How many keywords/density?

[doncharlie24]

hey guys, im new to the SEO scene. i was just wondering how many keywords should i be aiming for and what type of densities should i be wanting?

thanks for all your help.

[fathom]

hey guys, im new to the SEO scene. i was just wondering how many keywords should i be aiming for and what type of densities should i be wanting?

thanks for all your help.

Whatever sounds grammatically best... is best.

[linkstraffic]

do 1-2 keywords per page and don't full the pages with those keywords, a reasonable amount is all right, you better focus on backlinks.

[doncharlie24]

do 1-2 keywords per page and don't full the pages with those keywords, a reasonable amount is all right, you better focus on backlinks.

what about in the meta tags? i dont want to go overboard and put too many keywords in to the point it will kill me, or so little that i won't even get ranked.

im looking for a min/max here.

[TenaciousZ]

I usually try to get a keyword density of around 3-7%. I see this recommended a lot. You should definitely make sure everything flows and is understandable. Getting people to your website is no use if you're just going to confuse them when they get there.

[poksa]

It really Depends on your Experience in Ranking your Keywords. Because in SEO we have Different Tactics.

[distinctseo]

Evidently you haven't done a simple search on this forum for the millions of topics. Just write nice coherent English. Spend more time on your content then you did posting a repeat repeat repeat question.

[fathom]

It really Depends on your Experience in Ranking your Keywords. Because in SEO we have Different Tactics.

If you're experienced you ignore it... if you're an amateur you waste time thinking that you know a certain percentage works better than any other percentage - but can't show any evidence to support that claim - other than spinniing some line about different tactics.

[SEO_AM]

Think about writing a term paper or, is so inclined, a fictional short story. Grab your reader within the first couple of sentences... then keep them reading and clicking because your copy is so good... The search engines love that approach (just ensure you use your keywords where they have impact to the reader).

[fathom]

I would concentrate on one keyword per page and a density of between 2.5% - 5%. This gets good results with Google.

RUBBISH!

Because pages rank and you check the density and found them between 2.5 - 5% -- how do you know that helped "better than" 1%, 0.5%, 6% or any other percentage.

Guessing that you know what you are talking about isn't advice.

Dell mainpage - keyword density for Computers 0.55% - #1 in Google

Wikipedia page - keyword density for Computers 2.09% - #2 in Google

Apple mainpage - keyword density for Computers 0.0% - #3 in Google

Yahoo Computer Category page - keyword density for Computers 2.64% - #4 in Google

DMOZ Computer Category page - keyword density for Computers 2.19% - #5 in Google

Gateway mainpage - keyword density for Computers 5.08% - #6 in Google

How Stuff Works computer page - keyword density for Computers 0.66% - #8 in Google

eBay Computer page - keyword density for Computers 2.49% - #9 in Google

hmmm... "1" inside your suggested density

"2" nearly inside your suggested density

and

"5" well outside your suggested density....

What results do you have that shows 2.5-5.0 is best?

Some newsletter from Horseface Charley saying "a density of between 2.5% - 5%. This gets good results with Google."

Prove it... then advise

[teddy4U]

Having just started the SEO road a month ago there are many areas to contend with but base one for most is the keyword factor but there remains confusion as to how to tackle this.

After spending some amount of time well let me correct that a great deal of time getting keyword density on literally 100s of pages to hover around 5% doing this sometimes upsets the equilibrium of the article. Should this be re-tracked in favour of composition sense priority?

The other point is how many key words and combinations of key phrases should be entered on in meta tag section? Presumably the more the better as seeing that the main search engines ignore this area it wouldn't penalize if you stuff it up with every conceivable related words and phrases.

We current have two sites with a PR4 on google but have th potential to go much higher with the comprehensive amount of excellent information and content.

[fathom]

Having just started the SEO road a month ago there are many areas to contend with but base one for most is the keyword factor but there remains confusion as to how to tackle this.

After spending some amount of time well let me correct that a great deal of time getting keyword density on literally 100s of pages to hover around 5% doing this sometimes upsets the equilibrium of the article. Should this be re-tracked in favour of composition sense priority?

The other point is how many key words and combinations of key phrases should be entered on in meta tag section? Presumably the more the better as seeing that the main search engines ignore this area it wouldn't penalize if you stuff it up with every conceivable related words and phrases.

We current have two sites with a PR4 on google but have th potential to go much higher with the comprehensive amount of excellent information and content.

both are irrelevant.

Try these:

...add more keywords to your current ranked page and watch them unilaterally drop in ranks... if they don't how can a keyword density of 5% be any better than any other percent (other than -- that's the precentage you used and since you ranked - "boy it must be a good keyword density"... HEY EVERYONE USE 5% DENSITY! ... write for the reader and ignore any measurement since any document ranked using "links" will not increase or decrease in rank because you edited it to a keyword density of 0.5%, 1%, 5%, 10% - the "links to" and the "page title" are what ranks a page... adding an extra word to the page changes nothing.

... delete Meta Tags... your ranks should drop (in fact they don't so no reason to use Meta Tags)

[teddy4U]

"... delete Meta Tags... your ranks should drop (in fact they don't so no reason to use Meta Tags)"

So you are saying that meta tags can be filled with nothing or everything and it wouldn't make any difference in ranking assessment?

[tstolber]

It always shocks me when people advise things like 7% keyword density is best.

Have you tried reading a page that dense, its almost unreadable. Also, trying to write content to that spec breaks the flow of the contnet and turns visitors away - achieving the exact opposite of your goals!

Kw density makes such little difference when you havelots of relevant links and are in a competetive search market.

Fathom pointed out the facts very well. Enough said!

[karoloydi]

When it comes to google the keyword density has little relevance. In fact, if you overoptimise then you might get worse results. Experts say around 3% for google. But whats important is the imbound links and not so much on page optimisation.
For yahoo and msn, 3% to 5% is the best. But thats hearsay.
I havent seen an actuall statistical analysis anywhere. Just a bunch of "experts" saying things without proof.
From personal experience I noticed that the more you optimise for google, the worse your rankings will get. Google likes it natural. But the oposite stands for yahoo and msn. You can overoptimise your way to the top with yahoo and msn.