Best Keyword Density

14 years ago

You'll probably get this same message from a number of different people here, but I wouldn't worry a whole lot about the keyword density.

If you want a safe number to use for a guideline keeping your density at 1% - 3% won't raise any red flags with search engines.

Make sure you for sure use the keyword your targeting in the <title> and at the beginning of your main content however. Those are a couple of the big on-page ranking factors.

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paulgl

14 years ago

Originally Posted by McBrett

You'll probably get this same message from a number of different people here, but I wouldn't worry a whole lot about the keyword density.

If you want a safe number to use for a guideline keeping your density at 1% - 3% won't raise any red flags with search engines.

Make sure you for sure use the keyword your targeting in the <title> and at the beginning of your main content however. Those are a couple of the big on-page ranking factors.

That's pretty good advice. There is no set percentage. In fact, when a visitor visits
your page, they should know instantly what your page is about. If they do, without
reading or looking at much, you have nailed it. After 2 or 3 times, (and here's where I
may get slammed) it can look like keyword stuffing. Note that the number of times, not
a percentage in your content.

A good example of the above advice is:
Title of page: Tips to stop dog barking

h1 heading for article: Stop dog barking with a clicker.

That's really it. You can stop. People and search engines know
what your page is about.

You can get secondary and tertiary search results by the content of
your article. Call that long tail variation of keyword phrases(s). That's
where one gets real world searches that people may type in.

After you have done the 2 things above, write the article in a natural way.
Don't look to just get that keyword in one more time. You don't need it.
And it may work against you.

Edit: oops! Forgot one more little ol' place: In your url.

Paul

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floweradvisor Banned 14 years ago

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- Craig McPherson 14 years ago
  
  1. In the title tag
  2. In the descritption tag twice (EG: Best Dog Collars - Read My Reviews About The Best Dog Collars and Leashes)
  3. In keywords tag ( Only because it is there)
  4. In <h1> tags at the top of the page.
  5. 3 times in the text preferably in the first and last sentences and midway. ( I typically bold, italicise and underline these 3)
  6. Name 1 of your images a deriviative of your keyword. (EG:best-collars-for-dogs.jpg)
  7. Use keyword in the alt tag of the image
  
  Seems to work for me.
  
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deloriagod

14 years ago

Thanks McBrett

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Rock Solid

14 years ago

I usually stick around 3% but I've tested at times upwards of 10% really just looking for a "limit" to where the sandbox may or may trigger. I find it really varies based on overall site design and SEO of the entire site, i.e. is the keyword in the TLD, how you structure your SEO etc.

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Kim Davis

14 years ago

I am a firm believer in 1%... of course meaning you put the main keyword about every 100 words. Throughout your content you can add LSI (related) keywords splashed in there as well. I generally use 3 of those throughout the article. Along with putting the main keyword in your title and the first line of your article, also put it in the last sentence of your content.

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tschooduck

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Kim Davis

I am a firm believer in 1%... of course meaning you put the main keyword about every 100 words. Throughout your content you can add LSI (related) keywords splashed in there as well. I generally use 3 of those throughout the article. Along with putting the main keyword in your title and the first line of your article, also put it in the last sentence of your content.

She said it perfectly, no need to worry about density, put the keywords where they should be, title, first sentence, last sentence and use 3 to 5 LSI keywords and you will do just fine. Of course you can add the main keyword a few more times in your post, page, article, but no need to go over 1% to 2%.

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seoforu

14 years ago

Not more than 3.5%

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Social-Media-Marketing

14 years ago

Originally Posted by deloriagod

Hey guys I'm just wondering what range of keyword density works best on a web page? I have a certain keyword I want to rank for but without knowing a good density % I'm afraid I'm going to try too hard and end up "stuffing" the keyword without really trying.

Never ever worry about keyword density when you are writing copy for your page. Keyword density in page content has VERY little weight in the overall ranking algorithms today. Write your content for users. Make it sound natural. Pretend you are telling a friend or relative about your topic. If you do this your keyword density will likely turn out to be 1-2%.

Where keyword density does carry a lot of weight is within various HTML elements that are themselves ranking factors - within the <title>, within the <h1>, within the link text used to link to a page. The effect of keyword density within these types of HTML elements can have a profound affect on rankings.

So, a hyperlink like "Click here if you want to learn more about my keyword phrase." is much less effective than "Learn more about my keyword phrase" if you are trying to rank for "my keyword phrase" though both of them contain "my keyword phrase".

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Adam Roy

14 years ago

2% 2% 2% 2% 2%

Go ask ezine articles.

Are they not ALL OVER Google with MULTIPLE first page rankings? EVERY SINGLE one of their articles doesn't have a keyword density of over 2%, they don't allow it.

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Social-Media-Marketing

14 years ago

Originally Posted by friend

2% 2% 2% 2% 2%

Go ask ezine articles.

Are they not ALL OVER Google with MULTIPLE first page rankings? EVERY SINGLE one of their articles doesn't have a keyword density of over 2%, they don't allow it.

Although I totally agree that 2% is probably about the max keyword density you should ever have if you want your post/article to read naturally, the fact that EzineArticles has a 2% limit and the fact that their articles often rank well likely have absolutely NOTHING to do with each other. If they allowed a keyword density of 3% the rankings would likely be the same because their site is well linked.

That's like saying NOFOLLOW your links within your posts/articles on your site and ONLY put FOLLOWed links at the end of your post/article because that is what EzineArticles does and they rank highly.

The fact that EzineArticles' content often ranks well is more likely due to the fact that people not only submit articles, but ALSO build links to those articles... and when articles get republished they have links in them back to EzineArticles. Their site is WELL linked from external sources.

EzineArticles has a 2% limit to prevent people from submitting spammy content. The rule is their to keep the quality of their content high so the publishers will want to republish it, so visitors will find it useful (and want to link to it), etc. They know that once you get over 2% articles start to sound unnatural. 5% keyword density means you're repeating the same keyword once ever twenty words. That just doesn't sound natural.

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paulgl

14 years ago

Originally Posted by friend

2% 2% 2% 2% 2%

Go ask ezine articles.

Are they not ALL OVER Google with MULTIPLE first page rankings? EVERY SINGLE one of their articles doesn't have a keyword density of over 2%, they don't allow it.

You are mixing up eza keywords and search engine keywords. What eza
considers your keyword (what you tell them) is irrelevant. Most people tell
them one keyword, but stuff another. They don't allow more than 2% of
the keyword you tell them.

Once your keyword is in your title, url, and heading, the rest of the content
should be natural. In fact, you don't even have to even mention your
keyword again. I'm using "keyword" loosely. Google may think your keyword
is something entirely different. But those 3 places will yield the most influence.
If you over stuff, your article page probably gets buried.

Paul

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Adam Roy

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Social-Media-Marketing

Although I totally agree that 2% is probably about the max keyword density you should ever have if you want your post/article to read naturally, the fact that EzineArticles has a 2% limit and the fact that their articles often rank well likely have absolutely NOTHING to do with each other. If they allowed a keyword density of 3% the rankings would likely be the same because their site is well linked.

That's like saying NOFOLLOW your links within your posts/articles on your site and ONLY put FOLLOWed links at the end of your post/article because that is what EzineArticles does and they rank highly.

The fact that EzineArticles' content often ranks well is more likely due to the fact that people not only submit articles, but ALSO build links to those articles... and when articles get republished they have links in them back to EzineArticles. Their site is WELL linked from external sources.

EzineArticles has a 2% limit to prevent people from submitting spammy content. The rule is their to keep the quality of their content high so the publishers will want to republish it, so visitors will find it useful (and want to link to it), etc. They know that once you get over 2% articles start to sound unnatural. 5% keyword density means you're repeating the same keyword once ever twenty words. That just doesn't sound natural.

Originally Posted by paulgl

You are mixing up eza keywords and search engine keywords. What eza
considers your keyword (what you tell them) is irrelevant. Most people tell
them one keyword, but stuff another. They don't allow more than 2% of
the keyword you tell them.

Once your keyword is in your title, url, and heading, the rest of the content
should be natural. In fact, you don't even have to even mention your
keyword again. I'm using "keyword" loosely. Google may think your keyword
is something entirely different. But those 3 places will yield the most influence.
If you over stuff, your article page probably gets buried.

Paul

The original question was, what's the recommended keyword density. In my opinion, 2% is simply a good number. Why? Because it seems to work both for me (new sites) and articles etc.

However I'm not saying that anything other than 2% can be just as effective because in my opinion, keyword density might be irrelevant to search engine algorithms within the <body> tags of a pages content...aside from obvious spammy levels of keyword density.

I have a perfect example of an article ranking high on page one, with ZERO OCCURENCES of the keyword it's ranking for within the body of it's content.

The keyword..... free business cards

the article written on... articlesbase

This search term gets A TON of search traffic, and in the body of this article's content 'free business cards' isn't mentioned in full even once.

So in my opinion, I'll try not to exceed 2% and try to hover around it. However, keyword density isn't always a key factor in the ranking of a site or page.