In one instance you can write in your description for the "widget machine" category to say,

"If you want to build your own check out our widget machine, cord, barrel, batteries, etc."

Or

"If you want to build your own check out our widget cord, widget barrel, widget batteries, etc. "

How many links does "etc" represent?

Also, do you intend to put all of these links in a sentence separated by commas? It seems to me that a list down the side of the page or an array across the top would be better.

As for your basic question, the main consideration should be whatever works best for visitors. In my opinion this would be the shorter anchor texts without the word "widget", as this would take up less space and also make it easier for a visitor to distinguish between the individual links.

ErrlyBird, keyword stuffing has been around for a long, long time, but it's easily caught by search engines as it was heavily abused.
Originally, keyword stuffing would simply repeat the same keywords over and over again. It was easy to detect, and today is more likely to get a site penalised.

Steer well clear of any technique that suggests keyword stuffing.

If you're looking at a directory structure, stick to specifics without repetition.

On the text, go for natural language, as if you're speaking to someone. For example, you would not repeat the widget name often as it sounds just weird and robotic.

Years before Google existed, people were filling empty chunks of the page with their keywords for bots. Made invisible by matching text color to background color. It has to be the oldest trick in the book. I accidentally highlighted that once trying to hit the scrollbar and then found it on many sites. It is no less useless if it is visible.

Use anchor text keywords logically to benefit users in your navigation. it is unlikely to add much to the page's value, but if it helps people quickly find what they want, it is a good idea.

Thank you everyone for your answers. This has definitely pushed me into a direction that I feel more comfortable making a decision on. I definitely want to steer clear of keyword stuffing or anything that G will wanna put the hurt on the site for. My main thing was figuring out a good balance between user experience and SEO and just making sure things line up properly. This forum has been a huge help for knowledge and insights and I am definitely grateful for that.

"If you want to build your own check out our widget machine, cord, barrel, batteries, etc."

Or

"If you want to build your own check out our widget cord, widget barrel, widget batteries, etc. "

My opinion:
- Avoid the first option, it creates questions like "build your own what?" and doesn't tell me what I will find if I click. Is the link for "widget barrel" going to show me a sales page? An informational page? an affiliate site selling the product?
- Avoid the second option, it reads like stuffing.

Try "If you want to build your own widget from parts check out our cord, barrel and battery pages.". It answers more questions and sets the user expectation on what they will find if they click those links. My concern is that you don't need to dress category navigation this way and you don't want to repeat this sentence on every paginated version of that sub-category either.

My other concern, with your description of what you are trying to achieve, is that barrel, batteries, cord etc are not sub-categories. They are sub-pages. To be treated as a category Google will want to see the hallmarks of a category(links to more content about the subject, pagination, breadcrumb schema clearly showing it's a category page etc).

Your description sounds like an option on a sales page to select parts so clicking on a parts link from that page and finding an entire category of articles would be confusing. Without seeing your site this is the best advice I can offer, good luck.

Anyone here believe as I do, that the more optimisation, the more the page is penalised?

Anyone here believe as I do, that the more optimisation, the more the page is penalised?

That would be over optimisation, and yes, it would be a red flag.

If you want to see the best in industry keyword stuffing , that actually works and does not get penalized, just check the big global casino sites. These guys have an entire floor of SEO copy writers (I have seen that floor with my own eyes) that do super optimized 5k word pages for anything and everything casino related and it works miracles, especially for long tail.

If only I can get it to work for my niche ;D I am optimizing category pages mostly so a 5k article probably won't work in my case. I kind of figured out how to make it not so repetitive in my content. Adds a little bit of fluff but it seems to be working alright.

Category pages can still harbour 1k texts below the listings. So long as within the HTML the text is high enough and well structured, it should see work well and help with interlinking.

I agree and this is something that has been considered. Recently they decided to go with infinite scroll for our categories so putting the description at the bottom for most pages is not feasible for UX as there are hundreds of listings.

It's amazing just how many ways you can accomplish the same things. I love this job haha.

These days, keyword stuffing is considered to be a black hat SEO technique and can result in penalties from Google.
So, in answer to your question, yes, the second example would be considered keyword stuffing.

welcome to WebmasterWorld [webmasterworld.com], Whopper!

Happy hello to @Whopper! More the merrier!

Thank you, guys!

Just was unsure if it is still treated the same as keyword stuffing if they are internal links.

was unsure if it is still treated the same as keyword stuffing if they are internal links.

I have link menus for products which are my keywords and they appear in the top menu bar, side menu bar and the footer.

If that is to be penalised then so be it, because even with those navigational aids, visitors still have trouble finding what they are looking for. Mind you most are using mobiles and it is only PCs that see all indexes.

We're mobile first at this point and getting closer to voice first most likely, though we might detour into VR first. Who knows.

We have AI that can write 1000 pages for you before you write one, so of course some create 1000 sites to compete with your one.

I wouldn't worry about over, or under, optimization as much as with actually connecting with your visitors. AI is making trust more difficult to convey but once you connect, on your site, on social media, in your videos, wherever... you can more easily influence that group of people, but abuse that trust and it's gone forever... so don't.

Where do I turn in my SEO nametag for a shepherd nametag before the next convention?