What Does it Mean if Your Copy is “Keyword-Dense”?

If you work within the marketing industry, whether you’re an SEO expert or a copywriting specialist, you’d have likely come across the phrase ‘keyword density’ or ‘keyword-dense’ when people refer to a piece of copy or website content in general. It can be difficult to determine whether a keyword-dense piece of content is a good or a bad thing, because keyword stuffing always has a negative impact on the performance of a piece. In this article, we’ll be explaining what keyword density is, why it matters and how to get the balance right in your writing. With that in mind, let’s delve deeper into keyword density:

What is keyword density?

Keyword density is a term that’s used to describe the number of keywords or phrases that are contained within website copy or prose that might be found in articles and blog posts. It’s often calculated as a ratio or percentage of the word count as a whole, weighing up the keywords with other words and sentences that are present in order to work out how “keyword dense” the copy actually is. 

It can also refer to the keyword frequency in copy or prose. This means that a piece of copy can be “keyword dense” if the same keyword is found multiple times within a close proximity of each other. If there’s too much repetition of the same keyword or phrase, then this is often called “keyword stuffing”, and that’s something that Google looks negatively on. We’ll discuss keyword stuffing later on in this article. 

However, you need to look at “density” and “stuffing” as two different things. An article, for instance, that is keyword dense is more valuable than an article that has been keyword-stuffed. Stuffing is bad, but making it keyword-dense is good in the eyes of the Google algorithm. The higher the value of your keywords, and the way in which they’re spread out, will help the piece to perform better in the SERPs (search engine result pages) than an article that is stuffed with keywords.

Why does keyword density matter?

Keywords are an essential part of an SEO strategy. They allow for relevant content to be optimised, therefore ranking for the right keywords that will help your copy to stand out from the crowd. If you’re looking to get higher up in the SERPs, you need to understand how to get the right keywords and how to implement them in a way that’s not deemed negative by the Google algorithm. But why are we focusing on keywords to get the job done? 

We know that keywords help to drive traffic, searches and engagement. When internet users are looking for a certain product or service, they’ll simply type a typical keyword or phrase into the search engine, enabling Google to generate results that are as relevant to that search as possible. Google will match up the words and phrases typed into the search engine with valuable content that contains the same keywords or phrases throughout. 

In addition to relevant keywords and phrases, Google will also take other factors into account when it comes to the results it decides to bring up, including geographical location and page authority. Page authority is determined by the number of visitors your website or a certain website page gets. It will also consider “dofollow” links from other reputable and valuable sites that link back to your page or article. But still, keywords remain critical in getting an article noticed online. 

How to get keyword density right

There are no clearly-defined rules when it comes to getting keyword density right. This is because the keyword density a piece of copy needs is largely determined by the word count of the content, to name just one factor that’s taken into account. 

However, there is a general rule of thumb that’s followed by most content writers and that’s to use around one or two keywords or phrases every one hundred words or so. This rule will help you to avoid instances of keyword stuffing, which can devalue a piece of content instead of bumping it up in the SERPs.

How to choose the right keywords

You can’t have a keyword-dense piece of copy that is valuable and high-performing without making sure that you’re using the right keywords and phrases. There are multiple tools that copywriters and SEO specialists will use to make sure they’re identifying the right keywords. 

Those tools can include things like Google Search Console, Google Keyword Planner and Google Analytics, to name just a handful. Essentially, when it comes to keyword research and the words and phrases you decide to use in your content, you need to take the following things into account:

• Research – you need to find the right and most relevant keywords and phrases to use in your copy
• Search intent – think about your audience and what they’ll be most likely to type into the search engine to bring your results up
• The buyer journey – theoretically plan a buyer’s journey from start to finish, thinking about the content format for that keyword in the process
• Competition – how competitive are the keywords that you’re choosing to use? If competition is high, you’ll have trouble ranking highly for them
• Keyword groups – use a mixture of keyword types, such as long form phrases, questions, short phrases and comparisons
• Competitor analysis – look at successful websites of competitors and see which keywords and phrases they’re using 
• Prioritise – prioritise the keywords and phrases you’re using by thinking about which ones your potential customers will be using to search for your products and/or services
• Long-tail keywords – otherwise referred to as key phrases, these are often two or three words long in order to attract leads that are searching for something more specific
• Keyword difficulty – make sure the keyword or phrase you’re using is relevant to the topic you’re writing about or the product or service you’re looking to plug
• Trending keywords – choose keywords based on the visitors you’re expecting to get on your pages
• Tools – use the right tools get ensure keyword research is being done accurately, such as the aforementioned programmes

How to avoid keyword-stuffing

Keyword stuffing can be extremely detrimental to the performance and value of the content you’re writing. As such, you need to make sure that the keyword density is right, but also be careful to get the balance right so as to ensure you’re not stuffing your copy with keywords. There are several things you can do when it comes to either researching your keywords or implementing them throughout your content that will help you to mitigate instances of keyword stuffing, those things include:

• Write for humans – high-quality content that is written and design to be read by humans is a way of making sure that you’re avoiding keyword stuffing
• Use keywords naturally – don’t try and fit them into sentences awkwardly because Google will see that the prose doesn’t flow, therefore identifying issues of keyword stuffing
• Use a variety of keywords – use related search terms, synonyms and word variations if you want to avoid keyword stuffing
• Use internal linking – link to other pages on your website in order to spread out the keywords naturally
• Use anchor text wisely – use descriptive phrases, brand names or more generic terms instead of using the same keyword or phrase over and over again
• Monitor analytics – you need to keep checking how your copy is performing and how the keywords are performing so that you can make changes as and when needed
• Follow search engine guidelines – keep up to date when it comes to SEO guidelines that come from organisations such as Google
• Avoid repetition – don’t repeat keywords and phrases, use their synonyms or other keywords that are similar, especially not within close proximity to each other
• Make sure the content flows – the content needs to flow nicely in order for Google to see that it’s a high-quality piece of content that deserve to be ranking high-up in the SERPs

Kumo is a dedicated digital marketing agency that has over two decades of industry experience behind us. We have a team of SEO specialists, PPC professionals, content writing experts and committed website designers at the helm of our operations. If you would like further information about how we can propel your business into the spotlight, get in touch with a member of our friendly, knowledgeable team today – we’re always pleased to hear from you.