusion

SEO is very important for your site, and I’m aware that you are conscious about it. Being penalized for over-optimization doesn’t mean that you are a spammer; it just states that you are trying too hard.

So keep in mind, too much good is bad when it comes to SEO with Google.

Keep things natural and allow yourself not to be optimized all the time for everything everywhere!

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