Keyword Frequency and Density

Frequency is determined by the average number of monthly impressions in search engines. The numerical indicators of the frequency will be different depending on the website topic.

The semantic core of the website consists of low-, medium- and high-frequency queries. 

For popular topics like clothes or toys, high-frequency queries reach tens of thousands of impressions a month. In some cases, super-popular keywords may be requested millions of times a month.

If the website is about a non-popular, narrow and specific topic, with a small target audience, then the keywords will be considered as high-frequency queries that the search engine shows 300-500 times a month.

Averagely, the classification for popular topics is the following:

• low-frequency queries – less than a thousand a month;
• mid-frequency – from a thousand to three thousand a month;
• high-frequency – more than three thousand a month.

For example, the phrase “Web Design” will be high-frequency (HF), “Web Design Company” will be at a mid-range frequency, and “Top Web Design Company in Montgomery County” will be low-frequency (LF). The more popular a word or phrase is, the more competition you face when trying to use it as a representation of your business (this is because many other people are doing the same thing). On the same note, the more competitive a keyword or phrase is, the better the results will be when using it as a representation of your website in your semantic core. Being at the top of Google’s rankings for competitive keywords and phrases is a trying task, but one that can yield invaluable results.

Distribution of keywords on the website considering frequency.

Grouping keywords of the semantic core

All previously received keywords must be correctly grouped for successful promotion. Keyword analysis helps to determine the website structure correctly: high-frequency and medium-frequency queries should correspond to the names of categories and subcategories, low-frequency ones should be promoted on separate pages.

Proper creation of the semantic core and the distribution of keywords should be carried out under the following guidelines:

1. One keyword should not be promoted on several pages at the same time. Otherwise, it will have a cannibalizing effect on the queries. 

2. Keywords are added to the text of the page being promoted in various entry forms; moreover, they are also used in meta tags and headings. 

3. You need to divide the queries into two groups:

• information queries. Such queries may contain such words as “How”, “Where”, “Why”, “Instructions”, etc.
• commercial queries:The keywords used in transactional queries are “Buy”, “Order”, “Price”. For example, “Buy a Dnepr bike”, “Ural bike price” and others. 

4. In the received groups, we search for similar keywords to distribute them on the website pages. For example, such queries may be promoted on one page: “Buy a Yamaha bike”, “Yamaha bike price”, “Buy a Yamaha bike”.

Besides the text on the product pages, categories and articles, keywords are used for internal linking and tagging. Mid-frequency and low-frequency queries that were not used in category names can be used as tags to combine similar groups of products or articles.

Keyword density

In short, keyword density refers to the number of times a keyword appears within a block of content on a web page (product page, blog post, etc.), as a percentage or ratio of the total word count.

So if you have 100 words in an article, and the word “SEO” is mentioned 10 times, your keyword density for “SEO” on that single page URL is 10%.

What is the ideal keyword density?

While hotly debated, most SEO professionals believe ideal keyword density to be between 1-2%. This means that for every 100 words in an article, or on a page, the keyword should be used 1-2 times. You want to show the visitor, and search engines, what the page is about without spamming a specific word on the page.

How many times do you use keywords in an article?

This can depend on how many synonyms a keyword may have. When there are few synonyms available, a keyword may be used dozens of times within an article. However, when you have the opportunity to use more varied language, a keyword may only be used 5-10 times within an article.

What is the keyword density formula?

Keyword density is: Number of times a keyword is mentioned on a page divided by the total words on the page. This ratio can be turned into a percentage by multiplying it by 100.