Importance of Keyword density?

[wazza1985]

Short, Sweet and easy for you guys!!

How important is keyword density???

Cheers

[scanlin]

While it used to be possible to keyword stuff content to game the search engines, that is less true today. I'm a believer in LSI (latent semantic indexing) whereby the SEs understand the meaning of a page even if they keyword isn't exactly present. SEs today know about synonyms and can extract meaning from text, allowing for creative and interesting use of language. Without tedious keyword repetition the content you create will be of more interest and read better to a search user –increasing  the user experience.

I take the viewpoint that you should write for humans first, and then review the content to make sure the keyword is present at least a little bit. I would not go so far as to say you should have 1 occurrence of the keyword per 150 words, or any other hard and fast density metric. But that's just me.

Also, I think the external factors (links with appropriate anchor text, and variations of that anchor text) are more important than on-page factors like keyword density. Just my opinion, although I do rank well for many phrases and I ignore keyword density (other than making sure the keyword is present in some minimal fashion on the page that is optimized for it).

[wazza1985]

Thanks Mike very interesting point

[A_Q]

HI Wazza1985,

In my experience keyword density is a very important factor. However, it's more important to ensure that your target keywords appear in key places, such as:

• Page title
• H1
• H2
• H3
• Main body text
• Internal and external pointing to your page
• Image alt tags
• etc

Also don't forget that content is for users as well as search engines so forcing keywords into the content to increase density could devalue it.

I hope this answers your question.

[MaryAnneG]

Keyword usage, as EliasAQ describes, is a best practice.  However focusing on keyword density (the idea that a keyword ideally must comprise x percentage of the page text) is essentially a myth.  This document explains this in more detail: http://guides.seomoz.org/chapter-4-basics-of-search-engine-friendly-design-and-development.

I use keywords in strategic parts of my page but aside from that I just try to write naturally and for the target audience.

Keyword density is important in the sense of never "overdoing" it. Hammering on a keyword over and over is likely to get your page flagged as spam (and scare off your visitors.)

[wazza1985]

Thank you this is very helpful,

So Keyword density is a myth then?

[Marcus_Miller]

Hey, the pro term target tool will give you a page grade for a keyword and is a good way to learn about optimising a page for a given term. It's not a perfect science, but it will point you in the right direction.

[kchandler]

@Mike Scanlin

Are search engines like Google currently using LSI? I tried doing some research on the topic but had trouble finding anything actually published by Google (except in their patent section). Either way, very interesting topic!

[scanlin]

Well, Google is obsessed with returning the best 'relevant' results they can. That's what makes people want to use their engine, is the quality of the results. I can't point to an article where they say "we're using LSI" but I guarantee you that a building full of PhDs at Google is doing everything they can to increase the quality of the results they return. LSI (or something like it) has to be a component (if not the major driving force).

[jcolman]

Also see Rand's recent update to the search engine ranking factors.  Keyword usage in <title>, <h1> and on-page content are all mentioned and measured.</p></title>