What Is Keyword Density? What Is The Perfect Keyword Density For SEO?
What Is Keyword Density: A few weeks ago I had interviewed a girl with, apparently, four years of experience in content writing. I asked her if she knew what Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is. She said that she knew and then went ahead to explain SEO. She said, “SEO is about putting the keyword seven-eight times in the content.”
Yes, believe it or not that’s what she had said and she is not the only one who thinks this way.
A common misconception among many budding and even experienced content writers like this one is that SEO is just about putting the keywords randomly all over the content.
That might have been the case in the initial days of search engines but not any more. Search engines have now become smarter and more sophisticated and they consider hundreds of factors to determine how important and useful your content is…
What Is Keyword Density?
Keyword Density, however, is still a ranking factor. It is an important aspect of On-Page SEO.
In simple words, Keyword Density is the ratio of the number of times you use the targeted keyword in a page to the total number of words in that page, expressed in percentage.
For example, if your page has 500 words and you have used the keyword 10 times on the page, the Keyword Density is 2 percent.
Although there are various other formulas to calculate the Keyword Density but the idea is more or less same.
Why Should You Maintain A Proper Keyword Density?
Putting the keywords here and there just for the sake of it doesn’t help any more. In fact, that can signal the search engines that you are spamming (called Keyword Spamming).
Even if you get your page ranked by placing keywords everywhere unnecessarily and not providing the necessary information, it won’t last long. Google will soon realize that and will, in all likelihood, de-index your page.
Not probably the best example, but I am sure many of you have searched for things like “Game Of Thrones Season 5 Episode 7 Free Online HD”.
Have you seen how many articles pop up in the result with no relevant information? Just the keyword is placed all over the page. Have you felt disappointed with such pages?
Well, Google’s smart algorithm understands that, and if you had checked it the next day, you would have realized that the page was not there anymore.
Even if you get your page ranked by spamming with keywords, it won’t last for long. And SEO, after all, is for long term goal.
What Is The Right Keyword Density?
Many SEO experts say that you should keep the Keyword Density between 1 to 3 percent.
I feel that a keyword density of 3 percent is too much, especially if the keyword has three or more words. Using such phrases multiple times will make it look unnatural, especially for small articles, as if you are just trying to seek the attention of search engines.
In my articles, I usually keep the Keyword Density 1.8 to 2 percent. But if you can place the keywords in a manner that it looks natural, then it is fine. There are various plugins and online Keyword Density Checker available. I use Yoast SEO Plugin which provides various additional features.
Why Is Keyword Density Important?
Having the right Keyword Density will let crawlers know that your page is about this particular topic and you want your page to rank for this particular keyword. But in addition to the targeted keyword or primary keyword in the right density, you should also use various secondary keywords and LSI keywords to help search engines understand your content better.
Where Should You Use Your Primary Keyword?
I use the primary keyword in the following places of my content:
- URL of the Page
- H1 and H2 Tag
- Introduction of the Content
- SEO Title
- Meta Description
- Title and Alt Tag of Images
Also, as said above, make use of secondary keywords, LSI keywords as well as variation of the keywords. For example, if Hall Ticket is a keyword, use Admit Card and Call Letter as well in the content. Bold and italicize the important ones but don’t overdo it.
Having said that all, never compromise with the quality of your page – the content/information that you provide and its usefulness to the users. Search Engines like Google have become so smart now that they can determine the quality of your articles. That’s why it is said that write for users and not for search engines.
However, I believe we should write for both search engines and users.
I hope I have been able to explain the important aspects of Keyword Density. If you have any question, drop them below and I will get back to you.