What should be the optimal keyword density for SEO?

To do well in the search results you must know about the optimal keyword density for SEO. Most of beginners when they come to know about keywords; finds a targeted keyword; they usually start stuffing their post with the targeted word. The result is however demising. And they keep wondering why their pages aren't getting the rank they deserve. Well, this semi-concept should not be applied; instead one should have a good knowledge of keyword density for SEO if they want organic traffic to the site through search engines. In this post apart from density, I’ll be talking about the SEO basics for other two terms called distribution and frequency, which are equivalently important and should be always kept in mind. It is so because the spiders usually consider these three things while indexing and including pages in search results. So, before proceeding any further, I would like you to get yourself familiar with these terms.

What is keyword density?

Talking about keyword density for SEO, it is actually the percentage of keyword or phrases that is present in an article. Suppose, you have written a 500 words article and your targeted keyword appears 15 times. Divide the total number of targeted keywords by the total number of words in the article and multiply it by 100 per cent. In this example, the keyword density will be 3 per cent.

What are keyword frequency and keyword distribution?

Keyword frequency is similar to keyword density for SEO. It is a measure of how frequently the targeted term appears in the post or page. As per the search engine norms, any word except for stop words that has been used two or more times is considered to be a keyword. Lastly keyword distribution means how the terms have been spread over the whole post. Whether it has been evenly distributed or clustering in a specific segment.  The former is preferable and clustering practices should be avoided.

What should be the optimal keyword density for SEO articles?

This is one of the most commonly asked questions. Hyper-density should be avoided. The optimal keyword density for SEO should be in between 3-5 per cent. So if you are writing a post of 500 words, you should not put more than 25 times of the targeted keyword in that post which amounts to a total keyword density of 5 per cent. Also it should be evenly distributed throughout the article. Do not force them to form a sentence, in fact it should be natural sounding and easy to read. You can use stop words in between your keywords to maintain the optimal keyword density for your SEO articles as the stop words are not counted and also gives an easy read.

It has been said that spiders emphasizes more on the first 200 words of a post, so your keyword should be present at least in the first two hundred words and of course in the title of the post too. I have written a general guideline for optimal keyword density for SEO, for a 750 words article that has got 5 paragraphs. This is not “the” way, but “a” way to maintain the right amount of keyword density for SEO. You can device your own as long as it has the desired keyword density, frequency and distribution. So here is the example.

• It is mandatory for your targeted keyword to be present ONCE in the title of the post
• If you use meta description and meta keywords, then once or twice should be present in it.
• Start your article with the targeted term in the first sentence and if that is not possible then it should be placed in the first paragraph at least. And also the keyword or phrase must be repeated twice in the first 200 words, including the one in the first sentence. Or you can simply chose to put the keyword two times in the first paragraph.
• For the second, third and fourth paragraphs, use the keyword once
• In the last paragraph; use twice. If possible once in the last sentence.

This was an example for a 750 words article. However, each article varies in word length, so you will need to optimize the keyword density for SEO for each individual article. But as you now know about the technique, I believe that won’t be a problem anymore. You can make your own guidelines like the one above based on the above principles for different length articles to save time of calculating density of keywords for search engine optimization. Also apart from maintaining the optimal keyword density for SEO, always keep an eye open to check if the words have been evenly distributed or not.

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