It’s not always true that you can never have too much of a good thing. In terms of keyword density, more isn’t always better. Keyword density refers to how many times a keyword appears in a page. If you’ve got 2% keyword density, the word would appear 2 times per 100 words.
Don’t Wear A Black Hat With SEO
The search engines want to see relevant keywords peppered through your online content but black hat tactics like keyword masking as well as keywords stuffing won’t do you any favours with search engines or with human visitors.
You want to find the perfect blend of human readability and search engine friendliness in your website and here are a few ways you can do that without going overkill on the keyword stuffing which many experts say shouldn’t exceed 5%. Some actually suggest more like 2% keyword density and others believe that the content will simply speak for itself and that you should take into account synonyms and breaking up key phrases in order to do the trick.
Balancing Keywords and Content Quality
Read your written piece and look for your keywords. Are they in the beginning of the article so that a search engine can quickly see what the article is about?
- Are they in the headers and the titles?
- Do you have related keywords in your content as well?
The key to a great blend of keyword density and human readability is to look at your article first and foremost from a human perspective and secondly look at it from the perspective of the search engines.
Your human readers do need to come first in internet marketing of any type. Over stuffing will turn people off so that even if the search engines make you number one in the results for all your desired targeted words and phrases, you still won’t have much luck because you won’t convert visitors into customers.
About Sean Rasmussen
So true Sean.
Time and time again the search engine needs are what count to some people, neglecting the reader in the process.
I find if I just concentrate on the article and forget about the keyword density it works out fine. I have had articles with very low density rank pretty well.
I agree Gee, content is king online. Obviously do what you can from and SEO perspective, but mainly concentrate on writing for your readers.
Hi Gee,
I’m going to try this because normally I’m very conscious of what my keyword density should be. I want to see what happens if I just write for my readers.
Jazz
Some of my articles go less than 1%. When I am using a ghostwriter I sometimes reduce it back quite a bit because it doesn’t look natural.
You can only put baby boomer as a term in so many times. The way around it is to use related terms as Sean has taught us
Right on Gee. A great piece of advice I heard was to write an article without trying to target a particular keyword density and then edit the article to include extra keywords where they sit naturally.
Ultimately we are after people who want to read our blogs, and not just Google rank. Particularly with long tail keywords, overusing them can be really off putting.
Readability is key, as I would like my visitors to come back for other posts. Articles that are over-stuffed with key phrases just to please the Search Engines don’t make good reading and don’t entice return visits.
Hi Sean,
I have to say I am pretty conscious about what my keyword density is when I’m writing a post. Sometimes though, depending on what the phrase is, I do struggle to get the mix right.
When this happens I just go with how the post looks but at other times I do make an effort to include my keywords more. Do you think I should forget about keyword density entirely? Or, can I forget about keyword density as long as I have the other aspects of on-page SEO covered?
Go for the readability Jazz
Great article. I am going to have to rewrite some of my text.
Leigh
Write for readability first. Then consider your keyword density. If you think that you haven’t sufficient keyword density, then tweak the article. But your reader is the primary concern. The reader is the one who may become a client, not the search engine.
Hi Don
I can tell you come from some form of writing background! What you are saying here is sound advice. the message needs to be conveyed with clarity first. If we try to integrate keywords which make the content sound awkward, the reader is going to click out, and then we have lost a potential customer.
Sound advice here with keyword density this blog post should be up in lights somewhere it will never be irrelevant!
The balance and placement is so important for KW’s. The last thing you want after having spent so much time on your article and site is to have Google ban you – what a terrbile place that would be. Gone are all the old tactice like making a background of keywords which are the same colour as the screen.
It is worth getting it right!