Keyword density is the ratio of the number of times a keyword appears on a page compared to the page’s total word count. The simplest formula for keyword density is:
(Number of keywords/ Total number of words) * 100
So if your keyword appears 5 times in an article of 100 words, your keyword density will be 5%. A more complex method to measure keyword density is called TF-IDF (term frequency and inverse document frequency), which first calculates the standard keyword frequency and then offsets that number with an inverse document frequency number. This gives a higher weightage to the unique keywords and de-emphasizes commonly used words to arrive at a more precise figure.
NO. Not anymore.
Although, there was a time when this strategy was used (and exploited) by internet marketers and bloggers. However, now, with the involvement of machine learning and AI, Google has a whole new bunch of indicators to identify exactly what a webpage has to offer.
In the early days of Google, keyword density provided a relatively objective way for Google to identify if a website was a good fit for the user. However, early SEOs exploited this algorithm by “keyword stuffing” or cramming as many keywords as they could into a piece of content, which led to garbled content that was of no use to a human reader. Google later clamped down on this practice with its Panda update and new algorithms that prioritized content that users would actually find useful.
Let’s get this straight: there is no ideal keyword density for better rankings. Google will not reward your page solely because of your keyword density. You’re better off creating natural content that a user actually wants to read and that answers their search query.
However, there are a few good rules you can follow for the ideal keyword density: