Keyword Density
Keyword density indicates the number of times your selected keyword appears in a web page. The keyword density of a web page has been an important part of search engine optimization.
Today, keywords should not be overused. When incorporating your keywords in your content, it’s important to keep your copy easy to read to the reader. Your content should be readable and should not sound artificial. If you repeat your keywords in every sentence, then your site might be rejected as a spam site.
A good way to make your copy easy to read is by writing your copy first without thinking about your keywords. If your content is focused, then your pages probably already include many of your keywords.
After writing your content, go back and check to see if you have some keywords in it. If you don't, add the keywords you are targeting to a few places where it feels natural. Also consider rewriting a few sentences to include your keywords but don't overdo it.
Keyword density is expressed as a percentage of the total word content on a web page.
The recommended keyword density used to be between 3% and 5% but I think that's why too high today. Some article sites only allow 1% keyword density. I would recommend to keep your keyword density around 1-2% today.
There are different opinions about keyword density today and I don't think anyone knows what Google considers the ideal density today.
Is keyword density still used in SEO today?
I’m sure keyword density still has some effect on the search engines. But I don't think you should count your keyword density today. Search engines don't like any techniques that are used to affect your ranking. What's important is to write quality content and write content that people want to read. Of course, you still need to include some relevant keywords so that search engines know what your content is about.
How to check your keyword density.
To calculate the keyword density on a page you simply divide the total number of keywords by the total number of words that appear on your web page.
For example, 5 divided by 100 = .05. the above by 100, that is 0.05 x 100 = 5%.
So, if you have 100 words on your webpage, and you use a specific keyword five times in the content, then your keyword density is 5%.
Simple steps to check your keyword density:
- Copy and paste the content from an individual web page into a word-processing software program like MS Word.
- Check the number of words on a page. Go to the ‘Edit’ menu and click ‘Select All’. Now go to the ‘Tools’ menu and select ‘Word Count’. Write down the total number of words in that page.
- Now select the ‘Find’ function on the ‘Edit’ menu. Go to the ‘Replace’ tab and type in the keyword you want to find. ‘Replace’ that word with the same word, so you don’t change the text.
- When you complete the replace function, the word-processing program will tell you how many times you have used the keyword in that page.
- Using the total word count for the page and the total number of keywords you can now calculate the keyword density.
Make sure that you have enough keywords in every web page or blog page without overdoing it.