Over Optimization
Often thought of as the bogey man of SEO circles, the supposed penalty for excessive optimization is a matter of some debate. The real question is quite simple. Do the search engines penalize sites that appear to be over-optimized for rankings? If so, what constitutes an unacceptable level of optimization? Furthermore, where is the line drawn between optimization and spamming?
The general concensus seems to be that the penalty does exist, but that it can be removed by simply reducing the amount of optimization on a website. If you perform some rigorous techniques and find that your rankings have dropped suddenly as a result, try to ease back a bit. Remember, your site still has hope as long as it hasn’t been blacklisted, so if you appear in the index at all there is still the possibility for improvement. Try to undo some of the changes you have made and your rankings will likely return to normal if not improve slightly.
It is still unclear as to what constitutes too much optimization and what the search engines consider to be spam. Blatant keyword stuffing is one thing, but how dense does a search term have to be before the algorithms throw up a red flag? Questions like this are difficult to answer and likely vary between search engines.
As always, the best method is to produce genuinely good content designed for users rather than search engines. The increasing complexity of the algorithms suggests that, in the future, they will be able to accurately weed out shady, over-optimized sites from the rest, so it’s best to plan accordingly. Make your site as visible as possible without compromising its integrity and you’ll reap the ranking benefits in the long run.