Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
KeyWord Density?
-
What is an acceptable density for a keyword? It's wise to push it as close to spam without sacrificing user experience, correct?
I read an article on SeoMoz (outdated I think) that mentioned 6%.
If it's a keyword phrase, do you have to make sure you don't go over the density level of a particular word in the phrase. If it's a three word phrase, do you have to not use any one word more than X% or just monitor the exact keyword.
-
In my understanding - Google is a machine that wants us to think that it is acting as a human being
In general - there is some human influence on their 'algos' but it's important to understand - it is still a machine! And most important is to clearly lied down - it is machine that constantly keeps upgraded and tweaked by humans.
I see where and why Joseph coming from and I see why he still is not satisfied with the answer. You know why? Because question is wrong for this community
Everyone here wants to do good for you Joseph! And that is why you are not getting direct answer regarding correct keyword density percentage. The truth is - this number is keeping changing constantly and whatever 'density' will you apply to your article it is - DANGEROUS! There is no exact magical number but there is a safe side that works for present moment.
And to answer you directly - do not cross 1.5 - 2.0 percentage at the moment. Think about this like that - If you will apply wrong keyword density to your article you will get fired from your job.
So, how to apply correct keyword density you are asking! - you see, you asking to guarantee you something that only Google can guarantee as there is no insight - what Google will implement next and how that will affect everyone here.
One golden rule applies for this though - keep constantly updating and changing your content! As far it is the best of the best of all ranking advices what I can give you because as far as it goes now - Whenever new content is published Google clearly and immediately recognizes, responds and communicates with you via changes of you ranking positions via what!? - via keyword density,placement,decoration,website structure, credibility,visibility and all this blah,blah,blah stuff
You see - keywords are still there!So, sorry, but there is no magical and precise pill for this! That is why question was a bit wrong.
all the best,
Jungles
-
Google is placing less and less importance on keyword density.
As a general rule always have the keyword/phrase in the Title, summary and opening paragraph and enbedded in any images/videos attached. And include some variations of the key term throughout the content eg. using synonyms.
I would recommend sticking at around 3% anything more than that definitely looks spammy
A little bit 'old school' but a tool you can use is http://www.visiblepr.com
You just enter in your top 3 keywords/phases and copy and paste the text into the box and it will tell you the density.
As mentioned through Google will probably appreciate the synonyms throughout the content over high density keywords.
-
Keyword density is passe. Just make sure you have used the targeted keywords in the title and a couples of times in the body content. But no need to use them as it is. For say if you are writing on Web design NY, you do not need to use the phrase as it.
-
I believe the tools are focused on a minimum number of instances of the phrase and not the %. Keyword density as an important ranking factor is a myth.
Here are two great links that will help shine some light on the subject for you:
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/10-myths-that-scare-seos-but-shouldnt-whiteboard-friday http://www.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo/myths-and-misconceptions-about-search-engines
-
This is a common sense approach. There is an optimal %.
I can write endless content that has high value. My site targets local real estate. I could write a hundred pages with a high value to customers. I need to know the %. I could write 300 words at 6% phrase. I could write 1,000 words at 3% etc... No matter how much content I add, it will be high quality.
I appreciate the link to the tool; however, even the tool has to target a specific %. It has to have an objective concept in which it weighs by. I am certain it has a %.
A blog on SEOMOZ once said 6%. A local SEO told me that is high level spam.
-
You should always write content for users and not search engines. Trying to achieve a specific percentage of keyword density could do more harm than good if it messes up the natural flow of your content. Instead you should use the on-page optimization tool to make sure your following best practices. It will of course let you know if you should try and include a few more instances of your targeted keyword. Adding additional content sections to the page can sometimes help you find better places to work in your keywords, try adding testimonials, lists, pull out quotes or excerpts of the main content, etc. There's also data that suggests partial match and related terms can help influence your on page relevancy so be sure you're working in these types of terms as well.
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
-
Impact of keyword/keyphrases density on header/footer
Hi, It might be a stupid question but I prefer to clear things out if it's not a problem: Today I've seen a website where visitors are prompted no less than 5 times per page to "call [their] consultants".
On-Page Optimization | | GhillC
This appears twice on the header, once on the side bar (mouse over pop up), once in the body of most of the pages and once in the footer. So obviously, besides the body of the pages, it appears at least 4 times on every single pages as it's part of the website template. In the past, I never really wondered re the menu, the footer etc as it's usually not hammering the same stuff repeatedly everywhere. Anyway, I then had a look at their blog and, given the average length of their articles, the keyword density around these prompts is about 0.5% to 0.8% for each page. This is huge! So basically my question is as follow: is Google's algorithm smart enough to understand what this is and make abstraction of this "content" to focus on the body of the pages (probably simply focusing on the tags)? Or does it send wrong signals and confuse search engine more than anything else? Reading stuff such as this, I wonder how does it work when this is not navigational or links elements. Thanks,
G Note: I’m purposely not speaking about the UX which is obviously impacted by such a hammering process.0 -
Home page keyword in url
I have been looking into SEO for a few weeks now trying to perfect a homepage. Going through various sources on MOZ, and other examples out there on the internet, I keep seeing that you should have your keyword in the URL of the page. The homepage is the page most people want to rank the highest in google searches, however, you cannot put the keyword in the URL as most home page URLs are simply /. Should I actually make the home like this: www.example.com/key-word-example? I would imagine this would not be the normal for many users and would seem like it's not the home page.
On-Page Optimization | | Matthew_smart0 -
Home page and category page target same keyword
Hi there, Several of our websites have a common problem - our main target keyword for the homepage is also the name of a product category we have within the website. There are seemingly two solutions to this problem, both of which not ideal: Do not target the keyword with the homepage. However, the homepage has the most authority and is our best shot at getting ranked for the main keyword. Reword and "de-optimise" the category page, so it doesn't target the keyword. This doesn't work well from UX point of view as the category needs to describe what it is and enable visitors to navigate to it. Anybody else gone through a similar conundrum? How did you end up going about it? Thanks Julian
On-Page Optimization | | tprg0 -
Avoid Keyword Dilution
Hi
On-Page Optimization | | ulefos
I am struggling with keyword dilution, and I don't understand what I need to do to change.I have read it but don't get it. This is the explanation - You want to target each keyword with a single page on your site, so modify the anchor text of this link so it is not an exact match. The only thing that I see is the title and the anchor text the same and the image alt also the same is that what the problem is here is the page I am trying to sort out for the keyword kiln dried logs.
Thank you0 -
ALT tagging images with keyword. What is too much?
I was wondering about the best practices of ALT tags in images. Say if you have an eCommerce site and you're on a product page. This product page has 5 images of the same product (different images), should you give every image an Alt tag with the keyword for that page? Or, is that keyword stuffing, and it would actually be best practice be to provide alt tags on just one image?
On-Page Optimization | | John_Francis0 -
Ecommerce On-Site SEO: Keywords in Category Descriptions
Hello, I'm doing on-site SEO for a client's ecommerce site. Are 160 words enough for a category description? I'm using the keywords once at the top of the description, and once at the bottom of the description, with the ones at the bottom reworded so that they are the keywords with a different word order. I used to put the keywords in 3 times but it just feels like stuffing. Is twice, worded differently the second time, enough for a category description? Thanks.
On-Page Optimization | | BobGW0 -
Do alt tags count towards on page keyword density?
Hello...I have written a bunch of content for my site using a useful tool called Scribe SEO which recommends keyword density at 5% if I remember correctly. So all my my newly written content is below this level but I am left wondering if by adding alt tags with my chosen keywords I will be considered to be over the limit and cause a red flag? Can anyone clarify this for me please?
On-Page Optimization | | Wallander0 -
301 redirect and then keywords in URL
Hi, Matt Cutts says that 301 redirects, including the ones on internal pages, causes the loss of a little bit of link juice. But also, I know that keywords in the URL are very important. On our site, we've got unoptimized URLs (few keywords) in the internal pages. Is it worth doing a 301 redirect in order to optimize the URLs for each main page. 301 redirects are the only way we can do it on our premade cart For example (just an example) say our main (1 of the 4) keywords for the page is "brown shoes". I'm wondering if I should redirect something like shoes.com/shoecolors.html to shoes.com/brown-shoes.html In other words, with the loss of juice would we come out ahead? In what instances would we come out ahead?
On-Page Optimization | | BobGW0