One of the most frequently asked question associated with keywords is what is the optimal keyword density? Webmasters pour a lot of effort and time into debating and guessing at the perfect optimal keyword density.

Optimal Keyword Density

You don’t want to go overboard and over saturate your page with your keyword as this can be perceived by search engines as keyword stuffing – a black hat SEO method which doesn’t work anymore.

Conversely, you don’t want to under use your keyword so that search engines can’t even tell that that page relates to that keyword; hence the reasoning for so many questions about the optimal keyword density which is just right.

This will vary according to whom you’re asking. Ezine Articles, for example, allows no more than roughly 4% of your total copy for one of their articles to consist of any one keyword and if you go over that 4% it will notify you so that you can edit accordingly.

There are even premium tools which work to determine the optimal keyword density by supposedly taking multiple factors into account.

The Truth!

The truth is that there is no perfect balance in terms of a percentage or figure. Don’t waste your money on tools which claim to find the perfect percentage and don’t waste your time racking your brain counting your uses of your keyword.

The only real answer there is is to use your keyword whenever natural. Whenever you would use that keyword in conversation if you were dictating your article out loud, use it there. Remember to use LSI keywords (see what are LSI keywords) sprinkled in with your main keyword as Google is becoming more adept at recognizing natural copy in which you would be using synonyms along with your main keyword.