SEO Speak: Keyword density
16th July 2010 by Emily Mace
A few years back keyword density was everything, with a focus on the percentage of times a keyword was mentioned in a body of text. However, how search engines see pages has changed considerable over the years and so has SEO . So, what is keyword density and does it matter now? Further to Damian’s blog a few weeks ago about Natural Content vs, Keyword stuffing I thought that Keyword density would be another good addition to my SEO speak series.
Keyword density is the number of times a keyword or phrase is mentioned in the content of a page compared to the length of the content. Back in the day there were a number of “accepted” figures for the % of times a keyword should be mentioned in the copy of a page However, things have changed and the modern search engines don’t use this keyword density to determine relevancy. Google now offers advice on the content you write for your website. Google recommend that you write naturally on the web site and aim your content not at the search engines but at visitors.
It can be tempting, when considering search engine optimisation, to try and shoe-horn a keyword or phrase into your content as many times as possible when writing. However, the content on your website must read naturally. If your content reads naturally visitors to your website are more likely to leave because they find it difficult to find out what you do. Search Engines also don’t respond well to content with keywords used too many times. So, over use of keywords in a page or Keyword stuffing can harm your site in more ways than one. To quote Damian “Keep. It. Natural”
Don’t think that this means that you can’t use a keyword at all, if you don’t mention your keywords on your pages then you will never get a ranking for these terms! However, one mention of the keyword in the content, along with an optimised Title tag and good H1 tag is enough to enforce the message to search engines, and will ensure that your content is readable by your potential customers too.
If you write naturally flowing content that is related to what you do on your website then you should find that there are no issues with fitting in your keywords into the copy without having to use a crowbar to ensure they are mentioned and without creating awfully written, keyword stuffed content which no one can read. Content is vital to the success of your website as it’s how you communicate with your potential customers, so making sure you get it right is key.
Related Posts
- SEO Speak: Relevance
- 3 quick tips on writing search-friendly content
- SEO Speak: H1 tags
- Word Clouds and Keyword Research
- Google can help when looking for Keyword Synonyms
- SEO Speak: Search Engine Friendly
- Natural Content vs Keyword Stuffing
- How keyword research can make your business more profitable
2 Comments to SEO Speak: Keyword density
July 16, 2010 at 11:45 pm by Adrian Eden
I like this article a lot. Really rounds out what I have been thinking over the last few months. Teaching this to non SEO types is quite difficult, which leaves room for specialists like you and I to make a living.
August 9, 2010 at 12:58 pm by Redtapedoc
This gives me a much better idea of how to go and prepare the copy for the new webs pages to market my products. In the past I have made the mistake of preparing copy and then building up the keywords. Now however, I will build my web pages around the keywords; the word’s in the title, meta tag’s and meta descriptions etc. Another great blog post. Thank you