SEO MYTH #08: “Keywords need to be an exact match.”
Keywords do not need to be repeated verbatim throughout a piece of content. In a headline, in particular, you want to use a keyword (or keywords) in a way that makes the most sense to your audience. The goal should be to write a stellar headline (somewhere between 4-9 words) that clearly explains what the piece of content is about.
Nothing is more of a buzzkill than having a headline that’s awkwardly framed around one keyword phrase; or worse, one that forcibly repeats a keyword phrase.
This rule applies not only to headlines, but also the content on the page. The goal should be to inform the reader, not to inform the search engines.
Keyword-stuffing is the act of shoving as many keywords onto the page as possible. Google’s own Matt Cutts warned us in 2007 against stuffing your page with keywords to rank higher in the search results. Some webmasters did not take this to heart; that is, until Google continuously came out with new algorithm updates like Panda every year that were meant to target bad content.
Keyword-stuffing is 100% against Google’s Webmaster Guidelines an is a dangerous game. Because of Google’s algorithm getting more advanced each year, you are likely to get your website penalized.
