Liane - 6:28 am on May 9, 2004 (gmt 0)

>the No.1 for mytown real estate is 29.91% and the No.2 is 35.71%

OK ... the thing is that everyone one uses different tools and different options to determine keyword density. When you say that so and so is #1 with a keyword density of "whatever" ... we need to know if that is strictly "on page keywords" including stop words, not including stop words, with or without title tags, with or without meta tags, with or without alt tags and which tool you are using and which options you've selected!

It always amazes me that people talk about keyword density as if it were constant ,which of course ... it is not!

Keyword density (and the tools used to determine it) are the single most misunderstood and misrepresented "thing" at WebmasterWorld.

If we all based our "barometer" on the same criteria ... that would be nice. How about using "on page criteria only" (including stop words) as a launch point. Gauge the page as what the reader actually sees. That way, we can know for sure what we are all talking about.

If somebody starts throwing around figures for the most "ideal" keyword density ... you need to find out which tool they use to make their calculations as well as each and every selection used to produce the results.

Keyword stuffing is frowned up by Google. EVENTUALLY ... any site using this technique WILL be found and WILL be zapped. Its only a matter of time.