Why Keyword Density is Important
If you have been using the internet for long, you will remember the days of nineties style websites. These sites were mostly text, maybe with some ASCII characters thrown in.
They were usually bulky, but they got the point across with their text. If you paid close attention, however, you may have noticed at the bottom of those webpages there was string of text related to the topic of the page. For instance, if you were looking for “Legend of Zelda Cheats” the page may have put those words a few hundred times at the bottom of the article. The idea was that the search engines at that time would see those words, and they would think the website talked about that a lot, so it should rank high.
Of course a lot has changed since that time, and as the search algorithms become more sophisticated, we learn that stuffing keywords like that would actually bump you down in the search engines. That is why we now pay attention to our keyword density.
What is the Optimal Keyword Density
If you go to Google and query “What is the optimal keyword density,” you will likely find a series of articles with the same conclusion: there is none. And this is true to a point. Keyword density should not be the focus of your pages. In fact, by spending a lot of time trying to hit exactly 1.67% density, you are wasting your time.
Instead of shooting for a specific number for your density, shoot to make the text flow properly and make it easy to read. When you have an easy to read page that focuses on one topic, your page will naturally fall into the optimum keyword density for that page.
Is There a Number You Should Shoot For?
With that said, there are actually densities that you should try to get to. Suppose you are posting a page, and you want your topic to be dinosaurs (because dinosaurs are cool), but your density is .25%, then Google will likely not pick up the actual topic of your page. However, if you use the word so many times that your density is hitting 3.5% or higher, then chances are your content isn’t written in a way to optimize its flow.
When you sit down to write the content on your page, write it as though you have no keywords in mind. Then, only after you are finished, run it through a keyword density tool. This will help you determine what your actual topic is, and if you should change your keyword to match the written content. Your density should fall between 1% and 3%, but not because you strategically put it there; rather because that is what most natural writing lands on.
Using Website Design to Optimize Your Keyword Density
Putting up a page of well written content will help you a lot more than putting up a bunch of mumbo jumbo stuffed with keywords. But when you don’t adequately tag your keywords, and if you don’t understand how to do so, then you aren’t maximizing your content. Luckily, there is no need to do that on your own. Here at Skypoint Web Design we not only know how to build a website, but also how to make your content shine. Contact us for more information.
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