What is optimal keyword density?
Best practices for using keywords in your content
What is optimal keyword density?
When you create your website, you use keywords and phrases to help users find your pages.
You try to choose words that are relevant to your business and interesting to potential customers.
Then you implement these keywords in your URL, in the title tags and in the content itself.
These keywords help Google rank your content in relevant searches.
The trick is to know how many times you can use a keyword before it becomes excessive.
This is a challenge for many companies.
In this article, we’ll look at best practices for using keywords in your content and how to avoid overusing these terms.
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What is keyword density?
Keyword density is the percentage of times a keyword or phrase appears on your page in relation to the total number of words.
If you use a keyword 10 times on a 1,000-word page, your keyword density is 1%.
SEO experts have debated the right percentage range.
Most feel that 1-3% is a good range for keyword density, but no one knows the exact ideal percentage.
The impossibility of choosing an exact percentage stems in part from the lack of confirmation from Google.
Google has not confirmed the effectiveness of keyword density on site rankings.
The only thing Google has confirmed is that the first and second use of the keyword on your page is effective.
After that, it’s difficult to determine how many keywords are useful to Google.
How Hummingbird has affected keyword density
In 2013, Google updated its search algorithm.
It’s called Hummingbird.
This update changed the way Google understands search queries.
With Hummingbird, Google looks at a user’s search intent instead of exact keywords.
How is this different?
Before the Hummingbird update, if someone searched for “How do I fix my leaky faucet?”, search bots would focus on the phrase “leaky faucet”.
Search results could include faucet parts, hardware stores and even repair services.
However, as Hummingbird enables Google to better understand the user’s intent, a similar search today will yield tips, how-to articles and even helpful videos on how to fix a leaky faucet.
The Hummingbird update enables Google to understand the relationships between topics and themes.
This means that marketers can incorporate synonyms and related terms instead of stuffing articles full of keywords.
Keywords still play an important role in ranking your pages for relevant searches.
It’s important to understand how Google uses keywords to determine search intent.
This will help you target keywords and phrases that will benefit your business, and you can incorporate synonyms and related terms to help Google discover your content, while avoiding unnecessary keyword stuffing.
Keyword density and keyword stuffing
Keyword density can turn into keyword stuffing if you’re not careful.
Keyword stuffing is the excessive use of keywords to manipulate a site’s ranking on Google.
People frequently use keywords in their content because they think it will help them rank higher in search results.
However, this has the opposite effect.
Using too many keywords can have a negative impact on your ranking.
This means you need to pay close attention to how often you use keywords in your content.
How do you determine the optimum number of keywords?
Since there’s no magic number, it’s hard to know how dense your keywords should be.
In the absence of a definitive number, it’s harder to avoid keyword stuffing.
Here are some best practices to ensure that you use keyword density effectively.
Write naturally and read aloud
The best thing to do when writing is to place terms only where they fit naturally.
The keyword should not be used in every other sentence, or more than once in the same sentence.
Don’t try to force yourself to include these terms.
When you write content, just write it.
Don’t think about how many times you use the keyword.
Once you’ve written down your thoughts, you’ll be able to see how many times you’ve used it.
The next step is to read your text aloud.
When you read it aloud, you’re more likely to notice the repetition of key words.
You’ll notice when you’re using a word too often.
This is a good way to eliminate overuse.
Another tactic is to use a variety of signal words.
When you have a variety of words, you prevent yourself from overusing a key word or phrase.
Before you start writing, you should sit down and think about the keywords you want to use in your article.
There are two types of keywords to include.
The first type is that of terms of reference.
These are the words Google expects to see in your document.
These are terms that prove to Google what you’re talking about.
If you’re writing an article about how to make perfect spaghetti, you’d expect to see terms like “boil”, “cook” or “al dente”.
These terms are generally linked to the cooking of spaghetti.
Google expects to see these terms because you’re talking about the preparation of this dish.
The second type is that of relevant terms.
Relevant terms are words that have a bearing on the subject.
They differ from proof terms in that they are synonyms.
If you take the example of spaghetti, the relevant terms would be pasta or noodle.
These are synonyms of spaghetti that you can use in your article.
The point of using reference terms and relevant terms is to broaden your use of keywords.
By using a variety of terms, Google will be able to better understand your topic.You can avoid keyword stuffing by using relevant and proof terms.
This will broaden your vocabulary and enable your article to be more complete.
Do the math
Most SEO experts agree that keyword density should be between 1 and 3%.
You can do some basic calculations to determine your keyword density.
To do this, divide the number of times you use the keyword by the total number of words.
Once you have this number, multiply it by 100.
This is one way of keeping your keyword density at an optimum level.
It will require a little more work on your part, but it will help you keep your keyword density in a good range.
Use keyword density tools
The first type is a keyword density analyzer.
This tool can examine competitor sites and find common phrases that your competitors are using.
These are phrases that your company may want to adapt to stay in the race.
The second type of tool is a keyword density analysis tool.
This tool focuses on the URLs and content of these web pages.
It analyzes the number of words on the page, related words, unrelated words and short words used.
It shows the keywords you use most often on the page, ranked from most frequent to least frequent.
The analysis report provides you with data that can help you correct and manage your pages.
