How to Measure Keyword Density

The definition of Keyword density is the count, or the number of times the selected keyword appears on the article page. Let me tell you how to measure keyword density, but I caution you, right here, keywords shouldn't be over used, but should be used just enough to appear at important places throughout the article.

If, for example, you repeat your keywords on every line, then your site will probably be rejected by the search engines, and be classified as a spam site.

Keyword density is always expressed as a percentage of the total words in a given web page.

Suppose you have 150 words on your webpage (excluding HMTL code), and you use a certain keyword 7 times in the content. The keyword density on that page is got by simply dividing the total instances of that keyword, by the total number of words on your web page. So here it is 7 divided by 150 = .0467 or 4.67% of the page.

The accepted standard for a keyword density is between 3% and 5%, to get recognized by the search engines. So our 4.67% is OK. Seriously, you must never exceed it. Do so at your own peril. Get Google upset with you, and goodbye...

Remember, that this rule applies to every page on your site. It also applies to not just to one keyword but also a set of keywords that relates to a different product or service. The keyword density should always be between 3% and 5%. Too low is also not a good idea, as the search engines just may not see you.

Here is a simple way to check the keyword density:

* Copy and paste the content from an individual web page into a word-processing software program like Word or Word Perfect.
* Go to the 'Edit' menu and click 'Select All'. Now go to the 'Tools' menu and select 'Word Count'. Write down the total number of words in the page.
* Now select the 'Find' function on the 'Edit' menu. Go to the 'Replace' tab and type in the keyword you want to find. 'Replace' that word with the same word, so you don't change the text.
* When you complete the replace function, the system will provide a count of the words you replaced. That gives the number of times you have used the keyword in that page.
* Using the total word count for the page and the total number of keywords you can now calculate the keyword density.

The above is a no-cost solution to knowing your percentage of keyword density. If you own some article editing program that keeps score for you, then all the better. One such program that I use is Content Composer.

I use it to edit my articles, and to make multiple variations for submitting to article directories. It keeps the score on all your keywords, and that is a real time saver. The software gives you lots of help, but this is not the place to detail it. If you want to find out if it's right for you, go here Content Composer While there you can get a no cost report that tells you a lot about Google.

Ok then, so have fun counting keywords, but be serious about it if you want your web pages to be indexed properly.

Fred Farah