The search engine algorithms (Google's at least) is always changing. That report was written over five years ago. How do we know it's still relevant today?

From my own personal research I have found that sites ranking in the first page of Google for competitive keywords tend to have a keyword density range of between 3% and 8%. Coincidence? Perhaps, but I'd rather take the short amount of time required to make sure my sites fit with that criteria.

I feel that now google is able to spot relationships with keywords on a sitewide basis, and establishes more authority for the source that way, and I do feel keyword density is overrated.

Actually that's just one of the researches i have read that i posted you can easily find more recent reports on this. but i agree and i consistently find density levels nearering 10% rank better.

i posted this to see where other warriors stood on this issue. like i felt a little guilty telling my offline clients about how important density is, after reading this a while back, and since i can't disprove it, i have to toy with the idea that it may still hold true...so now i don't mention it anymore.

It seems to me that the question here is: at what point does Google consider it keyword stuffing?

i don't think we even have to get into Keyword stuffing. but it would be nice to know if some people have experimented with density. like is 10% from a 200 word article just as good as a 10% from 1000 words?.. and so on.

Keyword density is not a myth. At the recent Google I/O, a person in the audience asked Matt Cutts about his site ranking. Matt went on to explain how he's probably borderline between rank X and rank X and that he should try to mention the search term he is trying to target a few more times on that page to see if that helps push his site over the top. Furthermore, the reason people started stuffing in the first place is because keyword density does matter.

Keyword density and keyword stuffing are two different things in SEO... One (density) is mentioning the word enough times to demonstrate document relevancy, while the other (stuffing) is spam and violates Google's Webmaster Guidelines. Web sites should have good keyword density for the terms that they're trying to target... but it shouldn't be spammy.

YouTube - Google I/O 2010 - SEO site advice from the experts
Don't engage in "Black Hat" SEO.

Not sure about Keyword Density but placement of Right keywords at the right place is what matters according to me. In short I am talking about SEO ARTICLES.

Excellent info and thank you for sharing.

As stated above, algorithms are continuously evolving and the whole keyword density craze was about 5 years ago. There are many other reasons for ranking well in search engines and keyword density is truly a myth, which my statistics prove.

Keyword stuffing, as some of us have been saying for ages, is a myth nowadays.

Google looks at topical relevance and context. If you stuff the same phrase or very limited variations in a ton of times, how much context are you building?

Find your keywords, see what Google thinks is linked topically using wonder wheel, then write quality, context-rich content.

hunter snake, yes my example was clearly stuffing. but my question wasnt if you can read and find out.. it was if google can.and if google does, than i have to question how many actual articles are getting penalized for stuff when they didnt intend to.

and the first example, with the 7% and the 12% ... well obiously we are assuming the other factors of the SEO are the same in both. ..how else can you do an isolated test?
and the question was is keyword density the most influential in seo. it was, rather it is counted at all. so your answer that there are other variables... um duh? but your answer still doesnt answer my question. my question was asked assuming everything else was the same.

as per my use of the "is" example... yes that does not display how creative people can be to its fullest. i just took that from a grammer test, as i thought the sentence over exaggerated my point to make it more simple, for argument sake. how good the writer is and how well versed in SEO he is, is very important. yes i agree with you, but i wanted to know the effects keyword density has. we cant just say .."there are other things that matter too"... yes thats ture and i know it very well. but we need to just look at one variable at a time. i can say, just as easily, that your success in SEO has nothing to do with density..because there are so many other factors... but that doesnt prove or disprove the relevance of the variable we want to test.

and to Jazbo
stuffing does still happen...very sad...some people think thats being BH, but that's not BH. thats just being dumb.
but the idea that stuffing still helps is a myth as huntersnake pointed. so dont do it

thanks for share

That report is so old the algorithm has changed at least 500 times since then. Keyword density is still important in that you need to have it between 3 - 8%. Plus it needs to be mentioned throughout the entire page you are trying to rank for. Instead of basing your opinion on someone's outdated report why not test your theory to see if it holds water.

agree SEO MITH.

so far i think keyword density is important in determining the target keyword, but not sure about its helpfulness to ranking.
but i do try to keep it around 5% at the least, since we cant be sure about any of this.

Keyword Density is for people who have nothing better to do with their time then to count words, do the math, and figure up percentages.

If you have that much free time, maybe you should get a second job, or maybe a first job?

With real life - family, full time job, kids, cutting the grass, washing the truck/car, posting on the blog, house chores,,,,, who has time to count words? I barely have time to keep my blog updated, much less figure out how many times a word was used in a blog post.

Write your post for people, not search engines, and the rest will work itself out.

well you wouldn't have to manually count the words... but i think SEO should be looked at as if it was science. well at least that's how Google treats it. and i dont think it hurts to try and be better at what i love and do.

but "counting words" as you say, should never be the only or even a major part of SEO. there are many other things to do in SEO. but even if its just a little part, i would like to take a closer look, not just keywords but other factors as well too.. this thread just happens to be about keyword density.

if Google counts words, i feel obligated to do so as well, as a SEO professional and for the benefit of my clients.

i don't want to make a mountain of a mole hole. but just because we are isolating one variable from the rest of the contributing factors doesn't mean we are implying that it is the most important.

but SEO is very fun for me and important in my IM, so maybe you can just entertain my question for me. i know it may seem very simple or irrelevant...and maybe even..below you, but you would be doing me a big favor if you explain how you think it helps with ranking. not SEO as a whole. i know it helps in targeting which keywords to rank, but i want to know if it actually help you rank higher.

Thank You