I recently read somewhere (I think it was 'Adsense for dummies'), that Google prefers 2% for target keyword density and Yahoo about 5%? Does this seem about right? I noticed that my main competitor's site had almost exactly 2% density (which includes alt tags in the calculation) for my target keyword and they are rated #1 in Google. This calc was done on thier main page. Also do search engines average the target keyword over the entire site or just the main page. I am guessing it would be best practice to optimise your target keyword accross the entire site. Is that a reasonable assumption?
I wouldn't worry too much about keyword density. Although the first ranked website may have had 2% keyword density, they most likely also had the best backlinks associated with that keyword. Just stay under 6-10% and you should be fine. Onpage factors won't get you very far alone. So focus on link building more instead. As for density on a page vs the entire site, I think Google would consider each page separately. The related pages linking together help establish a site theme with that content. It would be far more advantageous to focus other pages on other keywords, instead of just focusing every page on that one keyword. Try to cluster your keywords around that main phrase and target overlapping phrases and related phrases. In time you may get all of those pages ranked for their keywords and become dominant in your niche.
Well the keyword density is not the only factor for SERP's Even backlink with the correct keywords(Anchor text) does matter So having a density between 5 to 10% wont harm But ensure that targeted keywords are supported by Anchored links Thanks
I've read so many different figures for what we should do in regards to keyword density. Does anyone know what the minimum we can get is? I do article marketing and it can be awkward to squeeze the target keyword in there again, and again and again just to reach 2-5%. An otherwise great article can become a pain to read because of it.
From what I have read and learned over the last few weeks being a member of this forum as well as others, Keyword density is a thing of the past. Getting quality backlinks and quality content is what it takes to get well ranked in the search engines.
But, if keyword density is too high, this would be considered 'spammy' to the search engine wouldn't it?
That's right. If you have repeated same keyword many times in a page, That is called keyword stuffing, you will be penalized by Google search.
My opinion regarding keyword density is to ignore it, its not natural, you dont need to think about it, it will stop you from writing naturally, your jumping through another invisible hoop by trying to comply with something that is not even neccessary. Worrying about keyword density should have you asking yourself what your doing to cause that worry.
its not dead.. far from it, its just part of the ranking process, amongst others, such as the ones you mentioned. But, it certainly isnt dead. I've got a ranking site with 15% keyword density (its unavoidable) ranking no1 for a very competitive singular keyword (40 million results). Pagerank is only PR1, ibl's are only 100 or so, and i can guarantee that its only the 15% KD that is keeping it there.