What is a keyword density of 3%?

Question

I am writing an article for a publisher and they want a keyword density of 3%. Not sure how many times this allows me to use the keywords they want ,any ideas on how this works?

Answer 1

That is so 1999.

No one counts keyword density anymore. It's not a metric that remains important to this day, especially if you have this requirement that it must be "3%" -- meaning 3% of the words you use are of this keyword.

This publisher must be living under a rock -- SEO wise.

The key nowadays is to write naturally -- without being encumbered by writing the same word 3% of the times in the body of the article. Create copy that is compelling and useful. Use descriptive titles. If a keyword can be used naturally in the title, use it, but don't use it more than needed.

That's the new way search engines work now. Read Matt Cutts, a top Google software engineer, in his piece "SEO Advice: Writing useful articles that readers will love" http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/seo-advice... -- nowhere in his advice does he say that we need to use certain keywords x number of times.

Aaron Wall also has a useful tool that will help you count keyword density http://tools.seobook.com/general/keyword... -- but note what he says

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"Please note that keyword density is a fairly meaningless measure of relevancy, but using a keyword density analysis tool can make it easier to find a few good keyword phrases to use."

Answer 2

When you are writing articles to submit to article directories the main rule these days is to have the keywords -

in the title,

the first paragraph, preferably the first words of the first sentence,

The final paragragh.

and maybe once more in the body of the article.