Is it keyword stuffing?

Please help

[lakr]

Dear all,

I have built a flight guide page, with many pages I feel that it contains keyword stuffing for anchor text, for example,

Domestic flights from A to B
Domestic flights from A to C
Domestic flights from A to D
Domestic flights from A to E
Domestic flights from A to F
Domestic flights from A to G
Domestic flights from A to H

And when people click on "Domestic flights from A to B"

I also offer them the "See also" section:

See also:

Domestic flights from A to C
Domestic flights from A to D
Domestic flights from A to E
Domestic flights from A to F
Domestic flights from A to G
Domestic flights from A to H

Is it Keyword stuffing on anchor text? please note that those pages are still rank high for nearly 5 months. And I am sure that it is very useful for visitors.

Thank

Lkr

[tedster]

Sure, you are on the edge for stuffing the words "domestic flights A". But, if the pages are ranking well for you, then don't change anything because somehow other factors are balancing this out. If you ever lose rankings, then you might consider changes in this area.

[potentialgeek]

The Google algo should be smart enough by now to see the legitimacy of such repetition in the travel industry. It's natural and logical.

p/g

[tedster]

Agreed. It seems clear that different measures are used in different markets these days. If a mom and pop ecommerce site tries what goes on in some other markets, they get zapped.

[g1smd]

Isn't that a case where you should be using <h2>Dometic Flights</h2> now?

[lakr]

Thank you all for your great advice.

I will change the words "domestic flights" to "flights".

I have read many posting saying that: you may get into trouble if you have similar Title, Description, and Hx:

Title: Flights from A to B
DES: Domestic flights from A to B
Hx: similar to Title.

Got into trouble? so I have to forget all things about On-page optimization.

Thanks,

Lkr

[tedster]

If you are ranking well, I strongly suggest you do not "borrow trouble" by making changes. This isn't the kind of issue where you will get some kind of permanent black mark on your Google soul or something like that. If the algo shifts and you do have trouble ranking well, that's when ytou should consider whether this factor is at play.

Why ruin a good thing?

[lakr]

Yep, thanks Tedster for your great comments. I have another question, and want to ask you, gurus:

I break large categories on separate subdomains:

Hotel.example.com
Flight.example.com
tour.example.com

However, all the subdomains have the same navigation with the homepage:

I am not sure it is ok or not, or Google think that I am trying to spam them by making many subdomains (new websites) (which to me, Google treats subdomains as new websites)

Thanks,

Lkr

[potentialgeek]

Good PageRank or high trust could allow you to get away with more keyword 'saturation' than a new site or mom-and-pop outfit. I see competitors get away with what appears to be extreme anchor text 'stuffing.'

In the context of recent Google updates of its algo, however, it appears to be moving away from earlier allowances for excesses in anchor text 'stuffing.'

In fact, since it now gives harsh penalties, from -30 to -950 for various things it allowed in the past, you should be very careful and, as tedster suggested, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

p/g

[tedster]

We've got another current thread about subdomains - let's keep the keyword stuffing discussion here, and the subdomains discussion there -- separate topics for the sake of all the members present and future.

[webmasterworld.com...]

[lakr]

Wish I owned an authority website, so that I could forget all these small things.

[littlelarry]

"In fact, since it now gives harsh penalties, from -30 to -950 for various things it allowed in the past, you should be very careful and, as tedster suggested, if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

What are other various things it allowed in the past, that will now result in a penalty?

I have a retail website that has had great placement for our main keyword, and many variations of "brand keyword" search terms for the past 2-3 years. As of this weekend, we moved from 3rd to 27th for the main keyword search term....and moved from positions 2,3,4 for many brand searches, to positions 30, 40, plus.

We haven't made many changes to the site besides adding new product/s and lines. (I guess that could be the problem too?) But after this post regarding keyword stuffing, I'm wondering if this could be an issue.

Here's a few scenarios:

-I currently have 12 category keywords as tabs at the top of each page. Should this header be an image so spiders don't read identical links on every page?

-Similar scenario with the footer.

-Also, on nearly every page (landing pages, list pages, product detail pages) I have a set of links for a) "shop by this brand's different lines", and b) "shop by type of this brand". Each set of links usually contains about 10-20 links. These links are there to help the customer, but I'm worried that it is being considered keyword stuffing. Should these be set up differently than normal links? Whether it's a no-follow, or some sort of image?

I've been concerned about this in the past....but.....didn't touch anything as I didn't want to ruin a good thing. The site was converting well, and we had very good placement! Now, I'm wondering if it's time to make some changes.

Does anyone else have experience with a similar set of circumstances? Thanks for all the great posting....it provides some great reading and helps me a lot!