Keyword Density

What is Keyword Density?

Keyword density is the percentage of times a specific keyword appears in a piece of content relative to the total word count. A word that appears 10 times in a 500-word article has a keyword density of 2%.

While Google no longer relies on raw keyword frequency as a direct ranking signal, keyword density analysis is still useful for:

• Identifying dominant topics — verifying your content covers the target keyword
• Detecting over-optimisation — a density above 3–4% can trigger spam filters
• Content gap analysis — spotting whether important related terms are absent

Healthy Keyword Density Guidelines

• 1–3% for your primary keyword — natural, not stuffed
• 0.5–1.5% for secondary keywords and synonyms
• Use LSI (related) keywords throughout — Google understands synonyms and topic clusters
• If a keyword exceeds 5%, rewrite for variety

Understanding the Flesch Reading Ease Score

The Flesch Reading Ease score (0–100) measures how accessible your writing is:

• 70–80: Easy — conversational English, suitable for most audiences
• 60–70: Standard — plain English, understood by 15–17 year olds
• 50–60: Fairly difficult — best for high-school graduates
• 30–50: Difficult — suited to college-educated readers

For most commercial websites and blogs, aim for a score of 60–70. Technical documentation may score lower; landing pages and blog posts should aim higher.