Keyword density – does it still matter in 2022?
There was a time when you could stuff some keywords in your blog post and get the first-page ranking without much effort. But, this is not the case anymore.
SEO is ever evolving and for any search query how the search engines show results has also changed a lot.
The search engines serve more than millions of users every day and they want to show the best results depending on multiple factors.
Search Engine Optimization is daunting. From content to on-page SEO, from website structure to link building, there are a lot of areas that you need to master to get your page to rank top for any query.
SEO has always been the best way of driving relevant traffic to any website. And, in today’s competitive market, it has become even more important.
Most users are likely to visit the top 5 pages on the search engine result pages. In order to take advantage of this and gain more visitors, your website needs to be at the top position in these search results.
And, how you use your keywords plays a crucial role in that.
In this article, I will discuss keyword density in SEO and how to optimize your content naturally to rank high on the search engines.
Why are Keywords Important in SEO?
SEO is not only targeted at search engines, but good SEO practices can also improve the usability and overall user experience of a website.
Users trust search engine results and having a presence over the top position for specific queries increases the website’s trust to a great extent.
Beginner bloggers usually make a lot of mistakes at the start of the SEO process like:
- Selecting keywords that no one actually searches for
- Not thinking broadly of which keywords could be effective
- Remain unaware of search terms that are popular among users
Another important thing to remember is that search engines work on behalf of the end-user and not for website owners.
Your website content needs to be relevant and engaging in order to assure relevant traffic.
The search engine bots can easily differentiate good content from the bad using advanced algorithms, so you must always try to offer value through your content.
In order to make maximum usage of keywords, put yourself into the place of your audience and think about what they would search for, rather than what you want them to search for.
Once you understand why keyword research is important, you need to target specific search queries and optimize your website or blog post to appear high in the SERP rankings.
This is the most sensible step towards SEO and it is always better to ensure that you are using the best keyword phrases by selecting those based on popularity and relevance.
Keyword density plays a big role in this.
In the following section of the article, let us check out if there is any ideal keyword density that you can follow and how to avoid over-optimization.
What is Keyword Density in SEO?
It is important to understand keyword density for maintaining a good rank for your website.
Keyword density is basically the percentage of the number of times a keyword appears on a web page divided by the total number of words on that page.
For example, if you are posting an article of 1000 words and you are using your keyword 10 times, then your keyword density will be 1%.
There are a number of tools that people use in order to calculate the keyword density. You can use any keyword density checker available online.
You need to use profitable keywords in your article to dr.
Keyword density does not hold as much value as it did in the past, however, it still is an important factor when determining overall ranking.
Importance of Keyword Optimization & Positioning
It is vital to find an effective keyword for your content.
It can either be a short tail keyword or a long tail keyword, however, if you wish to drive more content-specific traffic, you should be opting for long tail keywords.
The next job comes to optimizing the blog content for your keyword.
Positioning of the main keyword matters significantly. For example, we take two different pieces of content.
In the first content, the keyword appears in the first paragraph, however, in the second content, the keyword does not appear in the first paragraph.
In this case, the first piece of content has a better chance of ranking than the second one.
It is clear that keyword positioning matters a ton. Following are some places you can put your keyword for a better ranking and SEO:
- Blog post title
- Blog URL (check how to optimize the URL)
- The first paragraph of the content
- The last paragraph of the content
- In the ALT tags of your images
- Anchor text of your internal links
- Anchor text of your backlinks
It is always better to not stress too much about keyword usage in your content.
They are automatically included in the content once you speak your mind.
A blogger who is not even concentrating on keyword optimization can also rank amazingly on Google.
Using LSI Keywords
Google also checks related keywords alongside mainstream keywords that appear in your content.
Keywords that are related to the main keywords of your content are called LSI keywords.
Including keywords related to your website content greatly boosts the SEO of the site.
LSI keywords are also known as semantic keywords.
These help Google in accurately finding the nature of the content on your site. Moreover, it also helps Google develop its own LSI index.
How to Optimize Your Content Without Repeating Keywords?
First of all, you must understand what over-optimization is.
Though you need to put effective keyword phrases in your content, at the same time it is also needed that you keep the keyword frequency at the optimum level.
Now, what is the ideal keyword density of a page?
For several successful bloggers, 1-2% of keyword density is sufficient for a better SEO ranking.
Stuffing of keywords can actually prove to be a bad idea and Google may treat your site as well as your page as keyword spamming, which can lead to an over-optimization penalty.
Here are some key tips to better optimize your page and rank your website better:
- Make the articles look natural
- Keyword density is useful, however, over-stuffing should be avoided
- Keyword variations must be used
- Bold or italicize your keywords, including important semantic keywords
- Make use of LSI keywords
- Make use of an online tool or a WordPress SEO plugin to check the keyword density
Does Keyword Density Still Matter in 2022?
Researching and finding the right keywords is the first aspect of getting a better ranking in the SERP.
However, it is crucial that you use keyword variations while offering the right information the user is looking for.
So, what according to you is the ideal keyword density for SEO? Did you ever face any over-optimization penalty? I would love to know about your keyword practice.
