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Gobala Krishnan
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64
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Malaysia
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Posted: Fri May 14, 2004 7:08 am
Post subject: Keyword Density
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Hi,
I tried searching any topics for keyword density but could not find one.
What is the recommended Keyword Density in terms of %. I checked www.googlerankings.com and some of my pages had a density of 33%.
If i am to lower that, would it be possible to add more content that does not include that keyword?
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Sean Burns
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Posted: Fri May 14, 2004 9:45 am
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Hi Gobala
Basically, you should write pages without considering Keyword Density. It doesn't really help you rank better on Google - in fact, it can cause you to be penalized.
33% is way too high but you will get away with it if it's on a page without much text.
If you do want to target a percentage, go for 1% but definitely try to keep it less than 3%.
Hope that helps.
Cheers
Sean Burns |
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Gobala Krishnan
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jtouboul
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15 May 2004
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California
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Posted: Sat May 15, 2004 3:43 am
Post subject: Density
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Most of the reading that I've done indicates top two or three keywords at 7%.
I'd be interested to know how you came up with 2 or 3%.
Thanks,
JT |
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Sean Burns
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Posted: Sat May 15, 2004 3:58 am
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Hi JT
There is a lot of information that suggests 7% and I've even read that 15% is good. Basically, that information comes from the "old days" when search engines like AltaVista and Inktomi placed some importance on keyword density.
These days, it's not important because it doesn't affect the quality of a page. Think of a web page as being like a newspaper article. A news item is not "better" because it mentions what it's about over and over. In fact, a newspaper article will generally only mention it's subject once or twice. They do it early on - from that point, you know what it's about.
Google pretty much realised this a few years ago. So, they look for the keyword early in the page but they don't really care how often it's mentioned.
In fact, they will penalize pages that have a high keyword density because it actually lowers the quality of the page. Using 7% as an example, that would mean that a 500 word article would mention the keyword 35 times. That would probably make it a bit hard to read.
Using the articles that I write as an example, 1% seems to be about right. I write without considering keyword density and it ends up being between 0.5% and 2%.
I've also seen lots of examples of pages (including at least one of my own) that have been penalized with keyword densities above 3%. Other factors influence the penalties but keyword density definitely appears to be part of the problem.
I hope that helps.
Sean Burns |
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Guest
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Posted: Sat May 15, 2004 7:06 am
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Thanks for the input.
The old days seem to be right around the corner (a few months ago) and I'll do some research and keep you posted but what you say makes very good sense.
Thanks,
JT |
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ebg
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Posted: Fri Nov 26, 2004 4:11 am
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| Does anyone know if text words that are a part of your link bar count as part of keyword density or is it just text in the body of the page? |
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Debs
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Posted: Fri Nov 26, 2004 3:14 pm
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It's all the text on the page that counts toward density, including your navigation.
Debs
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ebg
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Posted: Fri Nov 26, 2004 5:56 pm
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Thanks debs. This has generated another question from me. In my menu bar I sometimes repeat a portion of the keyword.
For example, on my menu bar I may have the following items:
high risk car loans
bad credit car financing
guaranteed car loans
poor credit car financing
Madza car loans
etc...
etc...
etc...
etc...
etc...
etc...
etc...
etc...
etc...
etc...
etc...
etc...
What I am finding when I completed my page with the keyword "high risk car loans" that the density of "car loans" is a little above 4% mainly due to it being repeated several times in my menu bar.
On the high risk car loan's page, I am focusing on the keyword high risk car loans (1.5% density), not the keyword "car loans".
My question is if "high risk car loans" keyword has a density of 1.5%, but "car loans" has a density of 4% on the page can the 4% car loans density hurt the page even though this is not the word I am focusing on?
Hopefully this makes sense.
Thanks,
ebg |
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Debs
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Posted: Sat Nov 27, 2004 1:06 am
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If your domain already has car loans in it, and it is repeated naturally on the page anyway, you don't need "car loan(s)" in the navigation bar, it's an unnecessary repeat IMO ... however a 4% density shouldn't be a problem in any case ... the density you want to worry about now is going any higher ...
As far as how it affects the relevancy of the subpage as you mentioned, I would think it can put more focus on 'car loans' vs. high risk car loans ... but if you reduce the appearance of 'car loans' in your navigation, that would put the focus back on the 'high risk' aspect of the page for relevancy.
Debs
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Superpreneurs.com
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Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2005 11:08 am
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Interesting - on Martell's sales page he says that keyword density is VERY important - yet another SEO expert is saying the opposite!
What do you guys think about this?
-Dan
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Debs
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Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2005 12:32 pm
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Density is very important but the question is how much or how little  Martell sets a specific density and structure for keyphrases that he found works extremely well for him ... but to be honest, it is nowhere near the density he recommended in the original manual ... your SEO expert feels density isn't important but what he may be saying is " keep it low " ... if something isn't important, it's commonly seen as something you don't have to worry about whether you go high or low ... I think it's pretty common knowledge that you do need to worry about going too high with density.
Debs
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rlray216
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192
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Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2005 1:03 pm
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Off page factors are more important than on page factors. As long as your targeted keywords are in your title and your first paragraph, you're probably just fine.
What's a lot more important is how often your keyword text is in the anchor text of your backlinks.
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Rakesh
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Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2005 3:48 pm
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Wow! A lot of learning about Keyword Density on this page, especially by Sean (obviously), Debs and others.
Let me encapsulate my understanding and I think you'll find that it creates a superset which includes all 'truths' above, even where they are apparently conflicting.
The Keyword Density IS important: If you make the mixture too rich, you'll fall off the map. Therefore it is important to measure it. Otherwise, as Sean advises, as long as you have the right keywords peppered in the initial stages, you are allright.
I use Xandra's IBP to check the keyword densities of all top 10 websites on extremely competitive keyphrases. This gives a good idea of the limit you can NOT cross density wise. I feel there is no magic number for an ideal density. It could be so easily be on a sliding scale, say 10% on pages with 30 words, 5% on 30 to 100 words and 1% on long pages as Sean suggests.
Would an IBP affiliate be kind enough to provide their signature below so he can go and check out IBP?
Hope that helps.
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MakeMoney
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119
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Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2005 4:52 pm
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Based on my reading around, it seems that not worrying about keyword density, with the implied meanng that less is much better that a lot more, seems to be very true now.
So it would seem that keeping your kw density low enough not to trip a rank wrecking filter and keeping your back links varied in the text that is used to link to you are two of the most important things to consider in terms of avoiding an over opt penalty.
If you have been hit with a over opt penalty, and you make corrections, does it take long to get back up in the SE's? |
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