Importance of Keyword density?
-
Short, Sweet and easy for you guys!!
How important is keyword density???
Cheers
-
Also see Rand's recent update to the search engine ranking factors. Keyword usage in <title>, <h1> and on-page content are all mentioned and measured.</p></title>
-
Well, Google is obsessed with returning the best 'relevant' results they can. That's what makes people want to use their engine, is the quality of the results. I can't point to an article where they say "we're using LSI" but I guarantee you that a building full of PhDs at Google is doing everything they can to increase the quality of the results they return. LSI (or something like it) has to be a component (if not the major driving force).
-
@Mike Scanlin
Are search engines like Google currently using LSI? I tried doing some research on the topic but had trouble finding anything actually published by Google (except in their patent section). Either way, very interesting topic!
-
Hey, the pro term target tool will give you a page grade for a keyword and is a good way to learn about optimising a page for a given term. It's not a perfect science, but it will point you in the right direction.
-
Thank you this is very helpful,
So Keyword density is a myth then?
-
Keyword usage, as EliasAQ describes, is a best practice. However focusing on keyword density (the idea that a keyword ideally must comprise x percentage of the page text) is essentially a myth. This document explains this in more detail: http://guides.seomoz.org/chapter-4-basics-of-search-engine-friendly-design-and-development.
I use keywords in strategic parts of my page but aside from that I just try to write naturally and for the target audience.
Keyword density is important in the sense of never "overdoing" it. Hammering on a keyword over and over is likely to get your page flagged as spam (and scare off your visitors.)
-
HI Wazza1985,
In my experience keyword density is a very important factor. However, it's more important to ensure that your target keywords appear in key places, such as:
- Page title
- H1
- H2
- H3
- Main body text
- Internal and external pointing to your page
- Image alt tags
- etc
Also don't forget that content is for users as well as search engines so forcing keywords into the content to increase density could devalue it.
I hope this answers your question.
-
Thanks Mike very interesting point
-
While it used to be possible to keyword stuff content to game the search engines, that is less true today. I'm a believer in LSI (latent semantic indexing) whereby the SEs understand the meaning of a page even if they keyword isn't exactly present. SEs today know about synonyms and can extract meaning from text, allowing for creative and interesting use of language. Without tedious keyword repetition the content you create will be of more interest and read better to a search user –increasing the user experience.
I take the viewpoint that you should write for humans first, and then review the content to make sure the keyword is present at least a little bit. I would not go so far as to say you should have 1 occurrence of the keyword per 150 words, or any other hard and fast density metric. But that's just me.
Also, I think the external factors (links with appropriate anchor text, and variations of that anchor text) are more important than on-page factors like keyword density. Just my opinion, although I do rank well for many phrases and I ignore keyword density (other than making sure the keyword is present in some minimal fashion on the page that is optimized for it).
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
-
Ideal number of keywords for a text
Hi there! I am trying to figure out what the ideal number of my queries per copy (400 words) would be. My queries are: lg dryer repair (volume search: 851-1k)
On-Page Optimization | | kirupa
lg washer repair (volume search: 851-1k)
lg appliance repair (volume search: 851-1k)
lg repair service (volume search: 501-850)
lg washing machine repair (volume search: 501-850)
lg dishwasher repair (volume search: 201-500)
lg appliance repair (volume search: 851-1k) How many times do you think I might use each of those quires? Is there any algorithm to figure that out? I would appreciate very much any thought you could share with me.0 -
Keyword density or No. of Time keyword used
Now, I know that there is no set figure to be used here, whichever metric you are using and it will depend on the article and what is natural. However, lets suppose for a minute that we are taking a keyword in isolation, and I have a 2000 word article using the keyword 17 times and rank no. 3 in Google SERPS. The no. 1 slot uses the keyword 8 times but only has a 800 word article and only a B grade on the onpage ranker. Of course, there are off page factors as well, but just wondering what your thoughts are on whether you look at density or total keyword usage. It is easy to just write without think about keyword density or usage, but occasionally you end up using the keyword about 50 times, and it is then I have to actually think about it. Other articles I barely use the keyword because the article just writes itself and it works out fine, but these are generally shorter. With longer articles on my best converting pages, I can't help but think about it more and it ends up a little hit and miss.
On-Page Optimization | | TheWebMastercom1 -
Keyword/phrase proximity
I'm curious about opinions regarding how the search algorithms treat multiple key phrases that may reside in one long tail key phrase. So for example: If I'm optimizing for "New York Litigation Lawyer", would that also give me rankings for "New York Lawyer"? My thought is that the former will be considered the primary keyword and rankings will improve mostly for that, but that the latter keyword could also possibly see some lift as well. Thanks!
On-Page Optimization | | nickturner9221 -
Title tag of product page including category keyword?
I'm doing some work on a site that essentially is about giving and getting reviews. It's heirarchy has categories and products within those categories. For the title tag of the product pages, they currently have "Best {Category} | {Product} Reviews" I've advised them that they should remove the "Best {Category}" part because a) they're already targeting the category pages themselves and b) from a user perspective, the product page should just have a title tag that makes sense for that particular page (the page is not necessarily the "best" and certainly is not a series of products within that category). I wanted to post here to confirm that my advice is sound. Thanks.
On-Page Optimization | | jim_shook0 -
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 -
Can't see why been marked 'Avoid Keyword Stuffing'
Hi SEOmoz! I'm a newbie, first post, here goes... Working my way through On-Page Report Cards. Noticed this page http://www.vintageheirloom.com/vintage-chanel/vintage-chanel-bags flagged with 'Avoid Keyword Stuffing in Document'. Keyword is 'Vintage Chanel bags' and there is just one instance of it on this particular category page?? Any ideas? Any general pointers for me on www.vintageheirloom.com would also be much appreciated. Thanks SEOmozzers...
On-Page Optimization | | well-its-1-louder0 -
Keyword vs Brand Domain Name
Hi guys, I'm about to launch a new site for a friend who is an accountant in a specialist field. He's already bought 2 domains: **www.[keyword]-accountants.net ** **www.[brand]accountants.com ** We have made the decision to use the brand domain to host the site but what can we do with the keyword domain as exact match domains still seem to be ranking well in the serps? e.g. build keyword links to the keyword domain (heavily seo'd content) and build brand links to the brand domain (conversion-optimised content) then after while 301 the keyword domain? Any new suggestions will be gratefully received!
On-Page Optimization | | Tman30 -
Keywords with accents
Hi, We are running a website in Spain to teach touch typing to children (www.mecanografia.com). Our main keyword is mecanografia (touch typing in Spanish) which is official written with an accent on the i. Our SEOMOZ on page optimization report was initially an F because we set the keyword mecanografia without an accent and on the page we use the grammatically correct version with an accent on the i. Once we added the keyword with accent to SEOMOZ our rapport was upgraded to an A. Our question is: how does Google treat accents. Is it necessary to optimize for words with and without accent or does one version suffice. Users search about 50% of the time without using the accent. Any advice is greatly appreciated!
On-Page Optimization | | Mecanografia0