Google: SEO Over Optimization Can Eventually Hurt Your Rankings

May 25, 2017 - 8:31 am 45 by

Google Over Optimization

SEOs for almost a decade have been using the term "over optimization" for one reason why a site might start to not do well in the Google search results. Some call it the over optimization penalty. Well, Google's Gary Illyes confirmed that over optimization exists and can hurt your rankings.

Gary said on Twitter that over optimization is "totally a thing." He said that "it is literally optimizing so much that eventually it starts hurting."

Here is the set of tweets:

Where does this come into play? Gary didn't say but think about over doing it with links (Penguin) or spreading out too many pages with tons of keyword variations (Panda). You see the point?

Is there something specific that looks for over SEOing a site in Google? Well, probably many algorithms do that on some level.

Forum discussion at Twitter.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
- YouTube
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: March 27, 2025

Mar 27, 2025 - 10:00 am
Google Updates

Google March 2025 Core Update Finished Rolling Out

Mar 27, 2025 - 8:37 am
Google

Google Search About This Data Hyperlink

Mar 27, 2025 - 7:51 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Google Goes After Spam Practices vs Spam Content - Doc Change

Mar 27, 2025 - 7:41 am
Google Maps

Google Working Through Google Business Profiles Support Requests

Mar 27, 2025 - 7:31 am
Google

Google Event Search Results With Share, Add To Calendar, Similar Events, Venue & Nearby

Mar 27, 2025 - 7:21 am
Previous Story: Google: No Index Is A Directive, It Doesn't Control Crawling