Hub Back to #1 - Lesson Learned on Keyword Density

1. 69

   lrohnerposted 14 years ago

   I posted a few weeks ago about my highest traffic hub that was ranked #1 in Google for some time for its primary keyword and then suddenly was DROPPED and didn't even show up in the first couple of hundred SERPs in Google. (Yahoo, Bing and the others were unaffected.) According to Analytics, it was dropped on August 6th and just came back sometime today.
   
   The only changes I've made were over the past few days where I reduced the number of tags and brought the keyword density down from 5.38% to 4.46% and voila! It's back to #1 on Google and the traffic stream has started again!
   
   I'm guessing that reducing the keyword density did the trick? Any other input?

   replyreport
   1. 65

      WeddingConsultantposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Interesting point. I'm curious though, where did you find the keyword density percentages? Google Analytics somewhere?

      replyreport
      1. 69

         lrohnerposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         There are a lot of free keyword density tools out there. I happen to use SEOBook's XRay. Here's there free online keyword density tool:  http://tools.seobook.com/general/keyword-density/

         replyreport
   2. 86

      Marisa Wrightposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      This is very interesting.  I found a site once which recommended quite a low keyword density and I spent some time tweaking a couple of Hubs.  Then I did some more reading and discovered not everyone agreed, so then I wasn't sure what to do.  Maybe I should revisit.
      
      Oh, and how on Analytics did you work out it had been dropped?  I'm useless with that stuff!

      replyreport
      1. 69

         lrohnerposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         I read a while back that keyword density should be no less than 2% but no more than 5% -- tops. But I didn't pay too much attention to it because I thought MSN is the only one who still looks at keyword density as a rating factor -- or is it Yahoo. No matter. Neither bring me much traffic.
         
         I could tell from Analytics just by going to Content, Top Content and selecting this particular hub. It was pretty darn obvious from the graph when it was dropped by Google. It went from approx. 100+ views per day to almost nothing -- and overnight.

         replyreport
         1. 74

            mommyfreelancerposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            I'm not very good at this but most of my buyers specify that keyword density be within this range. Some say 2-3% is ideal. I know that Ezine will not allow you to post anything with more than 2% keyword density.

            replyreport
2. 62

   Mishaposted 14 years ago

   correlation does not necessarily imply causation

   replyreport
   1. 69

      lrohnerposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Misha, sometimes you make my brain hurt! Remember, I'm blonde. No words over five letters puleeze!
      
      Besides, it doesn't exclude causation either.

      replyreport
3. 69

   bigmikehposted 14 years ago

   Many of the "experts" would suggest keeping keyword density below 2% for Google. But many now also believe it's unimportant - it should just be a natural density for the length of page.
   
   I quote from the seomoz.org blog
   
   Number of Keyword Repetitions - It's impossible to pinpoint the exact, optimal number of times to employ a keyword term/phrase on the page, but this simple rule has served us well for a long time - "2-3X on short pages, 4-6X on longer ones and never more than makes sense in the context of the copy." The added benefit of another instance of a term is so miniscule that it seems unwise to ever be aggressive with this metric.
   
   Keyword Density - A complete myth as an algorithmic component, keyword density nonetheless pervades even very sharp SEO minds. While it's true that more usage of a keyword term/phrase can potentially improve targeting/ranking, there's no doubt that keyword density has never been the formula by which this relevance was measured.
   
   Read the full post on perfectly optimized pages here - it's well worth it!
   
   http://www.seomoz.org/blog/perfecting-k … timization

   replyreport
4. 69

   lrohnerposted 14 years ago

   BigMike, I so totally agree! I don't give much thought to keyword density in the content as I write, but that's because I always assumed it was meaningless in the world of ranking. I forgot about the other side of it, though. At what point is it considered keyword stuffing? I do believe that once I hit 5%+, Google got a little pissed off!

   replyreport
   1. 48

      johnr54posted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I really think it had nothing to do with it, but if you are convinced you could teach us all something by changing it back and seeing if it disappears again.  I personally have never seen it have an impact on a page that was written in legible English.

      replyreport