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Keyword Density in SEO
The density of keywords in SEO
- The keyword density of a web page refers to the frequency with which a keyword or phrase occurs in relation to the overall number of words on the page. Keyword density may be used in the context of search engine optimization to assess if a web page is relevant to a certain keyword or keyword phrase.
- Keyword density was a significant element in page ranking in the late 1990s, the early days of search engines. However, as webmasters mastered the art of optimising keyword density, search engines started prioritising elements outside the webmaster\’s direct control. Today, excessive use of keywords, referred to as keyword stuffing, will result in a web page being penalised.
- Many SEO professionals believe that the optimal keyword density should be between 1% and 3%; anything above might be deemed search spam. The method for determining the keyword density on a web page for SEO purposes is display style (Nkr/Tkn)*100, where Nkr denotes the number of times a certain keyword was repeated and Tkn denotes the total number of words in the evaluated text. As a consequence, a keyword density value is returned. When assessing keyword density, disregard embedded HTML elements and other elements that will not display in the page\’s content once published.
The formula for determining the density of a keyword phrase is display style
(Nkr*Nwp/Tkn)*100,
- where Nwp is the number of words in the phrase. Thus, for a 400-word page on search engine optimization in which the term \”search engine optimization\” appears four times, the keyword phrase density is (4*3/400)*100, or 3%.
From a mathematical perspective, keyword density originally referred to the frequency (Nkr) with which a keyword appears in a dissertation. A \”keyword\” composed of numerous phrases, for example, \”blue suede shoes,\” is a distinct entity. - Within a dissertation, the frequency of the phrase \”blue suede shoes\” determines the key(s) density. It is \”more\” technically accurate to compute a \”key\” in the same way as the original computation, but using the term \”blue suede shoes\” as a single appearance, rather than three:
Density equals ( Nkr / Tkn ) multiplied by 100. - \’Keywords\’ (kr) that are composed of numerous words artificially boost the dissertation\’s overall word count. The most accurate mathematical representation should reduce the total word count (Tkn) by excluding the surplus key(s) word counts:
Density is ( ( Nkr / ( Tkn -( Nkr * ( Nwp-1 ) ) ) * 100. where Nwp is the keyphrase\’s word count. - This universal formula ensures that the total number of words remains unchanged if the key(s) is actually a single term, and so serves as the original formula.
- Apart from the formulae, keyword density may be calculated online with the click of a button using programmes that count the number of times a term is referenced.
However, the Hummingbird update altered the way Google assesses content. Rather of searching for exact-match terms, Google now tries to decipher the user\’s purpose and returns websites that fit that purpose. - Rather than scanning for occurrences of the term \”ice cream parlour\” on websites, Google searches for websites that illustrate the characteristics of an ice cream parlour, speaking contextually about ice cream parlours in natural, conversational language.
- This means that include keywords is not nearly as critical as just writing about the correct subjects—and trusting on natural language to do the rest.