Keyword Density for Search Engine Optimization

One of the hottest topics in the world of SEO has been keyword density. Does keyword density really exist, and what kind of effect does it have on your rankings? What’s the perfect keyword density to use on your website, and how do you determine what it is? Understanding the ins and outs of this highly debated topic will improve your website’s SEO.

To begin with, it’s important to understand what exactly is meant by keyword density. The term refers to the percentage of your text that belongs to a specific keyword. So if you use the word “football” 20 times in a 500 word article, you have a 4% density for that density.

Many people have the belief that a specific keyword density is the solution to success with SEO. However, there is no consistency in what people believe. Some people seem to think that extremely high keyword usage, up to 10% is acceptable and effective. Other people feel that smaller 4% or 5% keyword density is the ideal figure. So what is it really, and how can your website use keyword density to improve on its success?

In reality, there is no specific keyword density that is a magical solution for your SEO. If you hit a 2% density, there is no green light that turns on in the search engines that says “page 1 ranking”, and the same holds true for any other density. Therefore, a smarter strategy than worrying about keyword density is just worrying about including the keywords to some extent, and in a natural way.

When you include your keywords naturally, you aren’t trying for a specific keyword density. You also aren’t forcing your keywords into a spot where they don’t belong. Instead, you just ensure that you talk about your topic and reference the keywords and phrases where they make sense.

This doesn’t mean that you can’t set a few rules or guidelines for yourself. For example, many people practicing SEO try to use their keywords once every 100 words or so. Other people might try to use a keyword once every paragraph. Regardless of your strategy, just remember to take it easy and don’t jam the keywords into every nook and cranny of your content. While no keyword density guarantees success, too many keywords on a website is a surefire signal of spam, and an easy way to ruin your rankings.

Also, as you produce the content for your website you need to remember that the article or paragraph structure isn’t the only place where keywords can be on your website. Other places include your META tags which get read by the search engines, as well as your navigation links and more.

Keyword density has proven to be more fiction than fact. Yes, you want to include your keywords and include them often enough so that you get “credit” for them. But there is no such thing as a perfect keyword density for SEO, and you shouldn’t force keywords in to try to meet any precise figure.

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