keyword density

January 21st, 2008

Keyword density is the percentage of words on a web page that match a specified set of keywords. In the context of search engine optimization keyword density can be used as a factor in determining whether a web page is relevant to a specified keyword or keyword phrase. Due to the ease of managing keyword density, search engines usually implement other measures of relevancy to prevent unscrupulous webmasters from creating search spam through practices such as keyword stuffing.

Keyword Density: Frequently Asked Questions

How frequently should you use your keyword to rate highly for it in the search engines? How can you avoid penalties for keyword stuffing? Do the different search engines have different standards for the amount of times you can use your keyword on your site without invoking a penalty? Wayne Hurlbert tackles these and other questions in this article.

What is keyword density?

Keyword density is a combination of the number of times a keyword or a keyword phrase, in proportion with other words, appears on a Web page. The more times the keyword appears in relation to the total number of on page words, the greater the overall keyword density. The more times that other words appear, the lower the proportion of keywords, resulting in a lighter keyword density.

Does keyword density make a difference?

The various search engines, including Google, Yahoo, and MSN Search consider keyword density as part of their search algorithm. Each search engine has a different mathematical equation regarding the density of keywords that is rewarded with higher search ranking placement. There is also a different level of tolerance between the different search engines as to the degree of density permitted before a penalty is imposed.

Okay, so what are keywords anyway?

Keywords are the terms that searchers enter into the search engine’s search interface when seeking information, products, or services. The keyword is entered into the search engine algorithm as a mathematical calculation, to determine relevance of the many billions of Internet pages to that particular search. The pages the algorithm deems most relevant to the search for those keywords are ranked accordingly.

How are keywords different from keyword phrases?

A keyword can be one single word or a phrase including that word. Searchers use both types of entries when seeking information. As a general rule, the longer the phrase, the more specific the returned information will be from the search engine index.

One of the simplest ways to improve your site’s placement in the search engine results is to work on the keyword density on your page.

A keyword is a word that the user searches for when using a search engine. Generally speaking, keyword density is the ratio of the word that is being searched for (the keyword) against the total number of words appearing on your web page. If your keyword occurs only (say) once in a page of one thousand words, it has a lower keyword density than a keyword that occurs (say) four times in a page of similar length.

Keyword density is normally calculated per tag, per section, and/or per web page. For search engine optimization,the tags such as the title tag and link anchor text, should have a greater keyword density and care must be taken that the keywords appear without repetition. More>

Here is a tool Keyword Density Analyzer,  to analyze keyword density of any web page.

2 Responses to “keyword density”

  1. All About Adsense » Blog Archive » Points to Consider in SEO

    [...] Rate Me on BlogHop.com! help? « keyword density [...]

  2. All About Adsense » Blog Archive » Keyword Frequency

    [...] Keyword Density algorithms will vary from engine to engine. What page text is indexed will also vary. But, fundamentally, if your keyword (or phrase) occurs 5 times in every 100 words viewed by an engine, your keyword density will be 5%. Read More> [...]

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