Keyword Density Checker

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What is the ideal keyword density?

There is not one, and any tool that gives you a target percentage invented it. Google does not publish a density threshold; what it publishes is a spam policy against keyword stuffing, which it defines as filling a web page with keywords or numbers in an attempt to manipulate rankings, noting that these keywords often appear in a list or group, unnaturally, or out of context. Its own examples are lists of phone numbers without substantial added value, blocks of text listing cities and regions a page is trying to rank for, and repeating the same words or phrases so often that it sounds unnatural. Notice that all three are judged by reading, not by counting. Use density to notice that a draft says the same phrase eleven times, then read those eleven sentences.

How is density calculated here?

As a share of content words: stop words are removed first, and the remaining count is the denominator. Most density tools divide by every word, which pushes every real term below one or two per cent and makes the numbers useless for comparing two drafts. Excluding the, and, of and their equivalents in each language keeps the figures on a scale where a difference is visible. The header above the table shows both totals so you can recompute against total words if you want to.

Does it work on Japanese, German or Spanish text?

Yes. Japanese is segmented with the browser's own word segmenter rather than split on spaces, which it has none of, and German and Spanish tokenising is Unicode-aware — Größe stays one word instead of becoming gr and e, and diseño stays diseño. Each language has its own stop word list, so the density denominator excludes der, die, das for German and de, la, que for Spanish rather than English function words. The tool follows the page language you are reading it in.

Why do two-word phrases matter more than single words?

Because single words tell you your vocabulary and phrases tell you your topic. A page about hreflang tags will show hreflang, tags, page and language high in the single-word list and none of that is informative. The two-word list surfaces hreflang tag, language version and x-default — the terms someone would actually search. If your target phrase is not in the two- or three-word list, the page is about something adjacent to it.

Should I add my keyword until the number goes up?

No. If a target phrase shows zero, the fix is usually a section the page is missing, not a phrase inserted into a sentence that did not need it. Repetition added after the fact reads as repetition — which is the thing Google's stuffing policy describes and human readers notice first. Use the zero as a content gap signal.