What is keyword density?
Keyword density is the percentage of times a specific word appears compared to the total word count of a piece of text. If a 500-word article uses the word "coffee" 10 times, its keyword density for "coffee" is 2% (10 ÷ 500).
Why keyword density matters
Two very different audiences care about this number:
- Writers and editors use it to catch unintentional repetition — if a word appears far more than expected, it's often a sign to reach for a synonym or restructure a sentence.
- SEO writers use it as a rough check that a target keyword appears often enough to signal relevance to search engines, without being repeated so much that it reads unnaturally or risks looking like keyword stuffing.
Is there an "ideal" keyword density for SEO?
Modern search engines are far more sophisticated than simple keyword counting, and there's no single magic percentage that guarantees ranking. That said, most experienced SEO writers aim for natural language first, and treat density figures as a sanity check rather than a target — density of roughly 1–2% for a primary keyword is a common, safe range that avoids both under-optimization and obvious over-repetition.
Frequently asked questions
What does "exclude common words" do?
Common words like "the", "and", "is", and "a" appear in almost all English text and rarely tell you anything useful about your content. Excluding them (the default setting) surfaces the meaningful, topic-relevant words instead.
Does this tool check keyword density across an entire website?
No — it analyses only the text you paste into the box, one page or document at a time. It does not crawl or access any website.
Should I worry if one word has high density?
Not necessarily — it depends on context. A product page about "running shoes" will naturally repeat that phrase. It's worth a second look if the repetition feels unnatural when you read the text aloud, or if a word you didn't intend to emphasise is dominating the list.