How to check keyword density
- Paste your text, or a page's HTML: tags, scripts, styles and comments are left out automatically.
- Read the most frequent single words, and 2- and 3-word phrases, with how often each appears.
- Optionally enter a focus keyword to count it on whole words, ignoring capitals.
- Turn “Ignore common words” off to include words like the, and and of in the lists.
How it's calculated
Density = occurrences × words in the phrase ÷ total words × 100
For example, “sourdough bread” appearing 4 times in a 200-word article takes up 8 words, so its density is 8 ÷ 200 × 100 = 4%. A single word appearing 6 times in the same article is 3%.
| What | How it's handled |
|---|---|
| Capitals | Ignored: “Bread” and “bread” are the same word |
| Punctuation | Ends a phrase: “bread. Fresh” isn't counted as a phrase |
| Apostrophes and hyphens | Kept inside words: “don't” and “well-known” are one word each |
| Accents and other alphabets | Counted as letters; Chinese, Japanese and Thai are split into words by dictionary |
| Common words | Hidden from the lists when filtered, but always counted in the total |
| Phrases seen once | Left out of the 2- and 3-word lists |
Is there an ideal keyword density?
No. Google doesn't rank pages by a keyword percentage, and its spam policies describe keyword stuffing, including repeating the same words or phrases so often that it sounds unnatural, as a way pages try to manipulate rankings. Pages that do it can rank lower or drop out of results.
Use the numbers the other way round: to notice when a phrase has crept into every sentence, or when a page never mentions the thing it's about. Then write the way you'd explain the topic to a person, using related words and synonyms naturally.
Sources
Each link was last checked on .
- Spam policies for Google web search: keyword stuffing, Google Search Central: repeating words or phrases so often that it sounds unnatural is keyword stuffing, a spam policy violation.
Common uses
- Spotting repetition in a draft. Paste an article to see which words and phrases you lean on most, then vary the wording where the same phrase appears in every paragraph.
- Checking a page covers its topic. Enter the focus keyword to see whether the page mentions it at all, and how its main phrases compare with what people search for.
- Reviewing copy from a writer or agency. Paste delivered copy to catch keyword stuffing before it's published: a phrase making up several percent of the text usually reads unnaturally.