What this calculator does
Keyword density is the share of a page's words that are a specific target keyword or phrase, expressed as a percentage. It was a much bigger deal in the early days of search, when stuffing a page with a keyword could move it up the rankings on its own.
Modern search engines read for meaning and context rather than counting repetitions, so density is now a rough sanity check rather than a target to hit. A figure that is unusually high is a sign the copy may read awkwardly to a person, or look manipulative to a search engine, more than it is a lever to pull for rankings.
The formula
Divide the number of times the keyword or phrase appears by the total word count of the page, then express that as a percentage.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Keyword density | The percentage of total words that are the target keyword: (occurrences ÷ total words) × 100. |
| Occurrences | The number of times the exact keyword or phrase appears in the page copy. |
| Total word count | The word count of the visible body content being checked. |
The inputs explained
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Times the keyword or phrase appears | Count how many times the keyword or phrase appears in the body copy, including headings. |
| Total word count of the page | The total word count of the page or section being checked. |
When to use it
Sanity-checking a draft before publishing
Running a finished draft through a density check flags copy that leans on one phrase far more heavily than natural writing would, before it goes live.
Comparing a page against competitors
Checking density on a handful of top-ranking pages for the same term shows roughly how often they mention it, as one small data point among many when planning a new page.
Avoiding over-optimisation
A page rewritten repeatedly to include a keyword can drift toward unnatural repetition without the writer noticing; a density check makes that drift visible.
Worked examples
Every figure in the tables below is produced by this page’s own calculator at build time, so the numbers and the tool always agree. Select any row to load that scenario.
How density changes with occurrences at a fixed word count
A fixed 1,200-word page, against a range of keyword occurrence counts.
| Occurrences | Keyword density | Words per occurrence, on average |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | 0.250% | 400 |
| 6 | 0.500% | 200 |
| 12 | 1.00% | 100 |
| 18 | 1.50% | 67 |
| 24 | 2.00% | 50 |
| 36 | 3.00% | 33 |
How density changes with word count at a fixed number of occurrences
A fixed 12 occurrences, spread across a range of page lengths.
| Total word count | Keyword density | Words per occurrence, on average |
|---|---|---|
| 400 | 3.00% | 33 |
| 800 | 1.50% | 67 |
| 1,200 | 1.00% | 100 |
| 2,000 | 0.600% | 167 |
| 3,000 | 0.400% | 250 |
| 5,000 | 0.240% | 417 |
Questions
Is there an ideal keyword density?
No widely accepted figure exists, and search engines have never published one. Older guidance sometimes quoted 1-2% as a rough range, but modern ranking systems weigh relevance and context far more than a repetition count.
Can keyword density hurt a page?
An unnaturally high density is more a symptom than a cause: it usually means the copy has been written for a repetition count rather than for a reader, which can hurt readability and, in extreme cases, look like keyword stuffing to a search engine.
Should density be checked per keyword or per phrase?
Either is valid depending on what you are targeting. Checking an exact phrase gives a stricter figure than checking a single word, since a page can use related words and synonyms that a strict phrase count would miss entirely.
Does density matter more than good writing?
No. Writing that answers the query clearly, in language a person would actually use, generally serves both readers and rankings better than any density figure calculated after the fact.
For the length of the title that will represent this page in search results, see the title tag length checker. For the summary shown underneath it, see the meta description length checker.