Keyword Density

[retired_member36]

After the last google update, what is classed as a too high of a keyword density?

I was ranking really well on a site for a certain keyword, which i no longer am. Ive just checked the % keyword density using seoworkers.com, the keyword i no longer rank well for is showing as 7%.

Ran the same test on a competitors site (they are ranked number one), showing a keyword density of just 2%.

 

[chippyb]

Before the update 7% was to high, after this update I have been aiming for 2-3% but sometimes as long as 1%

 

[Nick11380]

There is no such thing as keyword density in SEO anymore. Your content is either spam, or it's not spam. Write content naturally, for your users, and you will find the best results; if I'm honest, any webmaster that considers keyword density in their content has been asleep for the past year and a half!

Of course there are still a ton of other onpage best practices that you should follow, keyword density is just no longer one of them.

 

[JamesMac]

This video should answer your question on keyword density:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7W0o65tTIQ

 

[marko777]

There is no such thing as keyword density in SEO anymore. Your content is either spam, or it's not spam. Write content naturally, for your users, and you will find the best results; if I'm honest, any webmaster that considers keyword density in their content has been asleep for the past year and a half!

Of course there are still a ton of other onpage best practices that you should follow, keyword density is just no longer one of them.

Funniest comment of the year,and for the record,absolute rubbish.
Are you seriously telling something like

I like FAST CARS.If you have ever driven FAST CARS you will realise what a buzz you get driving FAST CARS.
(and as someone who does real seo I see this ALL the time affecting sites,)

doesn't affect your serps(that is keyword density btw).Penguin is the update which deals with this.Now ask yourself does the above short sentence look spammy,yes,why,keyword density....next.
Show me a site in the top 3 using keyword density like that in an article.

Oh and define your version of spam please...

You raised one valid point,write content for your sites visitors.

OP,aim for 1.5 - 2% main keyword density (on page).Once done get some high pr links so googlebot spiders your site and the changes are updated.

Go to www.seocentro.com and run the keyword analyser to get %'s

 

[Nick11380]

To be completely honest, I struggled to understand any of your rant. The bit that I did get about fast cars seems to of missed my point entirely.

Will not entertain.

 

[philiporchard]

This video should answer your question on keyword density:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7W0o65tTIQ

Simple really!!!

 

[Blossom]

Funniest comment of the year,and for the record,absolute rubbish.
Are you seriously telling something like

I like FAST CARS.If you have ever driven FAST CARS you will realise what a buzz you get driving FAST CARS.
(and as someone who does real seo I see this ALL the time affecting sites,)

doesn't affect your serps(that is keyword density btw).Penguin is the update which deals with this.Now ask yourself does the above short sentence look spammy,yes,why,keyword density....next.
Show me a site in the top 3 using keyword density like that in an article.

Nick means that it's pointless aiming for a specific percentage. Google likes natural content. Having a keyword density of 1.5-2% on every page looks anything but.

laterooms.com ranks second for 'hotels' for me. Keyword density, according to your tool, is 17.2%.

 

[julian]

I pity anyone you've done 'seo' for.. :-o


Nick's totally right.

Funniest comment of the year,and for the record,absolute rubbish.
Are you seriously telling something likeGo to www.seocentro.com and run the keyword analyser to get %'s

 

[marko777]

Nick means that it's pointless aiming for a specific percentage. Google likes natural content. Having a keyword density of 1.5-2% on every page looks anything but.

laterooms.com ranks second for 'hotels' for me. Keyword density, according to your tool, is 17.2%.

Late rooms is a PR6 site,thats the difference and although the word hotels is 17.2% a vast majority of that % is anchortext.I
Show me a PR 2 site with 17.5% keyword density.If you look at the payday loans examples here and indeed in the serps right now the odd results are PR6 sites with very good age,they will rank for anything,as the payday loans example show.Trust is the word.The infamous froginthewell site was hacked with php to change certain words to by read by google as different words than those that are seen by visitors e.g
preg_replace("[what you are searching for]","[what you wish to replace it with]","[the text to search]")
Low pr untrusted sites will not take high keyword density.

 

[marko777]

I pity anyone you've done 'seo' for.. :-o


Nick's totally right.

The goods news is my clients don't.

 

[mally]

From what I've seen, I've reduced my keyword density down, it seems to be a major factor in the sites I own that have been effected. However I'll be in a better position to answer in a couple of weeks if the sites show any improvement

 

[marko777]

From what I've seen, I've reduced my keyword density down, it seems to be a major factor in the sites I own that have been effected. However I'll be in a better position to answer in a couple of weeks if the sites show any improvement

Get some high PR links to the page(s) you've changed to speed up the indexing of the changes.

Please post back in a week or 2 with results of your changes it'll help others.


Read more about keyword stuffing which relates to keyword density below.
http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=66358

 

[Nick11380]

From what I've seen, I've reduced my keyword density down, it seems to be a major factor in the sites I own that have been effected. However I'll be in a better position to answer in a couple of weeks if the sites show any improvement

This isn't what SEO is about anymore, maybe a year ago it was. It's no longer about finding loop holes in the algo and trying to exploit them. Google has already made it pretty clear that it is ready to shit all over websites that try this; and if it doesn't today then it will tomorrow.

I'm telling you now, don't waste your time - removing or adding keywords will do nothing to improve your rank. You need to think bigger.

 

[vizzo]

Although the official line from Google is "write good natural stuff and it will rank well", Google is nowhere sophisticated enough to achieve that. Many of the old blackhat/greyhat techniques still work. Although Google would like us to believe that keyword density is not relevant, I'm sure that it is A factor, even if a small one. Inasmuch as if your page is crammed with keywords it's LIKELY to be a negative factor (although you still see some keyword crammed sites ranking well).
At the other extreme, if your keywords are only minimally used on your page, how is Google going to know that your page should rank well for that term?
Our fear is that it's always possible that writing your page naturally may mean a high keyword density which Google then sees as spammy.
Of course keyword density, if it is relevant still, is only one of numerous factors.

 

[Blossom]

Late rooms is a PR6 site,thats the difference and although the word hotels is 17.2% a vast majority of that % is anchortext.

Your specification was "Show me a site in the top 3 using keyword density like that in an article." Anyone can add all kinds of qualifiers and exceptions after.

That's one of the main things about SEO - you can't just say A + B = C. There are too many if, buts and maybes for (probably) billions of combinations.

There are a whole set of different rules and potential outcomes for authority sites.

My point is, you can't just say "use 1.5% keyword density" as a statement and expect it to hold up.

 

[marko777]

You're right,there is no fix all %,that's not what I said,I said aim for 1.5-2%,see what happens and alter from that if needed.7% is high for most niches,if the site is low pr,it's too high.So the reason I suggested taking it down to 1.5-2% would be to monitor the results and,if needed adjust.It could be the meta title and description is over optimized.I cannot see the site so I cannot give a more accurate guide to issues other than going by the OP's supplied information.
You're also right about high PR sites which is my point,it'll take alot more keyword density without being penalised.

I'm here to help the OP I couldn't care less who agrees or disagrees with what I am saying.
Op try checking your anchortext keyword density as well,it could there is too much or little.Again without seeing it is ballpark guesses.