So much emphasis is placed on finding the best keyword opportunities – and for good reason, as this is the foundation of your entire SEO strategy. But, what you do after keyword research is just as important, more specifically, content creation.
High-quality content that actually delivers value to a reader and is carefully optimized can bring in thousands of organic visitors every month. Unfortunately, so many publishers make the same mistake: overoptimizing for a given keyword.
This is where the concept of keyword density comes into play. So what is keyword density in SEO, and why does it matter? This is a metric that assesses how often a keyword shows up on a page relative to the rest of the words.
Keyword density is quite fickle. There is a fine line between sending positive ranking signals to search engines and overdoing it, coming off as spammy and unnatural. The latter will get your pages and site as a whole punished by search engines.
Learn more about keyword density below including how you can use it to your advantage in creating perfectly optimized content. Our keyword density checker makes it easy to dial in the right number of keywords on any given page, and it’s free to start – see for yourself today!
What is Keyword Density in SEO
So what is keyword density in SEO? As we touched on earlier, it’s a measure of how many times a specific keyword appears in relation to the total word count of a piece of content. The formula for calculating KW density is fairly simple:
Keyword Density (%) \= (Number of Times the Keyword Appears / Total Word Count) x 100
If you have a 1,000-word article with the primary keyword appearing 10 times, that would be a keyword density of 1%.
This metric accounts for all instances of a keyword on a page – the title, headings, and text. It does not take into consideration keyword usage in the URL, alt text, or meta data, though.
The idea behind keyword density is to guide content creators in optimizing pages for search engines while maintaining content that is valuable to readers. You can use it to show search engines – be it Google, Amazon, eBay, etc. – exactly what your content is about.
It’s just one of many ranking signals, with others ranging from topical authority to technical factors, off-page SEO, and more. But, why is it so important?
How Keyword Density Impacts Rankings
If you were fortunate enough to play the SEO game back in the day (like more than a decade ago), you know that it used to be as easy as stuffing keywords in as many places as possible and you’d dominate the rankings for a search term.
Some publishers went as far as hiding text on a page and repeating keywords over and over again, so that algorithms could read them but real users could not. As you can imagine, this led to some pretty horrible user experiences. Google, and other search engines, took action.
The evolution of Google’s Panda and Hummingbird algorithm updates has made them far smarter in evaluating content quality. Users can no longer stuff keywords throughout a page to trick their way into higher rankings. In fact, doing so today leads to site penalties.
So does keyword density still matter? Absolutely. But today, it’s less about using it to game the system and more about making sure you fall in line with best practices.
Search engines may interpret content as spammy if keyword density is too high, leading to penalties that lower the page’s ranking. In some cases, the page may even be removed from search results altogether.
But the opposite isn’t ideal either. Underutilizing your target keywords will lead to suboptimal results as Google isn’t picking up on what your page is all about. There’s a sweet spot where you send the right ranking signals without overdoing it.
That being said, what is the keyword density in SEO that you should be trying to fall into?
What is the Keyword Density in SEO That You Should Aim For?
Just as with questions like, what is a good keyword difficulty score, there is no one size fits all answer to the optimal keyword density. Rather, we’ll share a range you should aim for below along with some ways to figure out exactly where you should fall.
Optimal Keyword Density Range
Some “experts” believe that the optimal density for a keyword on a given page is between 1-2%. But at the high end of that range, you’re definitely going to be overoptimizing. Think about it – a 1,000-word article would have the keyword appear twenty (20) times! That’s insane.
For context, we’re trying to rank this article for “what is keyword density in SEO?”. The length of the post to this point is just under 1,000 words. Even using our target phrase at the low end – 1% – would be unrealistic.
It’s just not practical, and it would sound unnatural for us to repeatedly stuff the question, what is keyword density in SEO, all over the page. Instead, we take a far more conservative approach and aim for a density between 0.5%-1%. We typically find ourselves somewhere in the middle.
While best practices are always evolving, we’ve found this range to work very well not just for writing content that reads well, but ranks well. We’re consistently able to rank blog posts and landing pages through this approach.
Still, you should take this recommendation with a grain of salt. There are many other factors that will dictate the ideal keyword density range for a given topic, and a better method is to take a look at other pages ranking for a term to see what they’re doing.
Assessing the Pages That Are Currently Ranking for a Keyword
While not always the case, the top 3 results on Google for a keyword you’re trying to rank for tend to be a good barometer for what the algorithm considers the “best” content.
Review these pages and take note of how often the keyword appears, where it’s placed, and how it’s integrated into the content. After all, there is no need to reinvent the wheel!
This can also help you structure the outline for your content, pulling heading ideas and talking points from the content that’s already ranking. Just make sure you’re avoiding plagiarism, something our duplicate content checker can help you with.
Filling in the Gaps With Secondary or LSI Keywords
Sometimes it’s hard to stay within the safe KW density range. You’re writing naturally and yet, you still can’t seem to trim down the usage of a keyword. This is where you have an opportunity to round out your efforts with secondary keywords or LSI keywords.
Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) keywords are related terms and phrases that add depth and context to your content, allowing search engines to better understand the topic’s full scope.
For instance, if your main keyword is “best running shoes,” LSI keywords might include “supportive athletic footwear” or “high-performance sneakers.”
You can swap out your primary keyword for some of these variations to get a better grip on KW density. You can learn more about LSI vs long tail keywords in our blog, or try our LSI keyword generator out today.
Tips on Effortlessly Assessing and Dialing in Keyword Density
It’s clear that KW density plays an important role in your content creation and optimization strategy. Now, you need to know how to find keyword density so you can double-check any content you create before hitting publish.
Even though the formula is fairly simple, it’s much easier to rely on automated keyword research solutions instead. Fortunately, our affordable keyword research tool has a keyword density checker as one of many features.
Use the Keysearch Keyword Density Tool
The Keysearch Keyword Density Tool quickly analyzes your content’s keyword usage and tells you whether or not adjustments are necessary.
Simply input your content or URL and let the tool do the rest. It’ll calculate the density for primary and secondary keywords at the click of a button. From there you can add more keywords or remove keywords based on the findings.
It’s just one of many free SEO tools you gain access to with a single Keysearch account. This is truly the most comprehensive SEO toolkit, whether you’re trying to rank on Google or some other search engine. Here are some of the other popular features:
- Amazon keyword research tool
- Pinterest keyword research tool
- Etsy keyword tool
- eBay keyword tool
- YouTube keyword generator
- Robots txt generator
- Keyword difficulty checker
- SERP simulator
- Long tail keyword generator
- Niche finder
- Keyword clustering tool
The dashboard that houses all these tools is intuitive so even complete SEO beginners can start harnessing all the power Keysearch has to offer right away. Finding your top keywords has never been easier, nor has creating optimized content. See it yourself today!
Always Incorporate Keywords Naturally
Keyword stuffing not only affects readability but can also diminish trust among readers. It starts to sound robotic at a certain point, and you’ll see engagement metrics suffer as a result.
You can avoid most instances of keyword stuffing simply by writing in a similar manner that you’d speak in. If you’re trying to teach your friend something, you wouldn’t keep repeating the topic over and over again, would you?
We hope not, at least. Instead, you’d reference it where it makes sense and keep the conversation concise. The same applies to written content. Weave keywords seamlessly into sentences so they enhance rather than dominate your text.
Optimizing for Primary and Secondary Keywords
Our rule of thumb for optimizing content for primary keywords is to use it in the title, at least one h2, the intro, the outro, and naturally throughout the rest of the text. It’s really that simple.
After you’ve covered those bases you can turn your attention to optimizing for secondary keywords and LSI phrases. These add depth and authority to the page. Sprinkle these throughout your content in placeswhere you could use your primary keywords instead.
For more insights, you can follow our comprehensive keyword research checklist. We also have guides on how to do keyword research for YouTube, how to do Etsy keyword research, how to do keyword research for Amazon, and how to find keywords for Pinterest.
At this point, though, it’s time we wrapped up this KW density beginner’s guide.
Bringing Our Beginner’s Guide on Keyword Density to a Close
So, what is keyword density? In closing, this is a measure of how often you use a keyword on a page relative to the rest of the words on that page. In other words, it tells you whether you’re underoptimizing, overoptimizing, or right in the sweet spot for a given keyword.
Hopefully you have a clear understanding of how you can use KW density to your advantage and constantly create high-quality content that resonates with readers and search engines. It’s as easy as a few clicks with Keysearch.
Find additional resources on how to find a profitable niche, advantages of long tail keywords, how to research keywords for a niche, and more in our blog. You can also see for yourself how Keysearch stacks up to the other tools you have at your fingertips:
But with a free trial just a few clicks away, why not put the tool to the test today and experience all that it can do for you? Discover smarter keyword strategies with our tools and set yourself up for SEO success!
- How to Do Keyword Research for Free: Best Free Keyword Research Tools in 2024 - December 13, 2024
- Benefits of Keyword Clustering: Why is it Important to Group Relevant Keywords Together? - December 13, 2024
- What is Keyword Density in SEO and Its Importance - December 13, 2024
