The optimal keyword density for SEO article

A Search Engine Optimization (SEO) article focuses on keywords or words that readers generally search for. Hence it becomes mandatory to use keywords often to have a visible appearance in search results. The key, then, is to determine the optimal keyword density while writing a SEO article.

What is Keyword Density?

Keyword density is usually explained as number of times a key phrase or word appears in the general word count of a web page. Anybody writing a SEO article would include the relevant keywords or phrases frequently in the article or page.  A page may not rank well if the keyword doesn’t feature on it. On the other hand by using the keyword in a variety of ways on the page may improve its chances of rating high in the rankings for that relevant term.

 What is the Optimal Keyword Density?

SEO experts are of the view that optimal keyword density for SEO article would be 1% to 3% though there is a conflicting body of opinion regarding the same with the internet on a constant revamp mode. There are some views vouching for 2% to 12% percent and even as high as 20%.  There may be no magical number, as it is dependent on many external influences including search terms, inbound links and so on.

How much is too much?

The importance of keyword density is crucial as search engines accordingly categorize the site. An adequate keyword density would mean better search engine ranking for that site. Keeping this in mind, it becomes necessary to maintain an optimal keyword density.  A low count would deprive the page from getting the required benefit while on the other hand, an exaggerated keyword density would lead to risk of your page coming under the banner of spamming and can be penalized.

It becomes important to maintain the keyword density for SEO purposes so that the page or site will get sufficient exposure and website visibility.  But don’t go beyond the stipulated 3% to be on the safe side, as crawlers such as Google’s penalize over-stuffed SEO websites. Ultimately it is worthwhile to remember that writing valuable and informative content is what draws potential clients or readers to the website.

What is the Relevance of Keyword Density?

It is natural to use the topic words or phrases frequently in the course of the article. But there should be a sensible cut-off point as keywords become redundant on repetition and may be seen as spam.  And then there is the current view that search engines today are far above such optimization methods regarding keyword density. For instance a page lacking keyword density can still rank high solely on the basis of an inbound link sporting an effective anchor text.

Many experts feel that “Keyword Density is an over-rated concept”, as it has been found that a certain page may garner higher ranking than the other despite having similar keyword density and even link profile.

Do you need to worry about optimal keyword density?

In the initial years of creating pages for the internet the importance of filling the pages with keywords may have been a crucial factor for SEO purposes. But not anymore, as search engines are getting more sophisticated and also giving importance to supporting or secondary keywords to validate the main content.

So the question is – Do you ultimately need to worry on optimal keyword density for SEO article? Shouldn’t the focus be more on the quality of the content, appropriate page structure and proper link building for the page to rank highly in the search engines?