when is it spam?

keyword density..how is it calculated?

[soapystar]

i have a page which is a listing of widgets...meaning every line has the word widget and the word London....im wondering just how bad this looks to filters...so to work out the keyword density do you take into account all words?..or all words say more than 3 letters?....do you take into account the title and the meta tags?..thanks!

[edited by: WebGuerrilla at 7:27 pm (utc) on Sep. 11, 2002]
[edit reason] removed specific phrases [/edit]

[topsites]

Well, are you building your site with total disregard of ranking issues? If so, then you're fine. If, however, you are designing your site with se ranking strongly in mind, I may recommend concentrating on just working on the site, and put the ranking issues behind.
The only thing I worry about is adding content, optimizing graphics, and keeping the code as error-free as possible. I don't repeat words in my Meta-Tags and I don't repeat words for any reason unless it just happens. Let it go, let the site sail on her own, let the engine owners worry about the dumb stuff, because ranking ain't my job. This is what works for me.
Pascal

[Marcia]

soapy, it somewhat depends on how much text is on the page. I've seen up to 30% density without a problem, but it was in context and the sites were clean.

If EVERY line has the word - meaning EVERY line, and if your site is in a competitive market, and if you rank toward the very top, every one of your competitors will be scrutinizing the site from top to bottom, including your backlinks, looking to get rid of you. If the site isn't squeaky clean, someone will turn you in and you'll get busted.

It's best to check density with and without the meta tags and title and if the keywords are being repeated enough so it looks like keyword stuffing or un-natural, add some text to the page, reduce the number of occurences of the words, and bring it down to a density level that's within reason.

People seem to get by with all kinds of things, and high density seems to get by a lot, especially at levels that don't rank high. It's when a site ranks well that it's best to stay as unobvious as possible.

[paladin]

Hi soapystar,
Further to what Marcia said, I have seen a site in the number 1 spot at the big G with a Keyword density of about 15%. In this case it was for one of the most highly competitave KW/phrases.

The questions is why do you have it in every line?
Because:
A. You wanted to improve your ranking
-- or --
B. It is essential for the content of the page (from an objective point of view).

If you answered "B" then I don't think you have anything to worry about.

Hope it helps you.