(over-) optimized?

Currently having a hard time ranking a specific keyword. I jump from top 5 / top 10 to page 2 and back, on a weekly basis.

Now the thing is, our page is far more optimized than the current serps. It is even (or better) in terms of links. Its faster and generally more appealing (honestly).

Im wondering what's our problem here. Age may be an issue, this page is just a few months old, but the domain itself already a few years old.

Someone has a guess? Can overoptimizing be a problem?

I'm not talking about heavy keyword stuffing, but every SEO can tell that this website is grinding hard

maybe the content is not relevant enough to the keyword you're targeting??

If it's not a content-keyword relevancy issue then maybe you've built some links recently that have moved the needle but google haven't figured out yet where to rank you.

I don't know the reason, honestly. I'm just guessing here so please don't shoot me down if I'm wrong

Out content is superb, indeed we built some links during the last weeks. So we just wait?

BaldHat616 said:

Out content is superb, indeed we built some links during the last weeks. So we just wait?

Click to expand...

yeah, you wait. But for how long, I do not know. I wouldn't wait more than 1 month if I were you, though. One month for an established website to stabilize in rankings is more than enough in my experience. If it doesn't stabilize within a month throw few more backlinks at it!

And I know that you've said that your content is amazing, but it can be amazing without answering users' questions

Anyway, apparently it's a backlinking issue, so wait a little!

BaldHat616 said:

Im wondering what's our problem here. Age may be an issue, this page is just a few months old, but the domain itself already a few years old.

Click to expand...

Domain can be years old, but it's a different thing if google recognize the current page as the previous one (thus having that age). It may recognize your page as a new one, thus not inheriting the age and weight that comes with it. Did you follow the proper steps when making the new page on it? I am not an expert, but Nargil had a guide on using expired domains. If that was your case, check on it if you took proper steps.

Over-optimization is/can be a problem. Keyword stuffing used to be a way to rank easy roughly 10 years ago, now it’ll bring you diminishing returns.

I believe keyword density should be around 3-5%, sometimes a little less depending on the length of the content.

Make sure that the content reads right and doesn’t seem like you’re stuffing the keywords everywhere.