Single-words high keyword density. How many is too many.

[pseefeld]

Dear All SeoMoz users,

I'm a web designer for some time now. Doing some basic SEO from time to time.

I just started up with brand new website.

The website is not ranking very well for 2nd line keyword (keyword density  < 2%), but the problem is not ranking at all for  for my main keyword.

I think the problem is the keyword density. For phrases that are 3-words long my keyword density is less than 4%.

I suspect the problem is that keyword density for single-word phrases is between 8-12%. Please note that  the 3 words with highest keyword density make my main 3-words long keyword.

Is this the case? Should I be avoiding keyword density larger than 4% for single-word phrases as well?

What is you experiences is this matter? Could my single-word phrases be treated as keyword stuffing by Google?

[UnderRugSwept]

I guess it would depend on what the single word and the long phrase is. There's no blanket answer for every situation.

[pseefeld]

Hi Marisa,

Thanks for you answer. I'm sure that 8-12% is high.

Please note that we are talking about single-words that have this kind of keyword density.

I'm just wondering does this single word high density may affect long phrase as well?

[pseefeld]

Hi Eyepaq,

Thanks for taking the time to anwer.

I get the point. I fully understand the keyword density is not most important factor, or even not important at all.

I just noticed that I'm ranking for other keyword (used less time in not used in Title, Desc, H1 etc.. - just in content).

..and  i'm not ranking at all (not within first 100) for the main keyword which is used in H1, H2, Title, Desc, alt and content - 10 times in total

Please note that all of the keywords have similar difficulty score, and there are relatively low competition.

I was just wondering maybe this has something to do with keyword stuffing / keyword density. There must be a reason why Google not including this website in SERP.

[eyepaq]

In my opinion I think you should ditch the keyword density measurement in your SEO approach - it doesn't make sense to focus on it, you can focus on more important factors that you'll help you rank.

Now the keyword must be in the content - that's for sure but you just need to have the keyword present and maybe use it in the url , in the title and h1 if it makes sense - never go overboard, don't stuff the page with the keyword but you are going way to far in trying to get the magical % number for any keyword as far as density in order to rank.

have some internal links with the keyword in different forms pointing to the page that you want to rank. Have some good not spammy external links for this page that you want to rank.

Don't over optimize as this can harm you - over optimization is worst then no optimization at all.

The bottom line is that in my opinion your focus is on a non important element - and fixing the magic number won't help you rank anyway.

Hope it helps.

[UnderRugSwept]

I think you should definitely be avoiding a 4% keyword density unless it truly is natural for your site. 8-12% is WAY TOO HIGH! It doesn't take much for Google to consider something to be keyword stuffing. Read your copy out loud to someone. If the keyword placement sounds forced and unnatural to them, it probably will to google as well.

Your problem probably isn't lack of a good keyword percentage on that page, but rather, lack of links with that anchor text pointing to that page.

This video by Matt Cutts can really open your eyes and help you realize that the old-school of thought regarding keyword density no longer applies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rk4qgQdp2UA