Keyword density What is it & why do I need to know about it?

Keyword density is something most people think about without thinking about it. They might not know that they are thinking about keyword density when they are blogging or writing content for their site, however it is key to getting your site ranked. Keyword density is the repeating of a particular “Keyword” or set of “Keywords” (sometimes called a keyword phrase or a long-tail keyword) throughout a particular piece of text. For example when I am done with this blog post my keyword density will be high, at around 3%. The range you want to be in is 2%-3.5% anything lower and you really are not “keywording” for that particular keyword. So for instance, if you are writing a heavy blog post at 1k words total then you should say your keyword 20-35 times. This might seem totally doable when you hear the numbers, but when you start to do it… lets just say it gets tough to read.

Do keyword density rates have to be so high?

Yes they do, I know it might sound unnatural when you are reading it but remember you are not a search engine spider. They do not comprehend things like we do. They only know to look for abusive behavior like keyword loading, cloaking etc. They cannot read and understand that the sentences are not grammatically correct. They only know that you said your keyword X times and therefore your keyword density rate is X. I have had clients tell me that we are horrible writers because of the high keyword density SEO writing requires. This might be true, but our web copy is great!

What if my keyword density rate is too high?

So I can just write something with 15-20% keyword density and boom I will be #1 on Google right?! Not so fast, doing this will for sure get you dinged by Google. When Google thinks you have done something unfair to get an advantage over your search competition they will undoubtedly make you pay with a bad ranking. I have seen people drop from the 1st page to out of the top 50 pages with one bad update. I have also seen people jump 50 pages after abusing the system. You see Google is not perfect, but they will almost always find you, and when they do….

So in short make sure you repeat your primary keyword at least 2-3.5% to get the best keyword density rates. Do not use more than that and do not worry if it is not absolutely perfect, unless it is a blog about writing, in which case your job just got a little harder.

How to calculate Keyword Density rates on your website.

Things to watch out for when working your keyword density:

• Make sure the keyword font color is different from your background colors, making your keyword density higher by hiding keywords can get you blacklisted from Google.
• Make sure you understand that SEO copy is essential to great keyword density and it might sound funny when you read it back.
• Optimize website copy as well as social content for great keyword density.