Moz Pro recommends not using a keyword more than 15 times. If there is a lot of content and the density is low, is it okay to go over that?
-
From MOZ on-page grader...
"Recommendation: Edit your page to use your targeted keywords no more than 15 times."
But if I use a keyword 50 times and the keyword density is only 2 percent, is that ok? What is more important, the raw number used or the density?
-
Nobody outside of Google, knows this type of information with certainty. My guess is that Google is only concerned with what is within the article portion of the page.
My honest opinion is that Google is not concerned with keyword density unless it is outrageous. If I am writing an article with the hope of ranking for a one-word query, my use of that word on the page has a density of about five percent. I have that density because my writing is very precise and explicit.
I never even think about how many instances of a keyword is on the page. My only concern is if the article is easy to read, easy to understand, and contains value for the reader. Over and over, Google has told webmasters to write as though search engines did not exist. I believe that is what I should do.
-
Thanks, that helps a lot. Also, let's say for example my keyword is "soap". Does google include the amount of times "soap" is counted just in the body text, or on the entire page? Soap may appear on the navigation bar as well as in many product titles on a category page. In some cases, this may double the number of times the keyword is found.
-
The 50 at 2% was just an example. It seems like most people think as long as it sounds natural it is ok. Thanks.
-
Two things immediately come to mind for me.
-
Wow, 50 mentions at 2% kw density is sounds like a LOT of content for one page, and
-
When you read it out loud, does it sound like natural speech or does it sound like you're just banging away at one keyword over and over? Because I believe that's what Google and the tool are probably getting at - making sure you're getting the keywords in there while still keeping the language as natural as possible.
-
-
"Recommendation: Edit your page to use your targeted keywords no more than 15 times."
In my opinion this is something that Moz should reevaluate because this question is asked over and over and over again in Q&A. Lots of people could be tearing up their articles to avoid using their keyword more than 15 times.
My personal opinion is that I should use my targeted keyword in text as many times as is needed while writing in natural language. I have articles that rank high on the first page of google for really really difficult queries. I just visited two of them that quickly come to my mind. On one I have used the targeted keyword 94 times, the other I used the targeted keyword 123 times.
I think that the number of times that a keyword NEEDS TO BE USED in an article depends in part on the length of that article. The two articles described above were 1622 words (5.6% KW density) and 2628 words (4.6% KW density) in length, not counting image captions and tabular data. If I had limit my use of the primary keywords to 15 times these articles would be turned into total rubbish. I would have to resort to extremely unnatural writing to make these articles work. The experience given to the reader would be horrible. I am willing to bet that the rankings of these pages would plummet if I took them down to 15 instances of the targeted keywords.
This could be advice that, if followed diligently, could damage the results of people who follow it. Moz wants to follow the ethic of "First do no harm" and for that reason, I think that this automated advice needs reevaluated as soon as possible.
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
-
Keyword stuffing when brand includes keyword
Hi If you have managed to combine brand name with primary target keyword do you still need pay attention to on page keyword stuffing ? since one would expect plenty of brand references in the body copy ? Or is it still best to reduce instances of the keyword aspect ? For example if site is called 'Franks Service Centres' and you have lots/too many instances of 'service centres' in the body copy a/c to MA on-page grader, should you reduce some instances of the kw ? All Best
On-Page Optimization | | Dan-Lawrence
Dan0 -
Does anyone use Genesis Framework? If so can a newbie use it and a few other questions
Hi, So as I search the wonderful land of the internet, I see this Genesis framework brought up quite a bit. I have researched it for a few weeks, but it seems like it uses hooks instead of shortcodes. So I am curious if anyone has used it? And if so what your thoughts are about it? I am a COMPLETE newbie here, so hooks look scary. I am sure with time they will seem like second nature. They claim it has airtight security. So if you have used this framework, how is this any different than an updated stock wordpress site? I understand that vulnerabilities may be in plugins and such, but if it is really airtight, that seems great. Any thoughts are appreciated as I just want the best user experience. So many people use this framework, yet my site gets if I'm lucky 1000 views each month. It is a basic site to let people know we exist. So its not like I have a popular blog with 50,000 pageviews each month. But... going into the future, I want a pleasant and consistent user experience. Maybe a wordpress theme is all you need. Maybe a framework is more for developers. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated. Chris
On-Page Optimization | | asbchris0 -
Duplicated Content Column in excel
I'd like to see all duplicated content URLs in excel. But when I do the export to csv, and then use text to columns, I end up with an empty duplicated content column. The URLs should be in column AF in excel, but this column is empty. Can somebody help me on this?
On-Page Optimization | | jdclerck0 -
Keyword canibalization
Hi, I'm ranking for 'bodybuilding schema' with two separate pages (see attachment). Is this a problem? I heard that's it's better to only have one page ranking per keyword. If so, how do I prevent this? Thanks! Jasper MhcOI
On-Page Optimization | | Japking0 -
SEO strategy recommendations?
Hi My website http://www.harrisbassett.co.uk is now ranking on the 1st page of Bing and Google for phrases such as Chartered Accountant Swansea and Tax Planners Swansea But the phrase 'accountants swansea' is still performing poorly - as it is near the bottom of the second page? Would I be better placing more accountant swansea phrases on the homepage of the site or would this have an adverse effect on the current 'Chartered Accountants Swansea' ranking as would this be classed as keyword cannabilisation? So would it be better to further optimise http://www.harrisbassett.co.uk/accounting.htm and include the phrases Accountants Swansea and Auditors Swansea or would this act against the homepage? Sorry for the questions I am just looking for the best route forward to further boost the ranking on additional terms as the majority of the 1st page listings seem to weak?
On-Page Optimization | | idv0 -
How to find competition for a particular keyword
Is there any operator to find the level of competition for a particular keyword in Google ? Is intitle:keyword a fair indicator ?
On-Page Optimization | | seoug_20050 -
Recommendation of second target keyword
Hi there, Our company is selling airline tickets and more products within the travelling market like car rental, hotels and holidays. Now we are busy to improve our google ranking because the market of airplaine tickets is hard with many competitors. At this moment we are optimizing our offer pages. Our Strategy: 2 Keyword focus on that specific page
On-Page Optimization | | vliegticketsnl
1. Vliegtickets + Destination
2. Vliegticket, ticket or tickets + Destination Both keywords will be in the title tag. Example: vliegtickets + destination - brandname - vliegticket, ticket or tickets + destination h1 = Vliegtickets + Destination
h2 = Vliegticket, ticket or tickets + Destination Now we know that there is a big search volume on the keywords "goedkope vliegtickets" and we do not focus on these words on the offer pages of a destination. Goedkope vliegtickets could be translate like cheap airplane tickets. At the homepage of our offers we are focussing on goedkope vliegtickets, is it wise to continue doing that at the other pages also, instead of vliegticket, ticket, tickets + destination. Will goedkope vliegtickets + destination make the keyword combination vliegtickets + destination more strong and could it improve our google ranking? Or should we keep it like we do now, because vliegticket, ticket or tickets + destination is familiar to vliegtickets + destination? Hope to hear your opinion so we could decide what to do with our onpage strategy. Next thing to do than is linkbuilding. Thank you in advance.0 -
Where does the schema.org info go?
Does the schema.org information go in the header of a page or in the body?
On-Page Optimization | | totalvac0