Andy_Langton - 1:28 pm on Mar 28, 2012 (gmt 0)

If keyword density was a ranking factor, and it was possible to have guideline numbers as above, a very large amount of Google rankings would be inexplicable, since they are nowhere near the numbers given as "guides".

- Google's keyword density for "google" is 10%
- Amazon's keyword density for "shopping" is 0.15%
- Ebay's keyword density for "auction" is 0.05%

Yes, these are rather extreme examples, but personally, I'm not convinced of the usefulness of using a mathematical metric that displays a poor correlation with rankings.

Worse still, how are you even measuring keyword density? Are you taking into account plurals and spelling variations? Different parts of the same word stem? Or are you using a simple tool that counts words or phrases and divides by the total? Are you taking into account word relationships (e.g. "Ford" is related to "car"). CO-occurrence?

If the way you measure keyword density doesn't take this into account, then you need to start asking serious questions - because Google is certainly using them for textual evaluation.

Before posting a keyword density percentage, please make sure you've read the links in Ted's post above :)