It is difficult to stress the importance of keyword density to someone that isn't in the business and has little or no understanding of how search engines manage to pick up on the sites that are going to rank well within them. It is important though to understand that there are many different algorithms that are used to determine this rank and keyword density plays an important role in making one website stand out from the other competitors in search of the same keyword love and recognition by various search engines.
To get a good understanding of the basics when it comes to keyword density, it is a good idea to know the answer to the questions below.
What does “keyword density” mean anyway?
This is a good question, especially to answer for someone that is new to Internet marketing. Keyword density is basically the number of times a particular keyword phrase appears within the content when compared to the number of total words within the content. It's basically a percentage of how often the keyword phrase appears on any given page within the web page. A higher keyword density indicates that the instances of a keyword phrase within the content is higher and a lower KWD indicates that there are fewer instances of the keyword phrase on the page.
Does keyword density really matter?
Yes. The major search engines all use keyword density in the algorithms that are used to determine page rank for your website. What this means is that for a web page to be ranked well on any of the big three (Google, Yahoo, and MSN) it needs to have decent keyword density. The problem is that these algorithms are subject to change and you will need to go in once in a while in order to 'tweak' the keyword density in order to boost your rankings.
Is there one specific rule for keyword density?
Beware those who come bearing gifts of the “secret” formula for keyword density and search engine rankings. There are many reasons why this is a bad thing to fall for. Not the least of these reasons though is the fact that these algorithms are constantly changing and that each of the big 3 has something that is a little bit different to determine which websites rank best. In other words, no one knows the one secret formula that will bring all websites to the top of the pile.
You can bet if someone does figure it out by some miracle, he or she will not be so eager to share it. There are rules of thumb that can be followed though and will help you keep your website ranking near the top time after time. That rule of thumb is to keep the KWD below five percent so that you aren't unintentionally penalized for what the search engines identify as keyword stuffing. Keep these things in mind as you figure out which keyword density numbers feel most natural to you and which ones provide the best results in traffic and sales.
Once you've learned a few tips and tricks about keyword density, you need to learn how to to calculate the keyword density within your articles for marketing as well as the pages of your website. The good news is that there are quite a few tools online that are free to use and very accurate at determining what the keyword density for your content is.
You will need to find the one that you are most comfortable using and make that one work for you. Take a look at several different tools before you decide which tool is the one best for you though and give more than one a try. You may find that one tool brings you better luck or, as the case may be, results than other tools even though they should be sending the same results.
Before you get too caught up in determining the magic number for keyword density you need to understand that this is one of many tools or guides that can help you build a better performing web page. Unfortunately there are no hard and fast infallible rules to live by when it comes to keyword density or keyword placement. Worse still, once you find a formula that seems to work for you, one tweak in the search engine algorithm can send your page plummeting within the ranks. You must always work to keep your page on top and stay on top of the new developments that are being made in this important algorithms.
One trap that too many web site creators fall into is writing for the search engines rather than writing for the readers. Remember that while search engine ranking is important, if you you aren't writing for your audience they won't keep reading long enough to buy. It doesn't matter how many people visit your website if you can't entice anyone to buy. Make sure you don't over stuff your content with keywords or write poorly. If you aren't confident in your ability to write for your target audience pay someone to do the writing for you. Good content with a decent keyword density will pay for itself quickly in increased traffic and a greatly improved conversion rate.
Mix Things Up
If you really want to make a splash in the search engines, optimize your pages for different keywords. What this means is that you can optimize your website for more than one keyword. It may seem difficult but is not all that difficult to do. This allows you to capitalize on traffic that is searching for various keywords rather than placing all your marketing eggs in one keyword basket. This is also a great way to make the page easier to read while optimizing for more keywords. If the competition is fierce for your keywords, try creating a separate web page for each keyword phrase that you are targeting.
Keep these things in mind when creating your web pages and attempting to optimize. Don't let the question of keyword density and placement override everything else you should be doing to make your website more attractive to the search engines.
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