Repeating the same phrase across consecutive H2s triggers Google's keyword-stuffing heuristics and can suppress the page below competitors with natural headings. Generic section labels like Overview, Details, More give crawlers no topical structure, so the page loses eligibility for the long-tail subheading-match snippets that drive most informational traffic. Readers also skip the page because headings carry no scent.
Medium because stuffing degrades rankings and readability but does not remove the page from the index entirely.
Write each heading to describe the section that follows, using the language your audience uses. Audit H2/H3 tags in each content template for duplicate phrases and replace them with topical variants. Put the rewrite in the page component, not a shared layout, so dynamic content can supply its own headings.
// app/blog/[slug]/page.tsx
<h2>How to Improve Your Site Speed</h2>
<h2>Measuring Core Web Vitals in Production</h2>
ID: marketing-advanced-seo.content-optimization.heading-keyword-quality
Severity: medium
What to look for: Count all heading tags (H1-H6) across indexable pages. Enumerate which contain relevant keywords vs. generic text or keyword-stuffed content. Examine H2 and H3 tags across page components for two failure patterns: (1) keyword stuffing — headings that repeat the same keyword phrase multiple times or appear constructed purely for SEO rather than for a human reader, (2) keyword absence — all subheadings are generic section labels with no topical content (e.g., all H2s are "Section 1", "Overview", "Details").
Pass criteria: Subheadings are descriptive and topically relevant to the page content without obvious keyword repetition. At least 80% of headings should contain relevant, non-stuffed keywords with no more than 2 keyword repetitions per page.
Fail criteria: Any heading tag contains visible keyword repetition consistent with stuffing. Or all subheadings across a page are entirely generic with no topical content.
Skip (N/A) when: The project has no content pages with multiple heading levels (single-page apps or pages with only an H1).
Cross-reference: For content depth below headings, see content-depth.
Detail on fail: Describe the specific violation. Example: "H2 tags on /landing repeat the target phrase 3 times in consecutive headings." or "All H2/H3 tags across content pages are generic labels ('Overview', 'Details', 'More') with no topical content."
Remediation: Subheadings should serve the reader first — they break content into scannable sections and signal document structure to search engines as a secondary benefit. Write headings that accurately describe the content that follows them, using natural language. Avoid repeating the same phrase in consecutive headings. If a heading could be replaced with "Section 1" and still make as much sense, it needs more specificity.
// app/blog/[slug]/page.tsx — keyword-relevant headings
<h2>How to Improve Your Site Speed</h2> // Good: relevant keyword
// Avoid: <h2>SEO SEO Tools SEO Software SEO Platform</h2> // keyword stuffing