Keyword Density Checker guide
Paste a draft and a target phrase to see how often it appears and what share of the text it takes up. The top-terms tables show which words and phrases you actually lean on, so you can fix repetition and fill topic gaps.
What keyword density actually measures
Keyword density is the share of your text taken up by one word or phrase. It is a blunt instrument, and that is fine, because its job is blunt too: catch drafts where a phrase is missing entirely or repeated so often it sounds robotic.
The formula used here is density = (matches × words in the phrase) ÷ total words × 100. The words-in-phrase factor matters. A two-word phrase used 10 times occupies 20 words of your text, not 10. Tools that ignore it will report half the density for two-word phrases and a third for three-word phrases, which is why two checkers can disagree on the same draft.
Worked example
An 800-word product guide targets standing desk. The phrase appears 8 times. Density = 8 × 2 ÷ 800 × 100 = 2.0%. Push it to 20 uses and you are at 5%: roughly once every 40 words, or once every two or three sentences. Read that aloud and you will hear the problem before any tool tells you.
Now look at the top-phrases tables for the same draft. If adjustable height, sit-stand, and desk converter barely appear, that is the real finding. A page about standing desks that never discusses height range, motor type, or desk converters is thin on the topic no matter what its density is.
What Google says (and does not say)
Google has never published an ideal keyword density. Its documentation points the other way: the helpful content guidance asks whether content is written for people first, and the spam policies list keyword stuffing as a violation, with examples like repeating words so often the text sounds unnatural and blocks of cities or phone numbers a page is trying to rank for.
Modern search systems understand synonyms and related concepts. A page can rank for cold brew ratio without using that exact phrase if it clearly explains how much coffee to use per cup of water. So treat density as a smoke alarm, not a thermostat. You want it quiet, not tuned to a number.
Practical ranges
In practice, well-written pages usually land between 0.5% and 2% for their main phrase without anyone trying. Under 0.5% on a long page often means the primary term is barely mentioned, which can confuse readers skimming for it. Over 3% usually signals repetition that a human editor would cut.
Placement matters more than count. Put the main phrase in the title, the H1, the first paragraph, and at least one subheading where it fits naturally. After that, use variations and related terms. Five well-placed mentions beat fifteen scattered ones.
Using the top-terms tables
The 1-, 2-, and 3-word tables show what your text is really about, from the text's point of view. Stop words such as the, and, and of are filtered out, and any phrase starting or ending with one is skipped, so you see terms like cold brew and coarse ground coffee instead of of the.
Use them three ways. First, confirm your target phrase is near the top; if a different phrase dominates, your page may be about something else. Second, spot accidental repetition, such as a pet adjective used nine times. Third, compare against a competitor: paste their article and look for important phrases in their tables that are missing from yours.
Common mistakes
Writing to a density target. It produces awkward sentences and does nothing for rankings. Counting only exact matches: this tool matches exact word sequences, so check plural and singular forms separately. Stuffing alt text and footers: repetition hidden in less-visible places still counts as stuffing. And checking density on the whole HTML page including navigation, which inflates your total word count. Paste only the main content.
How we calculate: sources
Frequently asked questions
How is keyword density calculated?
Density = (times the phrase appears × words in the phrase) ÷ total words × 100. A 2-word phrase used 8 times in an 800-word article is 8 × 2 ÷ 800 = 2%. Some tools skip the words-in-phrase factor and would show 1%.
What is a good keyword density for SEO?
There is no magic number, and Google has never published one. Most well-ranking pages land around 0.5% to 2% for the main phrase simply by writing naturally. Above about 3%, text usually starts to read as repetitive.
Is keyword density a Google ranking factor?
Not directly. Google's systems look at relevance and helpfulness, and its spam policies name keyword stuffing as a violation. Use density as a readability check, not a target.
What counts as keyword stuffing?
Repeating a phrase so often the text becomes unnatural, lists of keywords or cities crammed into a page, or blocks of text that repeat the same words out of context. Google lists these examples in its spam policies.
Does it match plurals and variations?
No. It matches the exact word sequence, ignoring case and punctuation, so standing desk and standing desks count separately. Check variations one at a time, or scan the top-phrases tables.
Why are words like the and and missing from top keywords?
Common stop words are filtered out of the top-terms tables, and phrases that start or end with one are skipped, so the lists show meaningful terms. They still count toward the total word count.
Is my text uploaded?
Everything runs in your browser. Nothing you enter is uploaded to a server or stored by us.
How many times should I use my keyword in a 1,000-word article?
For a two-word phrase, 5 to 10 times puts you at 1% to 2%, which usually reads naturally. Make sure a few of those are in the title, first paragraph, and a subheading.
Does keyword density matter for Amazon or Etsy listings?
Marketplace search leans more on exact terms in titles, tags, and backend fields than Google does, so including the main phrase matters more there. Repetition in the description still does not help and hurts readability.