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Business

Joe Hirst
PLUS
Joe Hirst
Courses Plus Student 6,489 Points
Posted by Joe Hirst
Joe Hirst
Courses Plus Student 6,489 Points

Keyword density question

I know it's not really a topic of discussion, yet I'm just wondering/wanting a little input.

So after Google Panda, keyword stuffing and relevance is picked up on an now has a dramatic effect on your PR.

I'm just wondering, does anyone here still bother with keywords, and what density is too much?

Typically I am aiming at a 5% density.

Thoughts?

Thanks!

8 Answers

Jonnie Guimaraes-Klausch
Jonnie Guimaraes-Klausch
4,270 Points
Jonnie Guimaraes-Klausch
Jonnie Guimaraes-Klausch
4,270 Points

I personally think that 5% might be a little bit on the high end and would probably aim at 4-3% . But the truth is, that nobody will be able to name you a magic number, because nobody outside of Google knows exactly what density is considered as "to much". You probably heard that before, but try writing your content first and foremost for the user and not some search engine. That obviously doesn't mean that you shouldn't optimise your content for your keywords, just don't overdo it and you'll be fine.

John Locke
John Locke
9,450 Points
John Locke
John Locke
9,450 Points

I agree that anywhere between %2-4 is probably more than fine. You'll want to make sure to use synonyms as well. Write stuff that sounds natural, and get backlinks from social sites such as StumbleUpon, Reddit, or Twitter.

Joe Hirst
PLUS
Joe Hirst
Courses Plus Student 6,489 Points
Joe Hirst
Joe Hirst
Courses Plus Student 6,489 Points

Thanks Jonnie!

I wholeheartedly agree. There isn't a magic number, if only! Haha.

I definitely focus entirely on the quality of page content before I so much as consider keywords.

I'm definitely siding with the ideas of using less that 5% density, as this is actually proving far mor effective for other sites, not to mention competitor websites!

Thanks again Jonnie! :D

Joe Hirst
PLUS
Joe Hirst
Courses Plus Student 6,489 Points
Joe Hirst
Joe Hirst
Courses Plus Student 6,489 Points

Hey John,

Thanks. Back linking is a relatively easy task in my opinion. Again, quality over quantity is key here too, I know that. :P

I think I need to lowers my density from now on, as even after reading a few pages of a recent site, it doesn't seem pleasurable to read the keywords so consistently. :/

After all, I'd rather focus on user experience over spam.

Thanks for the help guys!

John Locke
John Locke
9,450 Points
John Locke
John Locke
9,450 Points

User experience is a must, wholeheartedly agree. Use your keyword in the Title and h1, and you've got a lot of it covered.

James Barnett
James Barnett
39,199 Points
James Barnett
James Barnett
39,199 Points

My 2 cents ...

  • Give your page a title that will help someone who see's it on Google
  • In most cases your H1 tags can match your title
  • The "keywords" on your page should be the major topics it covers
    • Break up your page into sections identified by H2 tags
  • Write a one to two sentence meta description, to provide some context for a person who see's it on Google (~150 characters)
Joe Hirst
PLUS
Joe Hirst
Courses Plus Student 6,489 Points
Joe Hirst
Joe Hirst
Courses Plus Student 6,489 Points

Thanks James.

I'm utilizing those methods mentioned, I think now it's just a case of building quality back links to my pages.

Thanks to everyone for your input. :)

Eric Siu
Eric Siu
2,008 Points
Eric Siu
Eric Siu
2,008 Points

Hey Joseph,

Honestly, I would just think about writing for your audience and forget about any % to aim for on your pages. If you're genuinely helping other people and providing value through your site, you don't need to worry about Panda.

Panda is something to worry about if you're pumping out thin content (think eHow) and trying to get keyword rankings quickly that way.

This article should help: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/top-1-seo-tips-for-2013?goback=.gde_2262526_member_196553031