Moz Pro recommends not using a keyword more than 15 times. If there is a lot of content and the density is low, is it okay to go over that?

[Jeremy-Marion]

From MOZ on-page grader...

"Recommendation: Edit your page to use your targeted keywords no more than 15 times."

But if I use a keyword 50 times and the keyword density is only 2 percent, is that ok? What is more important, the raw number used or the density?

[EGOL]

"Recommendation: Edit your page to use your targeted keywords no more than 15 times."

In my opinion this is something that Moz should reevaluate because this question is asked over and over and over again in Q&A.   Lots of people could be tearing up their articles to avoid using their keyword more than 15 times.

My personal opinion is that I should use my targeted keyword in text as many times as is needed while writing in natural language.   I have articles that rank high on the first page of google for really really difficult queries.  I just visited two of them that quickly come to my mind.  On one I have used the targeted keyword 94 times, the other I used the targeted keyword 123 times.

I think that the number of times that a keyword NEEDS TO BE USED in an article depends in part on the length of that article.  The two articles described above were 1622 words (5.6% KW density) and 2628 words (4.6% KW density) in length, not counting image captions and tabular data.   If I had limit my use of the primary keywords to 15 times these articles would be turned into total rubbish.   I would have to resort to extremely unnatural writing to make these articles work.  The experience given to the reader would be horrible.  I am willing to bet that the rankings of these pages would plummet if I took them down to 15 instances of the targeted keywords.

This could be advice that, if followed diligently, could damage the results of people who follow it.  Moz wants to follow the ethic of "First do no harm" and for that reason, I think that this automated advice needs reevaluated as soon as possible.

[BradsDeals]

Two things immediately come to mind for me.

1. Wow, 50 mentions at 2% kw density is sounds like a LOT of content for one page, and

2. When you read it out loud, does it sound like natural speech or does it sound like you're just banging away at one keyword over and over? Because I believe that's what Google and the tool are probably getting at - making sure you're getting the keywords in there while still keeping the language as natural as possible.

[Jeremy-Marion]

The 50 at 2% was just an example. It seems like most people think as long as it sounds natural it is ok. Thanks.

[Jeremy-Marion]

Thanks, that helps a lot. Also, let's say for example my keyword is "soap". Does google include the amount of times "soap" is counted just in the body text, or on the entire page? Soap may appear on the navigation bar as well as in many product titles on a category page. In some cases, this may double the number of times the keyword is found.

[EGOL]

Nobody outside of Google, knows this type of information with certainty.   My guess is that Google is only concerned with what is within the article portion of the page.

My honest opinion is that Google is not concerned with keyword density unless it is outrageous.   If I am writing an article with the hope of ranking for a one-word query, my use of that word on the page has a density of about five percent.  I have that density because my writing is very precise and explicit.

I never even think about how many instances of a keyword is on the page.  My only concern is if the article is easy to read, easy to understand, and contains value for the reader.  Over and over, Google has told webmasters to write as though search engines did not exist.  I believe that is what I should do.