keyword density

[Lucas03]

What should be the exact keyword density in a website?

[rustybrick]

There is no exact figure.

[jimtimuk100]

I agree there is no exact figure

Some people recommend between 5 - 8% but I think it depends mainly on competition.

Don't just write pages for search engines, write them for visitors. :D

[kristian_nissen]

As long as you dont start each new paragraph with your primary keyword you should be home safe.

[markov]

Recommended keyword density is 5-6%, The SERP not only depends on keyword density but also on quality backlinks. One can observe that a top listed site may have less keyword density of 2%, but has thousands of backlinks.

[gabs]

Google and other se's are looking for what is natural..

So the question is... Is what your writing natural for us humans or for bots ?

[bermuda]

This question was once very hot when the whole Internet was based on Meta search engines in favor of merely onpage optimization.

At present you can find some high quality websites with very great rankings and purely designd in Flash but staying at the top of search engines through some very powerful links.

[markov]

I think its 4-6 % for yahoo, but for google its only 2%. More than 2%, Google will penalise it.

[jimtimuk100]

I think its 4-6 % for yahoo, but for google its only 2%. More than 2%, Google will penalise it.

What????????

Where did you hear that???

Google will not penalise for 2% or more NO WAY

[markov]

I have seen it in some article, but not sure about the exact source.

[Lee]

Lol i get asked this question every single day by my students and clients and my answer to all of them is this. There is NO magic percentage.

Ok heres a tip, say if i was on page 2 on Google at number 11 and i wanted to get onto page 1 at the number 10 spot and i have done everything by the book, title tags, META tags, on-site optimization and i STILL couldn't get on the first page how would i do it?

Well i would check the keyword density of the person in the number 10 spot and simply just match theres. If you have more backlinks than them and your site is better optimized than them you'll knock them of the number 10 spot before you know it.

So that is the easiest way to determine the keyword density, just check your competitors and match it.

Lee

[jimtimuk100]

Excellent answer

I agree that's the best way to win the competition (do what they do) if they are number 1 do what they do and you will be number 1

[adyberry]

So that is the easiest way to determine the keyword density, just check your competitors and match it.

There's no easy way to determine keyword density - spend time creating great content for your website rather than trying to find magic bullets.

KW density is pretty pointless IMHO, as all the SE's algorithms build up a history of your website over time and look for related terms throughout the page as well as the main term. They're not interested in keyword % - they're interested in relevancy.

I agree that's the best way to win the competition (do what they do) if they are number 1 do what they do and you will be number 1

If only it were that simple. Check out the term "Click Here" take a look at who's been #2 forever and then run a KW density check. :)

[Lee]

"KW density is pretty pointless IMHO, as all the SE's algorithms build up a history of your website over time and look for related terms throughout the page as well as the main term. They're not interested in keyword % - they're interested in relevancy."

KW Density dosen't matter? sorry but that is the most stupid thing i have seen on any SEO forum. Yes KWD DOES matter, why? because you can be filterd for over optimizing if you put cram your first two sentances with your KW's because the spiders see that as "keywords stuffing". But hey if your Black Hat thats the way to go.

And what does Adobe have to do with KW density? the "click here" thing is just because of the shear mass of "backlinks" they have for that. Go to almost any infomation site and they will have something like "Click here to download Adobe Acrobat". That has nothing to do with KWD thats about backlinks.

Lee

[adyberry]

Yes KWD DOES matter, why? because you can be filterd for over optimizing if you put cram your first two sentances with your KW's because the spiders see that as "keywords stuffing".
Lee - I agree with you on that - but that should be taken as accepted practice in SEO now shouldn't it? I don't think anyone should still be writing the garbage kw crammed pages that worked years ago.

Go to almost any information site and they will have something like "Click here to download Adobe Acrobat".

What I'm trying to say (and I probably haven't done it that eloquently) is that spending lots of time on KW density and tweaking pages for density isn't really important. We shouldn't be concentrating on tweaking pages for SE's but should be writing great relevant content that will bring in visitors. If you can fit in the keywords and it makes sense then do it - don't spend so much time looking at where you can fit keywords. Certainly not blackhat techniques.

Go to almost any information site and they will have something like "Click here to download Adobe Acrobat". That has nothing to do with KWD that's about back links.

Just an example to show that you can tie yourself in knots by concentrating on what other sites are doing with KW density. If you were to analyse those sites for the term "click here" would you then match their kw density? By all means analyse your competitors but I think it's better to concentrate on a good linking strategy than kw density.

[adyberry]

#1 on G for the term "leather sofas" in UK

Analysis of " leather sofas " in Page Elements
Title Found 0 time(s) in 3 words (Density: 0 %)
Keywords Found 0 time(s) in 42 words (Density: 0 %)
Alt Text Found 0 time(s) in 56 words (Density: 0 %)
Link Text Found 0 time(s) in 45 words (Density: 0 %)
Description Found 0 time(s) in 69 words (Density: 0 %)
Bold text Found 0 time(s) in 0 words (Density: 0 %)
Headings Found 0 time(s) in 0 words (Density: 0 %)
All Text Found 2 time(s) in 243 words (Density: 0.82 %)

back links strike again :)

[Lee]

So backlinks are everything? funny i just checked the KW "Leather Sofas" (without the quotes) in Google.co.uk then i ran my own backlink check and here is my outlook on this on the top 3::

1) www.landofleather.co.uk - 1,224 Backlinks

2) www.darlingsofchelsea.co.uk - 2,040 Backlinks

3) www.suitesofas.co.uk - 1,631 Backlinks

Now lets just look at the results - look at the description of the site in number one position. It has leather sofa/s in it twice.

Look at number two and three, it has it once - so the descrption plays a big part too and landofleather.co.uk have been smart using the plural and non-plural of "sofa/s"

But there is another 100 factors that contribute to this. So if your saying backlinks are be all end all, again i think thats wrong. And the bove reading go to show backlinks are not everything.

The fact of the matter is KWD does matter - especially for Google.

Lee

[adyberry]

But there is another 100 factors that contribute to this. So if your saying backlinks are be all end all, again i think thats wrong. And the bove reading go to show backlinks are not everything.

No not saying that backlinks are everything - what you'e saying Lee is absolutely right - there are a 100 other factors (maybe more?) that impact on a site's positions in the SERPS. What I am saying is don't concentrate too much on KW density as a magic bullet (just as you wouldn't with backlinks - as you need to make sure that you have quality links rather than quantity).

Yes you need to have the right KW to generate the right traffic and i'm not saying keywords are not important in that context - in fact they are utterly essential. I myself use trellian every single day to try and find suitable keywords.

But I wouldn't tie myself in knots trying to find the right KW density for a page. I think there is more important things that you can be doing - writing good copy, looking for quality links, improving usability etc. I'm sure you'd agree on this?:)

[hhheng]

You shall design your site first based on your service or information to customers or visitors, and then use a keyword density check tool to get the figure. It's very bad to go ahead your keyword density first, and then design your site. Remember, you are designing a site for users, not for search engines.

[jimtimuk100]

okay my advice for Google, 3 most important things

1. Inbound links with your keyword(s) in the anchor text (but not just pointing to the homepage

2. The Title tag of the page(s)

3. Compelling content for visitors that will make them think "yep this product is better than the others" (THE MOST IMPORTANT)

Thats it

[la cala]

I have been told to start with one keyword and then optimise for that word then add another and do the same and keep going fo asmany as you like just keep the page content natural and not saturated.

[SLM-why]

So backlinks are everything? funny i just checked the KW "Leather Sofas" (without the quotes) in Google.co.uk then i ran my own backlink check and here is my outlook on this on the top 3::

1) www.landofleather.co.uk - 1,224 Backlinks

2) www.darlingsofchelsea.co.uk - 2,040 Backlinks

3) www.suitesofas.co.uk - 1,631 Backlinks

Now lets just look at the results - look at the description of the site in number one position. It has leather sofa/s in it twice.

Look at number two and three, it has it once - so the descrption plays a big part too and landofleather.co.uk have been smart using the plural and non-plural of "sofa/s"

But there is another 100 factors that contribute to this. So if your saying backlinks are be all end all, again i think thats wrong. And the bove reading go to show backlinks are not everything.

The fact of the matter is KWD does matter - especially for Google.

Lee

It is about backlinks IMO ........ especially when it is coming from sites such as DMOZ and BBC as in the case of landofleather.co.uk

[catanich]

Your keyword density should be based on what the competition's keyword density of the keyword is.

If it is 6.3 then make it 5.7. If it is 12.9 then make your's 12.4. Just stay under if for 3 indexes. Let things settle down and then add one more keyword to the body content. Check out the density again. Wait 2 more indexes. Continue to do this until you are equal. Never greater than.

Once you are equal, add the keyword to the title attribute of some links (internal and inbound). This will put your page in front.

http://www.catanich.com/

[la cala]

thanks i'll give that a try

[Alex_]

Great comments. I disagree that matching your competition would bring success in the long run though. That is probably a good way to start but as in anything in life if you do what others are doing then you will only get as far as they go.

In our experience as it has been said before in this post, linking is crucial for ranking, but also you want to make sure that your content includes the keywords that you want to be ranked for. We use keywords in a natural way and making sure that the content reads properly and have had excellent results.

[masterofthe]

Your keyword density should be based on what the competition's keyword density of the keyword is.

If it is 6.3 then make it 5.7. If it is 12.9 then make your's 12.4. Just stay under if for 3 indexes. Let things settle down and then add one more keyword to the body content. Check out the density again. Wait 2 more indexes. Continue to do this until you are equal. Never greater than.

Once you are equal, add the keyword to the title attribute of some links (internal and inbound). This will put your page in front.

http://www.catanich.com/

great !!! I nevere thought about SEO this way before and i liked the topic here and hope to gain some more of these tips and techniques from the ever dependables like you guys especially you ;) catanich

[Barrynag]

Write natural content, pay no attention to KW density. Throw in your keywords sure, but if you have artificial averages (5% across each page for example) that's bad. Really, the only value you need to think about is KWD = 0%.

[Thomas Schulz]

Counted or also weighted keyword density?

Anyways, in both cases, 2% is way way (!) to little in my experience.

[Zhoog]

Aren't we focusing a little to much on just keyword density, doesn't it count to have bold or italic keywords?
I don't know the real facts about this. But wouldn't bolding one keyword be better than adding it 2 more times. Does anybody know any research done on this?

Is there a way to calculate a weighted keyword density that takes title, h1, b2, bolded, italic etc keywords into account?

[Thomas Schulz]

Well, my program can weigh text differently depending on where it is located (title, h1, h2 ... h7, anchors, meta etc.)

I suppose I could add bold and italic. However, I am unsure how to weigh it if it appears inside e.g. <hx></hx>.

Anyways, to answer your question. I believe that having a word in e.g. <h1></h1> counts much more than say repeating the word twice in text.

Concerning bold... I think it may help a little... Like perhaps 1.25 ? (if we say 1.00 is normal weighting for text inside e.g. a <div> tag)

[Zhoog]

Thomas,

I downloaded your tool (30 day trial, actually 31:D) and it works great! Very nice features.

I only miss default filter words like to, the, and, be, etc... and the positions check doesn't seem to work.

How have you established those values for the title, h1, bold etc tags?
Is that guesed or based on some reasearch.

Anyways, nice tool!

[BoSolaris]

I generally base the percentage off of the natural flow of the content. If the word is needed, then use it. You know the limits of a site and what would sound like a 'cheesy' and shameless ploy for your keywords. Don't overdo it. I usually follow between 2-10%.

[torpengkute]

Now a days Keyword Density are not more Important...

But its up to you on how you used a keyword on your content.

[hiredesigner]

There is no limit but it doesn't mean that in whole website content you take only keyword. It will be counted as spamming.

[BoSolaris]

As long as your keywords are relevant to your content in some way, you will be ok then? You don't have to drop your Keywords for more importance?

[cessai]

2 to 4%, i don't agree that Google will penalize more than 2%

[Thomas Schulz]

Thomas,

I downloaded your tool (30 day trial, actually 31:D) and it works great! Very nice features.

I only miss default filter words like to, the, and, be, etc... and the positions check doesn't seem to work.

How have you established those values for the title, h1, bold etc tags?
Is that guesed or based on some reasearch.

Anyways, nice tool!


Thanks for the nice words :-)

You can set the "weight" yourself. I default them to what I think they are based on my experience. You can select a stop words list upper right corner.

Concerning position checking. The newest version fixes a bug that could occur in some cases. Another reason may be if the search engines have changed their output HTML. (BTW: It is documented in help how to add support for new/other search engines youself)

[michellebarkley]

There is no exact figure.

I m agree with rustybrick.

Thanx.

[alvis]

keyword density should be 4-6 % but it depends on the competitivness of keyword.

[tomfrederick]

We can't imagine exact figure of the keyword density for a site.

[catanich]

We can't imagine exact figure of the keyword density for a site.

I don't think it is "site" based, it should be "page" based. I have been as high as 18% and as low as 1.5% and I still get the same results. What does change is the file size (code) to visible text ratio. If this goes above 40%, my ranking goes down. If it is below ~15%, I'm invisible...

[~DaRk-EyE~]

I generally base the percentage off of the natural flow of the content. If the word is needed, then use it. You know the limits of a site and what would sound like a 'cheesy' and shameless ploy for your keywords. Don't overdo it. I usually follow between 2-10%.

I agree with this one, we should go with the natural flow of our contents.
Be reasonable in using KW and keep it mind that readers is our priority..

[Wit]

Hey Luukmuu - long time no see :)

[seo_india]

What should be the exact keyword density in a website?

Keep it natural, thats it ;)

There is no fixed rule for keyword density. If your website is a new one, then do not try to inflate keyword density. It will produce negative effects on your rankings.

[lovedoggirl]

i think 5% for google .

[Wit]

Pfft

People, there IS no fixed %%

[Resonate]

At the end of the dayit does not really matter as long as you tie in your keywords with your content. Google knows English & how to string sentences together keywords just randomly dumped will kill your page off but strategical & well deployed keywords through out your content is winner. This & actual anchor text from external links matching to your chosen keywords on page is what you need to aim for.

DO IT NATURALLY, if you start trying to cram words in & make complete nonsense out of your articles & pages is just bad optimization.

[onlydo]

there is no limitation but it is better to use the relevant ones

[carrot]

I think you thinking of keyword stuffing a black hat tech not good at all and will get you penalized by search engines.

You should have no more than 2% I agree and should not be annoying to reader as well.

[aira]

Just include the KWs as natural as possible. Use them wisely and strategically. Keep in mind that we are trying to make a positive impression not only to the spiders but also to readers

[inertia]

Natural writing is about 4%. So i always try to stick to this. But sometimes you get a page that has the keyword all over the place, in every product link for example. It never seams to do much harm?

[francis84]

Recommended keyword density is 5-6%, The SERP not only depends on keyword density but also on quality backlinks. One can observe that a top listed site may have less keyword density of 2%, but has thousands of backlinks.

Its true... Have a KW Density from 5 to 6 percent; but you can go beyond this, just make sure you wouldnt stuff KWs in your content. Having good positions in SERP is based on # of quality backlinks.

[inertia]

Its true... Have a KW Density from 5 to 6 percent; but you can go beyond this, just make sure you wouldnt stuff KWs in your content. Having good positions in SERP is based on # of quality backlinks.

Having good SERPs is not just dependant on # of quality backlinks. Although it is one of the main ranking factors, it is not the only factor. Content is still king!

[francis84]

What should be the exact keyword density in a website?


They said that the ideal KW density is 5% - 6%. You can go beyond this, just make sure you would reach more than 40%. KW density more than 40% is considered KW stuffing.

[Wit]

They said that the ideal KW density is 5% - 6%. You can go beyond this, just make sure you would reach more than 40%. KW density more than 40% is considered KW stuffing.

No it is not.

As I said earlier: there is no FIXED ideal percentage. Anything in-between .00001% and 100% may be ideal in your specific situation.

Of course you don't HAVE to believe that. Aim for a percentage if you think it may help. I'm sure it won't hurt much either. :rolleyes:

[rustybrick]

Wit, got an example of 100% keyword density?

[Wit]

Soz I haven't saved any examples. But I was talking about websites using a splash page with almost no text on it, ranking well for phrases like [click here] or [enter site] or even [I'm over 18] :D

[muzammal]

oh, more than 2% google will penalize :mad: I am using upto 10%. I should be worry about it.

I think its 4-6 % for yahoo, but for google its only 2%. More than 2%, Google will penalise it.

[matt.bush]

I try to keep it below 2.5%, though I've heard that as high as 5 is okay.

Matt

[aimhigh]

For effective optimizing that will boost your pages into the Top 20 spots on the major search engines you are aiming for a keyword density of between 2 - 5%.

[Wit]

Again: no.

Some pages are far better off with densities up to 100%

Why do you people insist there's a fixed "ideal" density to aim for? Gaahhhh!

[shoaaib]

Thanks for the information

[shimritben]

I think around 5%, depends on your competitors too

[govindseo]

Hi,
i prefer 6 to 8% and it's also depends on competition.:preggers:

[aimhigh]

I've read an article and they advice to forgot the keyword density and always be natural. Anyway I found this tool. Hope this can help you. http://textalyser.net/

[startupsalesmentor]

As long as my content is relevant and every once in a while my posts have my keywords in them, am I good?

[inertia]

Yep. All the aspects of keyword repetition and semantics are around for one reason- so Google can read a document as much like a human as possible.

This article might help http://www.rapidrank.co.uk/2008/05/textual-content-writing/

[poddster]

It would still be good to have a balance between being keyword-enriched and quality content. I believe that's the greatest test for a web writer. :)

[aimhigh]

Yep. All the aspects of keyword repetition and semantics are around for one reason- so Google can read a document as much like a human as possible.

This article might help http://www.rapidrank.co.uk/2008/05/textual-content-writing/


Very informative article Inertia. And helpful. Thanks for sharing.

[joealvini]

keep it 80 characters or under. use it once and if it is a 2 word keyword like pool tables use it something like this:

Pool Tables & Billiard Tables - Best Prices Guaranteed On All Accessories

Now I know this was a very loose title but it works. Notice the use of pool tables once and the use of table twice. In my experience this is a good way to optimize your title tag.

[Ricardo]

The keyword density is very important for your main keywords to have the correct keyword density to rank well in Search Engines.

[Wit]

Where/when have you read that, Ricardo?

[stevephilipps]

usually the less keywords the better, but it also depends upon what the competition has as far as keyword density.

[convert2hybrid]

I agree there is no exact figure

Some people recommend between 5 - 8% but I think it depends mainly on competition.

Don't just write pages for search engines, write them for visitors. :D

I think a balance of both is better. Just make sure it's user friendly, with whatever you do.