Keyword stuffing in

[godreamvacations]

Having a discussion with my boss over whether the following page is over-saturated (stuffed) with keywords in the element: http://www.godreamvacations.com/BarceloHotels -- We implemented the description and keyword tag text back in 2010 when the boss gave me the text. Anyone have any good responses to the bosses' response (below)?

"These are the ones (pages) that are actually working wonderfully well on Bing. At the time, I researched the optimal number of characters and tried to really follow all that was suggested by SEO experts. As far as the keywords, I would say you could remove the ones without the “s”, for example, take out “Barcelo Hotel” and leave “Barcelo Hotels” I think this is all relevant to what is found on the page. I don’t know what they would expect us to do differently than this. Do you? What is your MOZ currently saying is the optimal number of characters for a Title?"

Any responses would be appreciated. Am I wrong in saying it's "stuffed" and looks spammy? What would you tell your boss?

[WestAdvertising]

This title tag violates many of SEO best practices.

1- There are 5 dashes separating the keywords.
I was taught that using the same word, symbol, or phrase more than 3 times is a no no.

2- It is too long: Keep it under 70 characters so the entire title tag displays on SERPs. The way you have it now, the title tag will get the ellipse treatment and will be cut off.

3- You use the word Barcelo 7 times in the title tag.
Red flag! Warning! Be careful. This is definitely keyword stuffing and not necessary to get Google's attention. Unless of course your going for negative attention.

4- You do not have a meta description at all:
Write a brief sentence that explains the page. This will show directly under your title tag and is also incredibly important for rank factors as well as conveying the message of the page. Your description should include the keywords in your title tag.

Think of your title tag as an advertisement. Sure, it is used by Google to determine the focus of the page, but it is also the first thing a potential customer will see when your result comes up.

Here is how I would change this title tag and the meta description i would used for this page.

Title Tag: Barcelo Hotel Reviews | Barcelo Resorts | Mexico, Dominican Republic
Meta Description: Read our reviews or get more information on Barcelo Hotels and Resorts in Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica.

[RuthBurrReedy]

I would agree that you use the word "Barcelo" more times than is necessary in a title tag. A good rule of thumb for keyword stuffing: read it out loud. If it sounds crazy, you're probably using the keyword too much. Eric's suggestion for a title tag is a good one, and you could really do anything along that line. It looks like the phrase you're targeting most with that page is "Barcelo Hotel Reviews" so I'd begin the title tag with that phrase. Other words like Resorts will still get some association with the word Barcelo, so there's no need to repeat it.

Your title tag is also currently targeting way too many phrases. It's best to target only one or two key phrases on any given page - it's difficult for a page to rank for more than that. Are there other pages on your site that you could use to target some of these phrases?

It sounds like your boss has some ego built in to those title tags, so maybe start out by saying that 2010 was a long time ago (4 years is like a million years in Internet time) and SEO best practices have updated since then. The best practice now would be to use your keyword at the beginning of the title tag, MAYBE use a secondary keyword if you can work it in in natural-sounding language, and keep it to under about 70 characters.

As for the meta description, ABSOLUTELY add one of those - like Eric points out, your SERP result is a little advertisement for your page and the description tag is another way to target your keywords and convince users to click. Having a description tag also means you have more control over what displays when people share your page in social media. As for the meta keywords tag, I'd dispense with those altogether - they're completely worthless at best and may be a weak spam signal at worst.

[adamxj2]

I like your tip about reading it out loud. That has been extremely helpful in eliminating spammy material from my sites.

I've been hearing two opposing views on the meta keywords tag. Some say they are important and some say don't use them at all. I've made a compromise by using them sparingly and not depending on them for anything. Do you have some suggestions on more reliable research I can do on the subject?

Thanks!

[RuthBurrReedy]

Here's a video from Google Webmaster Tools confirming that the meta keywords tag is not used for ranking: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2009/09/google-does-not-use-keywords-meta-tag.html

The only thing anyone might use a meta keywords tag for these days is your competitors scraping your tags to see which keywords you're targeting on which page!

[adamxj2]

Awesome!

Thank you!