The keyword stuffing / hidden text penalty

Keyword stuffing is where you just simply mention the word or phrase too many times on the page. If you read the text yourself and it sounds spammy because the same word or phrase is used over and over again then you are keyword stuffing.

Remember keyword stuffing can also be due to the use of the ALT tag on pictures. To see what your alt tags contain open a page using Firefox, right hand click on an image, select 'View Image Info' and then see what is written next to the 'Associated text' label. Is it descriptive or spammy?

Hidden text is where you, or your SEO company, adds text to a page that is the same color as the background in order to give search engine crawlers that there is more content/different content on the page than there actually is or that the content of the page is about something that it isn't!

If you want to check for hidden text just open any page with Firefox that Google has highlighted as having an issue, right hand click on an empty space and click 'Select All' which will highlight all the text on the page, visible or not.

Keyword stuffing / hidden text penalty recovery

For keyword stuffing:

• Re-write your content and/or your ALT contents for images keeping a careful diary of what you re-wrote and when for your consideration request.
• Go the extra mile (show Google you are serious) and re-write the content of pages which Google has not flagged but which, when you think about it, contain keyword stuffing.
• If this came about because of a SEO company you hired drop them and document when you did so to include in the reconsideration request you will send to Google.

For hidden text:

• Remove any hidden text keeping a careful diary of what and when for your consideration request. Where the text was not purposefully hidden but the background color is similar to the text color make the appropriate changes and document those as well.
• Go the extra mile (show Google you are serious) and review other pages on your site that could be an issue, even if they weren't flagged by Google.
• If this came about because of a SEO company you hired drop them and document when you did so to include in the reconsideration request you will send to Google.