Keyword Density.. apparently, it doesn't matter?

According to hobo web, keyword density is not important. Or I guess it would be better to say that there is no specific keyword density that's been proven to work better than others.

Article: hobo-web.co.uk/keyword-density-seo-myth

I have seen quality SEO advice from the website before, and if you search up "keyword density" on google the article comes up as #3 even though it was posted only two and a half weeks ago.. meaning they must be doing something right.. right?

What is your guys' opinion? I also read somewhere that your content should have a minimum of 500 words to rank well on Google for a specific keyword. What is your guys' opinions on that?

Conflicting opinions everywhere you go.

Personally i have no magic number of words. When its enough its enough. No magic number for keyword density either, again when there's enough and its done in a natural manor that's it.

Keyword density is a touchy subject from what I have read around here. There is no magic percent. I usually just want to make my content seem as fluent and quality as possible. My keywords will naturally make their way into my content.

Agree with Hawkster. I create the content first and analyse density and number count afterwards. If its good content it will do well. Good luck.

The keyword density doesn't "matter" anymore, but don't have it at 20-30% obviously. Just write your content to look as natural as possible and you should be fine.

the url hobo-web.co.uk/keyword-density-seo-myth is from 2011 (at least acording to wayback machine) it was updated on march 28 this year

i use yoast seo plugin which tells you the keyword density, i normally go by that and make adjustments

Go with a natural flow instead of trying to go by specific numbers.

lion1978 said:

the url hobo-web.co.uk/keyword-density-seo-myth is from 2011 (at least acording to wayback machine) it was updated on march 28 this year

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Ahh good to know, I was very impressed it ranked so well so fast.

I would have to agree that making quality content and having google decide is the best way, especially since the algorithm is only getting better and better, and harder to manipulate.

Now I guess another question could be if you really need at least 500 words? Right now I am working on a site I am investing a lot of time and effort in. It's not a site that really needs a lot of words. It's kind of similar to "bugmenot.com" giving logins and passwords to sites so you don't have to sign up. If any of you have seen it before, there's not really a lot that you can put on the home page. I could create more filler content but then again I don't want to do it if it might hurt more than help (back to the 'don't try to manipulate google' idea.. not sure if it counts with this)

blogzandstuff said:

i use yoast seo plugin which tells you the keyword density, i normally go by that and make adjustments

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In my opinion the recommended keyword density by yoast is too high. I always shoot for under 1% density and just use as many variations as possible. Example: Red apple, red colored apple, apple that's red, apples of the red variety. Etc. Hummingbird algo knows these are all the same. Reading an article with over 3% keyword density makes it very obvious that you are trying to stuff it in there. Besides, in the future I am guessing googles algo will change and begin punishing higher density keyword articles even more than they already are. When that occurs, I will still be ranking like a champ.

Depends on the niche and how many words the keyword is made of. Normally I go for a keyword density of 0.5-1% and some LSI keywords.

About having a too high keyword density: Its a big risk of getting penalized for over-optimization. If your competitor is an badasss and he see's your high keyword density, he will make tons of exact match anchor backlinks with that specific keyword. This will penalize your site for sure.

Keep it as natural as possible. Concentrate on making good content than on how often you used the keyword.