What are your thoughts on keyword density?
-
Useless metric?
Good as an indicator, but not of any real value?
Best way to judge how well content is optimised?
I've heard all kinds of opinions, what's yours?
Thanks!
-
All absolutely valid responses - we currently just write copy for our users and optimise HTML for the search engines, seems to be working well thus far
Thanks guys!
-
In my opinion, as long as the page title, headings and some of the content have your kw in it, you should be fine. The content should be natural, but because it focuses on a specific good/service those terms will naturally flow out a bit more.
Google understands "natural" much more than people think. If something is "unnatural" it might consider it giving the person who queried that keyword a bad user experience and that is what Google doesn't want to do. If the searcher always has a good user experience, they will come back (and that is one of the objectives of Google Algorithm).
-
I never even think about KW density. I just write in natural language. Sometimes that produces a lot of keyword instances in my writing, sometimes it doesn't.
I think that it is hard enough to write great content without having the additional burden of stuffing or subtracting some special words into the content. What a PITA.
Google doesn't want people doing that. Save yourself some time and just write like a human. That's what I do and my stuff ranks fine.
-
Keyword density can help Google identify what your page is about.
There is not a certain % of keyword density that will give you good or bad results - the thing to keep in mind while you are writing is your visitors. You want to mention your keyword where applicable in your content; however, you do not want it to seem forced.
Best way to judge how well content is optimized? - I like using SEOmoz On-Page Optimization tool.
David Naylor has a pretty cool keyword density tool which returns some good info.
Hope this helps.
Mike
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
How specific do I have to be when adding keyword to the meta title which I am trying to rank for?
I am looking for some clarity on what exactly you need to spell out for google in the exact match and what google understands in terms of using keywords in your meta title which I am trying to rank for. For example if my category page is for women's top, with both printed and solid color options, would it be ok to write- "Women's Tops: Printed & Solid Shirts & Tunics" and be able to rank for women's tops, women's printed tops, women's solid shirts etc. or would I have to be more specific and use women's as the keyword modifier before each term and write- "Women's Tops, Women's Printed & Solid Shirts, Women's Tunics"?
On-Page Optimization | | whiteonlySEO0 -
How many keywords should I optimize a page for?
Hi, There is a lot of debate going on on whether to use a single keyword per page or multiple keywords per page. What I know for sure is that it is not advisable to repeat the same exact keyword in different pages. I need to optimize product pages, categories and pages for an online store and still do not know if it is better to: 1-work with one main keyword per page plus latent semantic keywords, 2-to optimize a page for multiple different keywords (2 to 4 keywords) which are strongly related to the main topic or to the product sold in a particular product page 3- use single keyword for each page (and no more than one keyword per page). Some seo gurus argue this is the best way to get higher ranking for that particular page in the serps. My personal opinion would be 1 or 2, but I would like to hear what you suggest and think about it. Any suggestion or opinion is welcome and appreciated. Thanks in advance
On-Page Optimization | | cinzia090 -
Page grader says we are keyword stuffing but we arn't. Page source shows different story.
Hi community! We have just run a page grader for the keyword 'LED Bulbs' on whichledlight.com and it comes up that we are keyword stuffing! However, a brief look at the source for the homepage and there's only 6 times that LED Bulbs pops up. We do have the non plural version of the word 'LED Bulb' on the page 27 times.. do we think that would contribute to the keyword stuffing? Thanks!!
On-Page Optimization | | TrueluxGroup0 -
How many keywords for home page?
I am a close up magician based in the UK and have just signed up for Moz Analytics and looking through the info now. The first issue was that it says my home page had an F grade for "table magician" My home page is not really optimised for table magician but Moz is suggesting I do. So my question is do I go with Moz and adjust my home page to match even though I have a dedicated page for table magician. Is this title tag for the home page too much. Roger Lapin: Wedding Magician - Close up Magician - Table Magician ?? Thanks
On-Page Optimization | | rnperki
Roger
http://www.rogerlapin.co.uk0 -
Keyword density and it's impact?
How beneficial is properly optimised text on your website? I have been reading copy blogger and they seem to think it's almost the foundations and can have a massive impact - thus their software for improving optimised text. So... The way I see it, content can fit into 3 areas: 1. Over optimised - keyword stuffed 2. Produced without the keyword in mind and then small changes, maybe the keyword used once or twice within 500 words, slotted into the h1 tag. 3. Optimised - At the front of the h1 tag, density of roughly 3-4%, emphasised with bold and italic. What kind of impact can number 3 really have on rankings? If your position 7/8 could it be possible to see position movement from content changes? Cheers
On-Page Optimization | | activitysuper0 -
Optimizing for another keyword than the menu name
Hi I would like to hear if someone could help me decide whether or not it is important regarding SEO that the menu name is the same as the keyword we want to rank for. The site is a static site and one of our most important keywords. To give an example. Our menu name is "cars" and we want to rank for "cheap rental cars".
On-Page Optimization | | KennethK0 -
Apostrophes in keywords
It appears that SEOmoz tools like the On-Page Report Card treat keywords differently if they have apostrophes in. So for example childrens and children's are treated as different keywords. Is this a quirk of the On-Page Report Card or does Google treat them as separate keywords?
On-Page Optimization | | MulberrySqCraig0 -
Strategy for dealing with keyword variants
I'd like your opinion on the strategy of dealing with key phrase variants: I've got a page that is ranking in the top 10 and top 3 for about 10 different variations of the same phrase. Seomoz gives it terrible grades for all but one of the keyphrases. Which course of action do you recommend : ----------- create new pages ------------ Create new pages for each variant and get them to grade A. If I go this route what sort of cross linking scheme should I use between this pages? ---------- improve existing page ----------- Try to make my single page rank better for all the phrases by doing extra on-page work so the page has a better grade for all of the variants? Many thanks for your ideas and opinions.
On-Page Optimization | | PillarMarketing0