The Keyword Density Factor

If you are using any form of Internet Marketing to promote
your company products and services then you already know
that search engine optimization is fundamental to success
at the moment. There are an incredible number of companies
offering their services claiming to increase search engine
rankings. However, the truth is that none of these companies
can honestly guarantee search success. Why? Well, this is
simply because the algorithms used by the major search
engines to rank websites are far too complicated and
sophisticated to ever really crack. But, even if a
programmer did manage to work out the exact algorithm and
was able to apply it to creating the perfect optimized site,
it would not last since the search engines regularly alter
the algorithms to prevent any such breach.

It is known that Google factors in over 100 variables in
their algorithms. While this is a daunting number of facets
to accurately master, it is well known that keyword density
plays a key role in determining search engine rankings.
Keywords are the words and phrases surfers type into the
search engines to find the information they seek on the
web. It is the job of the search engine to provide results
that are truly relevant to what people are looking for. If
you type in "bicycle", you don't want to look at an article
or story that mentions the word once and most likely does
not contain the information you seek. This is why keyword
density is so important. If an article mentions the phrase
"bicycle" ten times, then it is more likely that this will
contain the information you are looking for.

The Keyword density can be expressed as a percentage of the
total number of words found on a particular web page. It
represents the number of times the keyword is mentioned and
can be determined by dividing the number of keyword
occurrences by the total number of words on the page. So if
you had an article with 200 words and 10 of those were the
keyword, then there would be a keyword density of 2%. It is
generally accepted that a keyword density of between 2 and
5 percent is optimum. This may vary between search engines
but it is a good rule to follow. It is also a good idea to
include the keyword within the title as most search engines
consider a keyword title more relevant. However, be careful
with the use of your keyword since the search engines will
penalize you if you overuse it, so its a good idea not to
exceed the 5% density level.

Primary keywords are the precise phrases keyed into the
search engine. Tier one keywords are those that are the
same as the primary keyword, but with a slight change
in grammar. "Bicycle parts" would be a tier one keyword for
"bicycle part". Ideally, they should be used only once in
the first or second paragraph. Tier two keywords are words
that one would relate to the primary keyword. For
"bicycle part", tier two keywords would be things like:
seat, handlebars, spokes, wheels, or any other word that
may be in an article related to bicycles. These words
should simply appear naturally throughout the article
without any emphasis on keyword density. The last component
is keyword variations. For "bicycle part", they would be:
bicycles, part, parts, and bicycles. These need to be used
throughout but should not exceed 4% in total density.

Of course, the rate of success by following these rules
will vary between the various search engines. But, by using
these tips in your web page development, you will certainly
boost your search engine rankings since you are telling
the search engine that your web page or article is relevant
to the particular keyword your visitor types into the
search engine. You may wish to experiment with keyword
density to find the optimal level for the different search
engines so as to increase your ranking. It is worth spending
time on this aspect of search engine optimization since it
is one of the known variables that does have a direct effect
on your search engine rankings.

Desmond Mantor is the Marketing Director of
Have Traffic which
offers highly qualified traffic for commercial websites.
Have Traffic's unique system of pre-qualifying visitors
has proven, in independent tests, more effective than pay
per click traffic. If you have have any questions or
comments about this article please visit
http://www.havetraffic.com