(FTR, 21 nods, 53 smiles, 95K. We're pretty close.)

I had a beta read on a few chapters and they said the word usage itself was fine. You may be fine.

A few ideas.

1. Some nods can be qualified. A half nod, a tilted head considering then nodding. I have one character 'tip her head up as if to say 'I told you.' '

But some of my nods really were just action tags for dialog. Those I think are the problems. They were deleted or changed. (To that point, they crept in through a variety of efforts to correct other issues, like playing with dialog tags!)

You might be able (if you want) to change your 'example nod' to a low chuckle. Or a knowing chuckle.

"He's a bit of alright, isn't he?"

She chuckled softly in response.

2. It's got to be balance, right? Too many furrowed brows can be balanced out by changing a few of them to frowns or creased eyes.

3. I like this reddit thread about the topic. Check that out. Perhaps as part of the process, find a simple action that each character has (like a tic, I guess?) and play with limiting the action to that character. That way, the nods do double duty, if they are limited to certain characters.

(And there's the actual answer, the actual heavy lifting, of going deeper, finding something more evocative about the scene, the interaction, and giving that specific instead of a smile or a nod.)

(FTR, 21 nods, 53 smiles, 95K. We're pretty close.)

I had a beta read on a few chapters and they said the word usage itself was fine. You may be fine.

A few ideas.

1. Some nods can be qualified. A half nod, a tilted head considering then nodding. (see the quoted text at the bottom.) I have one character 'tip her head up as if to say 'I told you.' '

But some of my nods really were just action tags for dialog. Those are the problems. They've been deleted or changed. (To that point, they crept in through a variety of efforts to correct other issues, like playing with dialog tags!)

You might be able (if you want) to change your 'example nod' to a low chuckle. Or a knowing chuckle.

"He's a bit of alright, isn't he?"

She chuckled softly in response.

Here's another possibility:

"He's a bit of alright, isn't he?"

Her eyes lingered on him as he walked away. She smiled, and she nodded.

(see what I did there? :-) He's definitely a bit of alright.)

2. It's got to be balance, right? Too many furrowed brows can be balanced out by changing a few of them to frowns or creased eyes.

3. I like this reddit thread about the topic. Check that out. Perhaps as part of the process, find a simple action that each character has (like a tic, I guess?) and play with limiting the action to that character. That way, the nods do double duty, if they are limited to certain characters.

Here's a gem (edited) from the reddit thread:

If you pick up one of your favorite authors and start reading with a mind to this you are going to notice that every single time the book turns its eye to a character the descriptions used reinforce deep traits.

No character will ever nod.. They will tilt their head down in a half nod, jaw set. They will glance around as though trying to find an answer in the air around them, then look at your eyes and quickly give a shallow nod of acceptance, or whatever. But what you, and I, were doing was poor characterization - probably.

(And there's the actual answer, the actual heavy lifting, of going deeper, finding something more evocative about the scene, the interaction, and giving that specific instead of a smile or a nod.)