Keyword Density

What is Keyword Density?

Keyword density is a measure of how many times a specific keyword or phrase appears within one web page. 

That number can be compared to the overall word count of the page and expressed by a percentage.

Hence, keyword density can be also called keyword frequency as it calculates how frequently keywords are used throughout the page.

What is Keyword Stuffing?

Keyword stuffing is an outdated SEO practice that revolves around using the same keyword or keyword variations more times on a single page. 

Keyword stuffing was a practice that aimed to “increase keyword density” on a given page, to rank higher on search results.

This is bad!

Don’t do Keyword Stuffing!

Stuffing keywords is currently considered a spammy practice and is frowned upon by search engines.

That’s because using more keywords than needed is unnatural and feels weird for visitors.

Before semantic and entity SEO became a thing, search engines had no other way to determine content quality and topic than to analyze the words on the page.

Now crawlers understand the content context and sub-context much better.

That’s why keyword stuffing would feel unnatural even to a “robot reading your page”.

How to Calculate Keyword Density?

When analyzing content and comparing it to other content, calculating how many times a specific keyword was used on a single page is usually more than enough.

Comparing it to the total amount of words is actually not needed, even though based on the term “density” it feels like that’s what this term implies.

Denser or higher keyword frequency actually doesn't improve content quality.

Is Keyword Density Important for SEO?

In the current SEO landscape and taking into account how sophisticated current search engine algorithms are… Keyword density is not as important as it once was.

Of course, if you don’t even use your main key phrase or its synonyms, a few times on any web page, it’s unlikely that you will rank for that term. 

So using keywords (especially in headings) is very important for SEO. 

But that doesn’t mean that you will not rank for synonyms or relevant keywords, even if you haven’t used them.

In other words, there is no official or authoritative consensus when it comes to “how often you should use your keywords”. Because there is no way to measure or know that.

That being said, there are best practices when it comes to keyword density. You will learn a bit more about it at the end of this article.

Is Keyword Density a Ranking Factor?

There are no actual rules or guidelines that search engines follow when it comes to keyword density. Google themselves were saying that keyword density is not a ranking factor for almost a decade.

However, it is important to note that if certain keywords aren’t used enough, crawlers might not understand the search intent of the page.

That being said, there are diminishing returns when it comes to adding more keywords. 

If you use any term a few times, it helps search engines understand what is the topic, goal, and overall content value of that page. 

Start using the same keywords too many times on the same page and Googlebot will start thinking that you are keyword stuffing.

Semantic and Entity SEO

In the previous decade, SEO became much more relational than ever. 

That’s why practices like internal linking, content clustering, topical authority, and E-E-A-T building became the best way to grow websites.

Thanks to the standardization of semantic search engine algorithms and entity-driven knowledge graphs.

This led to ranking strategies requiring being helpful to users to succeed, not optimizing pages for robots.

And guess what is not helpful for your visitors? Using the same word over and over again on the same page. 

How Often Should We Use Keywords?

Here's a rule of thumb for keyword density:

1. Use your main keyword or key-phrase in your Title tag, H1, Meta Description, and within the first 100 words of your article.
2. Use your main keyword or synonyms as often as it’s needed to cover the topic clearly, concisely, and in the (expected) amount of depth.

The goal is to cover topics organically. You shouldn't be consciously thinking about keyword density.

In the second rule, I mentioned the expected amount of depth, because visitors have different search intents. 

There is a big difference in topical depth needed for two similar articles:

• What is Webflow? (The user doesn’t know what Webflow is)
• The Ultimate Webflow Guide for Pros (The user doesn’t need basic information about Webflow in this article, they are searching for a lot of advanced Webflow tips that will help them get to the next level)

Obviously, the first article should touch on all the basics in very little depth and link to the best in-depth resources on each subtopic if users want to learn more.

The second article should not start with “What is Webflow?”.

Visitors already know what Webflow is, this just wastes time and lowers trust in your Website.

Expert Written Content

In our E-E-A-T guide, we explained that search engines seek information sources that are:

• Trustworthy
• Has Authority in the Industry
• Has Expertise in the Topic
• Shows Experience within the Subject

Coming back to keyword density… 

How likely is it that a trusted expert, that has actual experience in the industry - will not use the correct words when writing about a specific topic or subject?

Impossible.

As long as they cover the topic completely with all the necessary subtopics (headings) and will write a concise, helpful content piece aimed at a specific audience.

They will never forget to use the main set of keywords in that article. Because how can you talk about dogs, while forgetting to mention words like dog or puppy?

Now experts who create such content might need help with improving their heading hierarchy or content optimization for the web, especially if they don’t have experience with writing such content. 

Regardless of that, there will not be any issues with keyword use if the topic and content goal were clearly defined before creating this content.

Don’t Fixate on Keyword Density, Focus on Topics

If you would leave with one key takeaway let it be this…

Focus on covering each topic concisely and with all the mandatory subtopics, and turn that into your heading structure. 

In other words, start with a clear content outline. Clear content brief.

Users should be able to explain what a page is about by just reading headings, without seeing images or paragraphs in between.

If you do that, you will never need to worry about keyword density. It will happen naturally as you go from one subject to another. From one heading to another. 

So to sum up:

1. Perform keyword research, and jot down the main topics to cover.
2. Start with headings, and fill in paragraphs with helpful information as you go. 
3. Don't think about keyword density, it will take care of itself.

Easy!