How does multiple non-targeted (key)words affect page?

Question

Let's say I have a site listing a bunch of different products, hovering over each product brings up a "view more" tab, but not as an image, a div with text link...

<div class="tabbed-content">
    <section class="brand-profile">
        <a href="http://www.company.com/en/cooldrinks/coke" class="img-link"><img src="/docs/coke.jpg" alt=""></a>
            <div class="content">
                <h3><a href="http://www.company.com/en/cooldrinks/coke">Coke</a></h3>
                <a href="http://http://www.company.com/en/cooldrinks/coke" class="paragraph"></a>
                <a href="http://www.company.com/en/cooldrinks/coke" class="more">View More</a>
</div><!-- /.content -->
    </section><!-- /.profile -->    

Now this code is repeated for all products. But while product names differ, the "view more" is repeated over and over. I did a keyword analysis on the site, and it shows the word "view" (since it's text) as a keyword with 18% density, which could be close to spam. Would Google (and other search engines) penalise the site for the high density of a term such as "view" or "view more"? Would it be better to use, or would it work, a or just for each "View more" piece of text?

Answer 1

Keyword density is a myth at least it is now. So stop chasing keywords and density. It does not apply. Search engines want content.

You are concerned about being over optimized for the word view, but I would be concerned that you are over optimizing using links instead.

It appears that you are following some really really bad SEO advice. You will be slapped with a penalty eventually, but not for the word view, but for everything else I see.

Yes. Do not use read more and such phrases for links over and over again. These are so common that Google generally ignores them or gives them little weight. I would not worry about that, but I would change them none-the-less.

However, the cluster of links that are all the same gives me pause. I have never seen links used to this extreme. Beware of the Panda. It is being manually tuned by humans and targets example sites that are provided to Google by people who are tired of low quality sites performing well in the SERPs. Google admits to targeting specific sites and techniques and admits to soliciting sample sites for fine tuning the algorithm. You do not want to be on this list nor do you want to use a technique to game the SERPs that another site that has been reported uses.

My advice to you is not to worry about the little stuff- worry about the big stuff.

Answer 2

If the site is designed for humans and you want them to click a link to "read more" then label it "read more". Mixing up the text for the sake of a search engine is neither good for your users, nor your SEO.

You don't see print advertisements that target real people that have 15 different variations of "call us now" because it sends mixed messages. Needlessly varying the text of a clear call to action does exactly the same.