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How Keyword Density, Frequency, Prominence And Proximity Affects Search Engine Rankings
In this article, I explain the difference between keyword density, frequency, prominence and proximity, and how they affect search engine rankings.
Keyword Density
Keyword density refers to the ratio (percentage) of keywords contained within the total number of indexable words within a web page.
The preferred keyword density ratio varies from search engine to search engine. In general, I recommend using a keyword density ratio in the range of 2-8%.
You may like to use this real-time keyword analysis tool to help you optimize a web page's keyword density ratio.
Keyword Frequency
Keyword frequency refers to the number of times a keyword or keyword phrase appears within a web page.
The theory is that the more times a keyword or keyword phrase appears within a web page, the more relevance a search engine is likely to give the page for a search with those keywords.
In general, I recommend that you ensure that the most important keyword or keyword phrase is the most frequently use keywords in a web page.
But be careful not to abuse the system by repeating the same keyword or keyword phrases over and over again.
Keyword Prominence
Keyword prominence refers to how prominent keywords are within a web page.
The general recommendation is to place important keywords at, or near, the start of a web page, sentence, TITLE or META tag.
Keyword Proximity
Keyword proximity refers to the closeness between two or more keywords. In general, the closer the keywords are, the better.
For example:
How Keyword Density Affects Search Engine Rankings
How Keyword Density Affects Rankings In Search Engine
Using the example above, if someone searched for "search engine rankings," a web page containing the first sentence is more likely to rank higher than the second.
The reason is because the keywords are placed closer together. This is assuming that everything else is equal, of course.
About The Author: Michael Wong is the editor of GoDefy.com - the world's first online marketing comparison shopping search engine and Mike's Marketing Tools. Michael is also the author of the leading Search Engine Optimization Guide and numerous marketing tips.
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The Importance of keyword density
Improving the keyword density on your website is one of the fastest and simplest ways to increase your site's visibility in the search engine results pages. To better explain this reasoning, we will refer to a "keyword" as a word that your typical web surfer will input in the search box when searching for specific information about a product or service.
The true definition of keyword density is the ratio of the word that is being searched for, ie the keyword, against the total number of words appearing on a given web page. If your keyword occurs only once or twice in a page of 500 or more words, obviously it has a lower keyword density than a keyword that would occur six or seven times in a page of similar length.
As far as search engines are concerned, if a particular keyword has a higher density on that particular web page, then the chances of that page obtaining a much better search engine ranking increases almost exponentially. Not all search engines compute or evaluate keyword density in the same way and most have their own proprietary algorithm for calculating the average density of a keyword.
Nevertheless, the basic principles described in this article are general enough to help any website greatly increase its rankings in the major search engines. Note that today, they all take keyword density into account.
How to significantly improve keyword density
With all that in mind, how can a company or individual improve keyword density to achieve better rankings in the major search engines? There are a few techniques you can choose that were carefully researched by experts in the SEO business. Here is a short list of keyword density tips & techniques we have been using with very good success since we started in the SEO business in 1997:
* Try to write sentences that use your important keywords and key phrases. If you or somebody else is your organization is a good writer, you may have to modify or abandon some of the old habits you previously used in writing documents! For example, we have seen many good writers having an actual aversion to repeating a particular word more than twice, choosing instead to use alternative terms that mean the same thing. Although this makes for a more pleasant reading, it will not help you get your site listed with a top ranking in search engine results for that particular keyword.
* When creating a new page or editing an existing page, always utilize the right keywords and key phrases for your industry with the results from WordTracker's huge database of keywords and key phrases. Serious SEO begins with serious tools. Optimizing a web site for the wrong keywords will only bring you off-topic traffic visitors that have no need for your products or services. For example, a web searcher looking for car accessories might type "auto parts" or "car equipment" or "after-sales automobile equipment", etc. Make certain that your web site would cover similar search terms to maximize your visibility in the search engines for your particular products and services, especially if you happen to sell these products.
* After having collected your important list of keywords from WordTracker, do not simply place them into a useless list that will be wasted on your web page. We have actually seen a few corporate web sites attempt to do this in trying to influence search engine rankings. That simply will not work with any search engines. As time goes by, more and more of the search engines are getting "smarter" when processing keywords and key phrases and if they see keywords occurring together in a senseless or "garbled" sequence, most could in fact penalize your web site. In more "extreme cases", some engines have also been known to ban a web site completely, on the belief it was spamming or "spamdexing" the search engines.
For instance, if you want a certain web page to have a high ranking when someone searches for the specific phrase "home insurance", keep repeating the phrase "home insurance" in your document instead of substituting with pronouns like "it" and the like. Do exactly the same for your other important keywords that you want a high density on that page. Of course, use your discretion with this, or your page might be unpleasant to read or hard to understand.
Remember that SEO is a science as well as an art. You can see an example of how this is done by carefully examining this very article itself, and see how often we have repeated keywords and key phrases like "keyword", "keyword density", "search engine ranking", "search engine optimization" and "search engine positioning".
* In the "good old days of the Internet", some people tried a "trick" of having a very short page for a particular keyword or key phrase. For example, the page may only have the following single sentence: "Proper and sufficient home insurance coverage is important to your peace of mind". Since there were not enough words on that single page, the page was actually easy to screen and the keywords "home insurance" and "peace of mind" have obviously a very high density on that page.
Too high in fact! That method no longer works today and for good cause. Search engines today only want one thing and that is quality, relevant search results that will be of help to all of their users. They also scour the web for good content that is on topic.
Conclusion
Increasing and improving the keyword density of your most important keywords on your web site will also do the same for your site's search engine positioning and ranking. You may also want to read our other articles on search engine optimization on this web site for additional understanding of the world of SEO.
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Article written by Serge Thibodeau,
President & CEO,
Rank for $ales
Copyright (c) Serge Thibodeau 2003