Keywords are the topmost ingredients of an effective SEO strategy.
Ranking with the relevant keywords helps you to stand out from the competitors. Moreover, it also improves your SERPs.
When you dig deeper into it, you will come to know the term “keyword density.”
What does keyword density mean?
When a particular keyword appears in the content several times, it is called its keyword density.
For example, when a keyword appears six times in a 100 words text, its keyword density would be 6%.
In simple words, it is the percentage that unveils to us how often a specific keyword appears in an article. Search engines use keyword density to determine whether or not the written article is relevant to the target keyword.
If the target keyword appears more frequently in an article, search engines will not boost that site. Instead, they lower that site’s ranking.
Does keyword density matter?
We all know that relevant keywords bring in searches.
When people search for specific information on the internet, they type keywords of their intent and expect Google and other search engines to drive the most relevant and authentic results.
In times like these, Google considers geographical factors to show the results. But keywords remain crucial factors in an article’s success.
It does not mean you stuff massive keywords in your article and expect matchless results. If you are thinking like this, you are incorrect.
Remember, Google will penalize your site if you keep following this practice.
In a nutshell, keyword density matters a lot for SEO.
What is the best keyword density in content?
There is no foolproof rule for how many times a target keyword should be inserted in the content. Remember, search engines do not suggest any specific keyword density percentage.
So what to do?
Many professional content writers and copywriters believe that keyword density should not be more than 2%.
It means that the target keyword should not appear more than two times per 100 words. But how can you keep track of 100 words?
This is the place where an online character count tool comes into play. With it, you can keep track of characters, words, and sentences.
Many experts use it to measure an article’s length. Likewise, you can also use a reliable character counter to keep track of keyword density.
Benefitting from it allows you to measure keyword density professionally. In this way, you can also avoid keyword stuffing.
Furthermore, it also helps you to write the relevant article only. That’s why skilled writers use a free character counter to stay within a particular limit.
Keyword stuffing
When a page is repeatedly ranked using the same target keywords, it is called keyword stuffing. It is against professionalism!
You should be aware of keyword stuffing to not partake in it.
If a page’s keyword density percentage is very high, it may look to be keyword stuffing. However, keyword stuffing is against Google’s quality criteria.
Avoid letting keyword stuffing spoil your content.
The purpose of your website’s content should be to educate, serve, and engage your visitors.
You cannot achieve this goal if you fill your pages with keywords. So you begin writing for search engines rather than readers.
This gives your audience a bad experience and will likely drive readers away from your page, boosting bounce rates and driving away prospective customers.
If you believe that stuffing your page with keywords will generate more traffic to your site, you are not correct.
As mentioned earlier, keyword stuffing is widely frowned upon by search engines, and it may result in a penalty.
To put it another way, stuffing your page with irrelevant keywords would not help you rank higher. Google will catch you out sooner rather than later.
However, the importance of using relevant keywords in articles or blog posts cannot be overstated. After all, SEO becomes nearly impossible without it.
The problem usually emerges only if the content seems poorly due to all the keywords you have stuffed in. You are more likely to receive the results you want if you keep your keyword density reasonable.
Four tips to keep keyword density natural
A few keyword density guidelines could go a long way toward assisting you in naturally including keywords into your text.
- Avoid using inappropriate phrases
- Do comprehensive keyword research
- Come up with a solid mindset
- Focus on the quality
You may end up adding irrelevant and incorrect phrases to the content.
Even if you keep your keyword density at a reasonable level, choosing improper words will make it harder to receive the results you want from your published material.
First things first!
Before you start including keywords in your content, you need to find the exact ones. What’s the point of including low-value keywords in your content and risking a penalty when you can easily include the highest-ranking keywords and make your content SEO-friendly?
You can use credible keyword researching tools to conduct successful keyword research and categorize keywords so that they are easy to find when you need them.
When writing the SEO article, your mind becomes so preoccupied with inserting SEO keywords into the post that you lose sight of the writing.
It should be the opposite way around, with you concentrating on the writing aspect. If your goal is to publish an educational post, you will be more likely to naturally incorporate keywords into the content.
As you continue to write, you will begin to include keywords that flow naturally with the text rather than including them only for SEO purposes.
When it comes to determining your rankings, search engines, particularly Google, focus on your material quality.
The SEO keywords you employ will undoubtedly assist you in reaching the top of the search results, but they will only be helpful if you provide high-quality content.
Hence, you must prioritize quality above quantity.
Placing yourself in the reader’s shoes is the most effective strategy to shift your perspective toward writing high-quality content rather than focusing just on the site’s keywords.