How important is keyword density?
-
Several leading experts say that keyword density isn't all that important. What do you think of keyword density? Do you incorporate it into your day to day activities?
-
In my limited experience it's about clarity, not density. EGOL makes a good point, if your page is clear and well written about its subject, in general you should be alright.
-
It is still important to some extent. If you intend to rank for "Chinese Burgers" but you are writing more about "Cheese" instead, Google will assume the page is more likely about "Cheese" than "Chinese Burgers". If you get some backlinks with the right variations of anchor text that includes "Chinese Burgers" in the phrase, that will solve Google's dilemma, but assuming no backlinks and no other external factors, keyword density is still pretty important.
I know this could be confusing (as I was not too long ago) as lot of 'experts' say its not important - just do your own little test with brand new domains and see what kind of difference it makes.
Its true however that there is no magic "density" to this - just make sure you don't use some other keyword phrase more than your MEAT keyword phrase.
-
I'm with EGOL...I don't pay any attention to keyword density. I will be sure to have my keyword in the title. And as I write, I will mention it as it comes out naturally, but I'm not paying any attention to how often I've mentioned the keyword.
-
There is a good article on this subject here:
http://memeburn.com/2011/07/good-content-density-can-help-your-seo-strategy/
-
I pay zero attention to keyword density. I write naturally - when you are trying to write well that is a big enough job.
Setting KW density goals is a good way to screw up a great article.
-
Both Alan and Charles seem to have hit the nail on the head. On the one hand the keywords have to be in the content, and don't be surprised when you get customers asking you why!
The search engines follow what the human reads. Content that is stuffed with keywords, especially your meta-tags and alt-tags, will quickly get noticed by Google.
My rule of thumb is;
Main keyword - 3 times on homepage, also on every other page possible
Sub-level keywords - 1 time on homepage, wherever possible inside the website
-
I think it is important to have the keyword phrase you are targeting at least 1-2 times in the body content and it helps to have it in the title tags, image alt tags, and URL. Natural writing patterns typically don't have the same phrase repeated several times and we often see pages that rank very highly for a phrase without multiple instances of that phrase on the page.
"A complete myth as an algorithmic component, keyword density nonetheless pervades even very sharp SEO minds. While it's true that more usage of a keyword term/phrase can potentially improve targeting/ranking, there's no doubt that keyword density has never been the formula by which this relevance was measured." -Rand Fishkin
-
My own rule of thumb is to incorporate each of the top two or at most three primary phrases at least once, the top phrase at least twice, in the content - with the content being at least 400 words (or more) - and the more content, the more it needs to then have the partial phrases thrown into the writing. But there's no set formula for keyword density anymore. too many other factors to consider these days.
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
-
Optimal use of keywords in header tag
what does optimal use of keywords in header tag actually mean given you indicate this as hurting seo factor?
Technical SEO | | Serg1550 -
Can't get my site recognised for keyword
My site prettycool.co.uk and primary we sell fascinators, the problem is I can't get the word fascinators to be listed by Google. We are on the 1st page for most colours ie. pink fascinators, blue fascinators etc. but for the term fascinators even if we fetch we are listed for a couple of hours and then disappear. I've checked for keyword stuffing but our site sell fascinators and we need to have this word in our site and other sites have a lot more references to the term and are listed on the 1st or 2nd pages. We used to be listed on page 1 for many years but the last 2 or 3 years dropped back to page 4 but now nothing. Any help or suggestions would be fantastic!
Technical SEO | | Rutts0 -
Can hosting blog posts with keyword anchor text on outbound links cause a penalty?
My site received a Google penalty for having inbound links from blog posts with over-optimized ("spammy") anchor text. I spent months getting these links removed. Yesterday - I received a link deletion request from a site that my site had linked out to (three links via keyword anchor text relevant to their company) in a blog post. The "unnatural link" penalty still hasn't been removed from my site. My question is: Does the penalty work both ways? For having inbound "unnatural" links ... AND for having outbound "unnatural" links?
Technical SEO | | RedNovaLabs910 -
Website disappeared from Google organic keyword searches.
We have an auto repair company as a client www.autorepairauroratilden.com who for the better part of a year their website had ruled the 1st page organic Google search results. Their website, Blogs, Facebook, and Twitter all came up on page one for their keyword searches. On May 13th, it all came to a screeching halt. The website is nowhere to be found for any of their keywords (example: brake repair Aurora.) There are a couple of blogs on page 2 but it’s nothing like it was prior to May 13th. On May 12th we published 5 branded websites for this client – Chrysler, Ford, Honda, Jeep, and Toyota, all on separate URL’s. All the page titles, keywords, and descriptions were specifically branded to the individual websites as were all the keywords. Since the beginning of June we’ve taken down the 5 branded websites and we’ve gone through our keywords on the auto repair website. The website was last crawled on June 11th. We still do not have any page 1 placement or for that matter any page placement. I checked 10 pages out. We have a 2nd auto repair client that has been running their website as well as their 5 branded websites a couple of months longer than this client and we’ve had no problems with any of their websites and keyword search results. How do we fix this?
Technical SEO | | markindenver0 -
Is Pinging important?
Somebody suggested me to ping my website's backlinks using services like www.Pingler.com. Firstly, I don't know what 'pinging' is and why is it important. Secondly, Should I go for it? Lastly, what kind of links should I ping regularly? I researched on google and got a feeling that only blogs should be pinged because they are updated regularly. Is that so?
Technical SEO | | KS__1 -
Website isn't Ranking for Any Keyword
Hi, I launched a playhouses website in april this year and have been steadily link building to it over the past few months. I have gotten all of the internal optimisation correct (that I can see) however it is still not ranking for any keyword and suprinsgly all of our traffic is comming either direct or through bing. The website is showing as being in googles index however it is still not ranking for even the smallest of niche keywords. The only penalty I can see is that we have some spammy blog links that my colleague has gotten which I have been trying to counteract with high quality guest blogging. Any input is welcome the url is http://www.playhouses.co.uk/ Simon
Technical SEO | | GardenGamer0 -
Keywords in file names vs folder names
We understand the value of a keyword phrase included in the URL. Is there more value to having that phrase in the folder name of the URL or the file name or does it matter? Example: http://www.biztoolsone.com/website-design.php or http://www.biztoolsone.com/website-design/ Which is best? Thanks, Wick Smith
Technical SEO | | wcksmith0 -
Keyword rich domains
Hi, Our site is beingthere.com.au We are in the business of video conferencing in Australia. I was wondering if there would be any benefit of purchasing keyword rich domains such as www.videoconferencing.net.au www.video streaming.net.au What would be the benefit(s)? And How would I go about using these domains to maximise SEO benefit? Thanks Dan
Technical SEO | | dantmurphy0