Keyword density in article??

[downsouth]

What is the 'accepted/best/other' keyword density percentage for articles

I'm getting some articles written for a new domain approx 500 words in length.

[SEO Traffic Solutions]

I find if you include the keyword once in the first paragraph.

Once in the last paragraph.

And 2 - 3 times in the body - that usually works.

[Coppock]

I'd agree with that, definately put the main keyphrase at the start of the page title as well.

Jen

[loubycee]

Agreed, usually go for up to 3% with the keyword/phrase in the first sentence and preferably in the title, as well as another two times - one as close to the end as I can

[mattsaw]

Keyword density is a load of rubbish, it's doubtful search engines have ever used it as a metric.

What they do look at is page markup, headings, titles, headings, usage of words and related words within the article, alt text etc.

[loubycee]

Yes of course there are other factors but there has to be some guide so that beginners don't fill an article full of c**p

[mattsaw]

Yes of course there are other factors but there has to be some guide so that beginners don't fill an article full of c**p

It's usually because people are trying to work to a rigid keyword density that articles do any up being a load of crap.

Write for readers
Make it interesting, engaging and useful
Know what your keywords are and use them in the obvious places

[fisicx]

You only really need one occurance of a keyword. Write the article for people not the search engines.

Downsouth, what are you hoping to acheive with these articles? Would it not be better to spend the dosh on your site content as that will be far more cost effective.

[downsouth]

I already have some site content, that was written by a member on here, which is used on my beach tent website, and i've seen a large rise in visitors since

The articles are for a new site, to accompany a domain purchase I've recently made, looking to go down the route of adwords and fill the top 3-5 places for this keyword with a couple of other domains including my beach tent website

I was looking for some good guidelines so as when I speak with article writers i'm better prepared to review what they write. Agreed got to be written with reader in mind

[VivUnderwood]

Hi Downsouth,

Just took this out of the Econsultancy SEO best practice guide. Hope it helps.


1. For pages optimised for a specific phrase aim for a density of 5-10%, but don‘t fixate on this, using natural language blending synonyms and different sequence of keywords is equally important. Of course, generating quality external links is more important still.

2. Penalty warning: Avoid a possible penalty if density too high for particular phrases, i.e. >> 10%.

3. Use synonyms as well as identical keyphrases. Google‘s related searches47 feature which it uses for a limited number of terms may helpful here

4. Vary use of keywords in target keyphrases; they don‘t have to be in a consecutive phrase, e.g. for phrase‗uk insurance‘, variants could be ‗insurance for UK drivers‘, ‗UK drivers insurance‘, etc. The challenge is to
use these naturally within the copy.

Things to watch for:

1) Reviewers believed that density is no longer a significant factor within the Google algorithm to counter previous ‗over-optimization‘ approaches. Instead, inbound links with an appropriate context for the
destination page are more important.

2) Use this tool which shows the frequency and density of different keyphrases: Abakus Internet Marketing has some tools available which might be helpful for this (German site).

3) Other on-page optimization factors such as formatting, and page connectivity factors such as link popularity and PageRank of a page and its authority

And position of keywords?

1. Include target keyphrases near the top of the body copy of the document.

2. Structure the code of documents forming the page templates of sites so that the body copy appears in the document before the main navigation (if practical).

3. Repeat the phrase regularly throughout document and include at end of document, particularly in hyperlinks to sections to find out more.

[sirearl]

Hi Downsouth,

Just took this out of the Econsultancy SEO best practice guide. Hope it helps.


1. For pages optimised for a specific phrase aim for a density of 5-10%, but don‘t fixate on this, using natural language blending synonyms and different sequence of keywords is equally important. Of course, generating quality external links is more important still.

2. Penalty warning: Avoid a possible penalty if density too high for particular phrases, i.e. >> 10%.

3. Use synonyms as well as identical keyphrases. Google‘s related searches47 feature which it uses for a limited number of terms may helpful here

4. Vary use of keywords in target keyphrases; they don‘t have to be in a consecutive phrase, e.g. for phrase‗uk insurance‘, variants could be ‗insurance for UK drivers‘, ‗UK drivers insurance‘, etc. The challenge is to
use these naturally within the copy.

Things to watch for:

1) Reviewers believed that density is no longer a significant factor within the Google algorithm to counter previous ‗over-optimization‘ approaches. Instead, inbound links with an appropriate context for the
destination page are more important.

2) Use this tool which shows the frequency and density of different keyphrases: Abakus Internet Marketing has some tools available which might be helpful for this (German site).

3) Other on-page optimization factors such as formatting, and page connectivity factors such as link popularity and PageRank of a page and its authority

And position of keywords?

1. Include target keyphrases near the top of the body copy of the document.

2. Structure the code of documents forming the page templates of sites so that the body copy appears in the document before the main navigation (if practical).

3. Repeat the phrase regularly throughout document and include at end of document, particularly in hyperlinks to sections to find out more.

Yup as a general guide thats about it.

With particular emphasis on this:

"using natural language blending synonyms and different sequence of keywords is equally important"

Earl

[mattsaw]

I would recommend anyone using keyword density as a metric has a read of this,

The Keyword Density Of Non-Sense - http://www.miislita.com/fractals/keyword-density-optimization.html

You'll start to realise that keyword page positioning is far more important than keyword density

[sirearl]

I would recommend anyone using keyword density as a metric has a read of this,

The Keyword Density Of Non-Sense - http://www.miislita.com/fractals/keyword-density-optimization.html

You'll start to realise that keyword page positioning is far more important than keyword density

Blimey Matt,that gave me a headache.:)

Thats 2005.!!

Earl

[downsouth]

And the Executive Summary of that was.............. :)

[LloydBurrell]

You should have keywords in the title, the first and last paragraph. A total keyword density of 2-5% is generally OK, depending on what exactly are you advertising. If you're selling a product, your K.D. should be higher than if you write to inform or to analyze.
-----------------
Lloyd Burrell

[fisicx]

The articles are for a new site, to accompany a domain purchase I've recently made, looking to go down the route of adwords and fill the top 3-5 places for this keyword with a couple of other domains including my beach tent website
So are these articles going to go on the actual site or hosted elsewhere with an inbound link to the prime site?

Why bother. If you are going to use adwords to generate traffic then the whole website strategy needs to change from infomation provision to converting content. The articles will not have any value as your visitors already know what they want, just need to be convinced to buy your products/services.

Ignore keyword density, it's a red herring.

[kellyhoyor]

glad to read so many good comments , we are just considering how to improve the keywords effect .:)

[sirearl]

Ignore keyword density, it's a red herring.


Beware men in white coats.:)

Earl