What is keyword density?
Keyword density is the percentage of words in a text that are a particular keyword or phrase. In the early days of SEO, people repeated keywords again and again to rank higher. Today, search engines understand topics and meaning, and over-repeating a phrase, called keyword stuffing, can make a page look spammy. A density check is still useful: it shows whether your main topic is clearly present and helps you spot words you have overused by accident.
How to use the checker
- Paste the text of your article or page.
- Enter the keyword or phrase you want to rank for, such as "home loan".
- Check the density of your keyword and the tables of the most frequent single words, two-word and three-word phrases.
- If one word dominates unnaturally, replace some uses with synonyms or pronouns.
How density is calculated
density (%) = (number of times the phrase appears × words in the phrase) ÷ total words × 100
For example, if "home loan" (2 words) appears 3 times in a 60-word paragraph, the density is 3 × 2 ÷ 60 × 100 = 10%, which is far too high for a real article. The checker counts simple plurals, so "home loans" also counts as "home loan". Common words such as "the" and "and" are ignored in the frequency tables unless you untick the option.
What is a good keyword density?
There is no official ideal number. As a rough guide, most well-written articles naturally have their main keyword at about 0.5–2%. Above 3% often reads as repetitive. More important than the number:
- Use the keyword in the title, the first paragraph, at least one heading and the URL.
- Cover related terms people expect, such as "interest rate", "EMI" and "tenure" for a home loan article.
- Write for the reader first. If it sounds unnatural when read aloud, use the keyword less.
Frequently asked questions
Does it work in Hindi or Marathi?
Yes. Words in any script are counted. The list of ignored common words is English only.
Why are two-word phrases useful?
They reveal the real topics of your text, such as "interest rate" or "loan tenure", which single-word counts miss.
How long should my article be?
Check length and reading time with the Word Counter.