Keyword Density Checker

Keyword density is the number of times a word or phrase appears divided by the total number of words, shown as a percentage:

density = (occurrences ÷ total words) × 100

A word used 10 times in a 1,000-word article has a density of 1%. This tool counts whole words only, so "cat" will not match inside "category", and ignores capitalisation.

No. Google has said repeatedly that there is no ideal percentage, and modern search engines understand synonyms, related terms and topics rather than counting exact words. Old advice to hit 2–3% leads to awkward, repetitive writing that readers dislike and that can look like keyword stuffing, which Google's spam policies explicitly prohibit.

Use density as a diagnostic, not a target:

• If your main topic does not appear in the top terms at all, the page may not be clearly about it.
• If one phrase is far ahead of everything else, read those passages aloud; they probably sound forced.
• If the top terms are unrelated to your topic, the page may be drifting or padded.

1. Check focus. The top three or four meaningful words should describe what the page is about.
2. Check coverage. Compare with a competing page that ranks well. Supporting terms it uses that you do not may point to missing subtopics.
3. Place the main keyword where it counts: the title tag, H1, first paragraph, a subheading or two and the meta description. That matters far more than total count.
4. Vary your wording with synonyms and natural phrasing.

Check how your title and description will look with the Title Tag Checker and Meta Description Checker.

Common words such as "the", "and", "of" and "is" make up a large share of any text but say nothing about the topic. They are excluded by default; untick Exclude stop words to include them. Two- and three-word phrases that begin or end with a stop word, such as "of the", are skipped, and phrases are only listed if they appear at least twice. For a raw view of every phrase, use the N-Gram Generator.