Keyword insertion is one of the fundamentals of search engine optimization (SEO). This practice allows search engines to identify web pages that cater to specific people based on the words they contain. Including keywords and key phrases in your content tells Google and others what the piece of writing is all about and whom it is written for.
However, how many keywords or key phrases do you need to insert in your web content? Ask Utah SEO specialists such as SEO Werkz about the importance of keyword density, and you might get many different answers. Overdoing the insertion might get you accused of keyword stuffing, but not doing it enough can compromise the searchability of your pages.
The Optimal Percentage Doesn’t Exist
If you want to optimize your web pages for search engines, keyword density is one of the most important concepts that you should understand. It represents the percentage of keywords or key phrases that your content has based on the total number of words that it contains.
In the past, the denser, the better. However, it affected content quality and reading experience so bad it forced Google to penalize web pages guilty of keyword stuffing. In turn, online marketers shaped up. They became mindful of keyword density of not only the body of the content but also the title and subheadings.
Thus, what’s the percentage to keep an eye on? Nobody can answer this question because the optimal keyword density doesn’t exist. There are many conflicting opinions about this subject, but you need to find out when enough is enough through testing. Once you found the keyword insertion strategy that works for you, stick to it for as long as search engines approve of it.
UX and Grammar Matter
Although there are no fast and hard rules of keyword density, your keywords must be inserted into your content organically. When targeting words or phrases, smoothly incorporate them into your pieces of writing. Don’t put them in inappropriate places to avoid making your sentences unnatural when read out loud.
Make sure that your keywords and key phrases follow the rules of grammar. Many search queries lack prepositions because many Internet users omit them for speed and convenience. However, this typical behavior isn’t an excuse to create sentences with incomplete grammatical elements.
Don’t be afraid to add words that can make your key phrases grammatically correct. While search engines only focus on noun keywords, readers generally rely on pronouns, verbs, adverbs, prepositions, and conjunctions to make sense of sentences.
Content Quality and Length Reign Supreme
Regardless of how well you place keywords throughout your content, they will not attract traffic if you do not write them correctly. Instead of getting bogged down with keyword insertion and density, concentrate on the quality of your content. Compelling piece of writings sell themselves.
Also, make sure that your content is long or short enough for its intended purpose. The ideal length of different content forms vary, so familiarize yourself with conventions to nail word count. A good rule of thumb is to follow the footsteps of your competitors whose pages rank well. If the web pages of your rival outrank yours, they must be doing something right that you can adopt.
Experienced SEO experts keep keyword density in mind, but they don’t sweat it. This factor is only one of many that you need to think about, and it’s relatively less impactful these days.