The Keyword Density Factor

Anyone using Internet marketing to advertise the products and services of their company already knows that search engine optimization is the key to success right now. The unbelievable amount of companies offering their services to boost search engine rankings is astounding. The truly amazing thing is that none of these companies can really guarantee search engine success. This is because the algorithms used by the search engine companies to rank the relevance of sites are too complicated to ever really crack. Even if someone did know the precise algorithm and how to apply it to making a site optimized, the search engine companies periodically alter the algorithms to prevent a breach in their integrity.

It is known that Google factors in over 100 variables in their algorithms. While this is a daunting number of facets to accurately master, it is well known that keyword density plays a key role in determining search engine rankings. Keywords are the words and phrases surfers type into the search engines to find the information they seek on the web. It is the job of the search engine to provide results that are truly relevant to what people are looking for. If you type in "bicycle", you don't want to look at an article or story that mentions the word once and most likely does not contain the information you seek. This is why keyword density is so important. If an article mentions the phrase "bicycle" ten times, then it is more likely that this will contain the information you are looking for.

The Keyword density can be expressed as a percentage of the total number of words found on a particular web page. It represents the number of times the keyword is mentioned and can be determined by dividing the number of keyword occurrences by the total number of words on the page. So if you had an article with 200 words and 10 of those were the keyword, then there would be a keyword density of 2%. It is generally accepted that a keyword density of between 2 and 5 percent is optimum. This may vary between search engines but it is a good rule to follow. It is also a good idea to include the keyword within the title as most search engines consider a keyword title more relevant. However, be careful with the use of your keyword since the search engines will penalize you if you overuse it, so its a good idea not to exceed the 5% density level.

Primary keywords are the precise phrases keyed into the search engine. Tier one keywords are those that are the same as the primary keyword, but with a slight change in grammar. "Bicycle parts" would be a tier one keyword for "bicycle part". Ideally, they should be used only once in the first or second paragraph. Tier two keywords are words that one would relate to the primary keyword. For "bicycle part", tier two keywords would be things like: seat, handlebars, spokes, wheels, or any other word that may be in an article related to bicycles. These words should simply appear naturally throughout the article without any emphasis on keyword density. The last component is keyword variations. For "bicycle part", they would be: bicycles, part, parts, and bicycles. These need to be used throughout but should not exceed 4% in total density.

Again, the success of these tips will vary from search engine to search engine. However, following these guides will boost rankings by telling the search engine that your article is relevant to the keyword typed in by the surfer. You will need to experiment with the formula to find the best way to boost your rankings. Attaining an optimal keyword density is not the only variable in scoring high on the search engines, but it is one of the most important ones so be sure to take the time to find the keyword density formula that works best for you.

Desmond Mantor is the Director of Marketing for Have Traffic a business specializing in producing highly targeted website traffic for commercial websites. Please visit https://www.havetraffic.com for information about this revolutionary web site promotion service


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