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The answer to this question varies from person to person, but a general rule of thumb is that the higher your keyword density, the more likely you are to rank well in search results.
Keyword density refers to how many times a particular word or phrase appears on a page. The idea behind it is simple: if you have too few keywords per page, Google will think there’s not enough content on your site and won’t show up as often in search results. If you have too many keywords per page, Google may think you’re trying to trick them into thinking there’s more content than there really is.
To calculate your keyword density, simply divide the number of total words by the number of unique keywords used. For example, if you have 200 words on a page and only 10 of those words are unique, then your keyword density would be 20 percent.
It’s true that having high-quality pages with lots of relevant keywords can help boost your rankings. But what happens when you don’t use enough keywords? That’s where keyword density comes in.
If you’ve got a lot of pages with low keyword densities, they could actually hurt your rankings instead of helping them. This is because Google uses a variety of factors to determine which sites appear at the top of its search engine results pages (SERPs). One of these factors is “keyword relevance.”
If your website has a high percentage of pages with low keyword density, it might look like you’re doing everything right—but Google isn’t seeing much value in your content. In fact, it might even see you as an attempt to manipulate their algorithm.
Google doesn’t want websites that try to game the system; they want websites that provide quality content. So if you’re using a lot of keywords without adding any real value to your content, you’ll probably end up hurting yourself instead of boosting your rankings.
That said, it’s also possible to have too many keywords on a single page. When you do this, it can make your page seem spammy and cause Google to penalize your site.
In addition, some people believe that having a high keyword density makes it easier for readers to find your content. However, this isn’t always the case. Some studies suggest that having high keyword density actually decreases clickthrough rates.
Your keyword density is calculated as follows:
Total Words / Unique Keywords Your Keyword Density
For example, let's say you have 100 words on a page and 50 of those words are unique. Then your keyword density would be 50%.
You should aim for around 1% - 2% keyword density. Anything above 3% is considered excessive.
The reason why we recommend keeping your keyword density below 3% is because Google wants to give users the best experience possible. They don't want to rank pages that are full of keywords just to get higher rankings.
So, keep your keyword density under 3%, and you'll be fine!
What Are Some Examples of High and Low Keyword Densities?
Here are a couple examples of high and low keyword densities.
High Keyword Density
Here’s an example of a page with a high keyword density:
Page Title: How To Make A Website Look Amazing With CSS3
Description: Learn how to create beautiful webpages with CSS3.
This page contains over 30 different keywords, but each one is used once. As a result, the keyword density is very high.
Low Keyword Density
Now here’s an example from a page with a low keyword density:
Page title: How to Create a Professional Business Card Design
Description: Learn how professional business card design works.
There’s only two keywords on this page, and both are used multiple times. As a result, there’s a low keyword density.
It’s true that having a high keyword-to-page ratio will help you rank better in Google. But what about when you have a low keyword-to-page ration? What does that mean?
Well, it means that you need to use more keywords on your pages to ensure that you aren’t missing out on traffic. You may think that having fewer keywords on a page will increase the likelihood that your visitors will stay longer on that page. This is not necessarily true.
One study found that when people read long pages, they tend to skim through them quickly. Skimming through a page takes less time than reading it completely. That means that skimmers won’t spend enough time on your page to convert into customers or leads.
If you have a short page, then you’ll miss out on potential conversions.
Another thing to consider is that having a high keyword ratio may affect your clickthrough rate. If your page has a high keyword density, then it might look like spam to search engine spiders. And if search engines see your website as spam, then they will likely lower your ranking.
That said, you shouldn’t worry too much about your keyword density. It’s unlikely that you’re going to get penalized for having a high keyword density.
But, if you do want to make sure that your site doesn’t look like spam, then you can try using our free SEO tool to check your keyword density.