What Is a Good Keyword Density? (And How to Calculate It)
September 26, 2026
There is no keyword density that search engines reward: Google has said it does not use a target percentage, so a "good" density is simply whatever results from writing naturally about the topic. As a rough editorial rule of thumb (not a Google guideline), the main keyword in naturally written copy often lands somewhere around 0.5% to 2% of the words, and a single term well above that is a signal to reread the text for repetition. Keyword density is calculated as the number of times the keyword appears, divided by the total number of words, multiplied by 100.
What is the keyword density formula?
Keyword density = (number of times the keyword appears ÷ total number of words) × 100. For a single-word keyword the calculation is direct. For a multi-word phrase, tools use one of two conventions: counting each occurrence of the phrase once (the simple method), or multiplying occurrences by the number of words in the phrase, so the result reflects the share of all words taken up by the phrase. Neither is wrong, but they give different numbers — which is one reason two checkers can report different densities for the same page.
How do you calculate keyword density step by step?
Take an 800-word article that uses the phrase "standing desk" 12 times. Step 1: count the total words — 800. Step 2: count the exact occurrences of the keyword — 12. Step 3: divide and multiply by 100: 12 ÷ 800 × 100 = 1.5%. With the word-share method, the two-word phrase accounts for 24 words, so 24 ÷ 800 × 100 = 3%. Decide which text to include before you count: body copy only gives a cleaner figure than a whole-page count that also includes menus, footers and sidebars. You can skip the counting by pasting your text into the free keyword density checker, which lists every repeated word and phrase with its count and percentage.
| Keyword | Occurrences | Simple density | Word-share density |
|---|---|---|---|
| standing desk | 12 | 12 ÷ 800 × 100 = 1.5% | (12 × 2) ÷ 800 × 100 = 3% |
| ergonomic | 6 | 6 ÷ 800 × 100 = 0.75% | 0.75% (single word) |
| desk | 30 | 30 ÷ 800 × 100 = 3.75% | 3.75% (single word) |
What keyword density range should you aim for?
Don't aim for a number — use ranges only as a review aid after the text is written. The bands below are editorial rules of thumb for the main keyword in body copy, not thresholds any search engine publishes. Short texts swing more: in a 150-word product description, one extra mention moves density by about two-thirds of a percentage point.
| Density | What it usually means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Below about 0.5% | The page may talk around its topic without naming it | Make sure the title, main heading and opening paragraph state the topic plainly |
| About 0.5%–2% | Typical of natural writing focused on one topic | Nothing — focus on completeness and clarity |
| About 2%–3% | Can be fine, but repetition may be creeping in | Read it aloud; swap some repeats for pronouns or natural variations |
| Above about 3% | Often reads as repetitive or forced | Rewrite for the reader, then re-check |
What are the signs of keyword stuffing?
Keyword stuffing is repeating keywords to manipulate rankings, and Google's spam policies name it explicitly. Warning signs include: the same exact phrase in almost every sentence or heading; awkward, ungrammatical constructions that exist only to fit a phrase ("best shoes cheap online buy"); lists of city names, keywords or phone numbers with no real content around them; and keywords hidden in text that visitors can't see. A high density figure on its own proves nothing, but if a density check flags a term and the text also reads unnaturally, rewrite it.
Does keyword density matter for SEO?
Not as a ranking target. Google works out what a page is about from the full text, its headings, its links and its context, and it recognizes synonyms and related terms, so hitting a particular percentage has no effect in itself. Using the main phrase where it naturally belongs — the title, the H1, the first paragraph — still helps both readers and search engines understand the page. Where density checking earns its place is as a quick diagnostic for over-repetition, a common side effect of templated pages and unedited AI drafts.
Should stop words and headings be included in the word count?
Include them if you want a figure that reflects what a reader actually sees; exclude them if you want to compare only meaningful words. Most checkers count every word, including stop words such as "the" and "and", and some also count headings, image alt text or navigation. The choice matters less than consistency: when you compare two drafts or two pages, measure both the same way with the same tool.
What should you do if a keyword density check flags a problem?
Start by reading the flagged passages rather than editing the number. If one phrase is repeated in back-to-back sentences, replace some repeats with a pronoun ("it", "this desk"), a shorter reference, or a more specific term — "height-adjustable frame" or "desktop" instead of repeating "standing desk". Remove sentences that exist only to include the keyword. Check headings too: five subheadings that all start with the same phrase read as filler. If the opposite problem shows up and the main topic barely appears, add it where it is genuinely missing — usually the title, the first paragraph and one or two headings. Then run the check again and, more importantly, read the page from top to bottom as a visitor would.