Over Optimizing On Page SEO

Do you guys put your exact keyword in the meta tags or use variations? What do you think using the main keyword 7 times in a 2000 word article?
Thanks

trial and error...
you should try before asking..
every site is unique, sometimes higher density keyword (5%) is ranking well and sometimes lower kw density (2%) is the best
depends on how unique your article is and depends on your main keyword placement if its natural..
so even if you put 20+ keywords in your post, as long as its natural its okay. assuming in 3000 words

What are meta tags?

I have what I consider a nasty habit of putting my primary keywords in the titles, descriptions, and alt tags of my images in addition to having them in across my articles (title, headers, and body). While I think of it as over-optimisation (it's really just the way I organise the images when I upload them), I have yet to notice any repercussions from doing this on any of the sites I've done SEO on (this still doesn't mean it's right).

To answer your other question, using your primary keyword 7 times in a 2000 word article means your keyword density is 0.35. While there really is no exact keyword density you should aim for, I would personally use the primary keyword a few more times along with a few LSI variants. Like renzuken said, test things out on your site and find out what works.

use your keywords in meta tag and your keyword density should me 2%.

For meta tags optimization you should follow the white hat SEO guidelines and place proper organic keywords on your meta tags. Don't try to put spam keywords. Before optimizing meta tags you should have to check your onpage content and according to that take keywords suggestion and select the best suitable keywords for your page. The variation of keywords are the best way to optimize your website.

I hope only long tail keywords with some diversification works, still that 2% keyword density works? I doubt it

SEO FOX said:

use your keywords in meta tag and your keyword density should me 2%.

Click to expand...

Not too much or less main keyword with other supporting LSI keywords will be fine but the correct keyword density level varies from niche to niche so may be you can do a research on your niche before you start and try to find what others doing and which works best.

SEO FOX said:

use your keywords in meta tag and your keyword density should me 2%.

Click to expand...

that's too common man...also I don't get what's with this 2% density?

It depends on niche, but op talking about a 3.5 density which isn't too unusual. Many would say high but it HIGHLY depends on niche.

The most important thing you forgot to tell us. Is it for inner page or homepage ?