Keyword Ranking and Density

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  1. Natalie Frank profile image92
    Natalie Frankposted 5 years ago

    Hi All,

    I've been focusing on trying to improve my keyword SEO and had a couple of questions - How many keywords do you try to rank for in a given article?  I know this will depend on length and topic but ballpark?  Can you try to rank for too many keywords? (Obviously if it makes the copy choppy or it doesn't read naturally this would be an issue, also if the keyword isn't fully related to topic).  Do you ever to into an older article when revising and redo keyword research to see if there are others that are now ranking high that might be useful to include or increase?

    Also - I know keyword density isn't much focused on anymore but what is considered too much in terms of "stuffing?"   I know I used to right for a platform that gave keywords that needed to be included and as well as how many times and seems to remember 2-3 times per 500 words or so being something close to the norm.  Just trying to get a feel since obviously you don't get feedback from Google saying, "Decrease keyword density for . . . " 

    Thanks and have a great Sunday!

    1. Wesman Todd Shaw profile image81
      Wesman Todd Shawposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      There was an article here years ago. I would think the article is still here somewhere. It was called something like 'The Endangered Snow Leopard.'

      The person who wrote the article never just said anything like 'this leopard,' or 'snow leopard.' Every single time she referred to the creature she said The Endangered Snow Leopard.

      So that phrase was probably repeated 20-30 times in her article. That's stuffing. People do not write like that unless they are purposefully doing keyword stuffing.

      Now, at the time of publication, what the person did may have made sense  insofar as page ranking went. Things have changed a lot since then, however, and some of the changes are clearly for the better.

    2. profile image0
      promisemposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      You can't really use a number because different topics have different possible keyword phrases.

      I have some articles with only a few potential keyword phrases and others that have a dozen or more.

      Use Google's Keyword Planner to identify the possible combinations and then try to use them 2-3 times in your article. But use them naturally. Don't force it.

      Keyword density doesn't matter too much as long as you have reasons for using that phrase more than a few times.

      Most importantly, write for your readers and not for evil Google.  smile

    3. Miebakagh57 profile image72
      Miebakagh57posted 5 years agoin reply to this

      I was very careful to use few keywords in all my text. Itinksome paragraph has no keywords. I just write naturally. But I ensure that the URL or title is stuff with a key wor or long tail keyword.

      HubPages frown at using keywords in sub-titles. At the end of my articles, I try to stuff it with some good keywords again. Thank you all.

      1. theraggededge profile image97
        theraggededgeposted 5 years agoin reply to this

        Not if they are varied throughout. Sub-titles are the best place for keywords and key phrases.

    4. Miebakagh57 profile image72
      Miebakagh57posted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Hi, Natalie, I am very careful about stuffing every 500 words with 2 or 3 keywords. But like theraggededge has said, the title, and the subtitles, and I had the last paragraph has to receive much consideration. Other then this, I write naturally without minding any keywords. At times, there flow in and I had to control such.

      Like as you say, Google will not remind you to reduce this or that keyword or phrase. That's up to each individual. Thanks for weighing in.

  2. theraggededge profile image97
    theraggededgeposted 5 years ago

    After giving some consideration to the title and the subheadings, I just write and let the keywords take care of themselves big_smile

    1. Wesman Todd Shaw profile image81
      Wesman Todd Shawposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      That would be my exact advice. I'm not sure I make enough to be giving a lot of advice around here though.

    2. Jeremy Gill profile image92
      Jeremy Gillposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      In other words, keywords in regular text matter, but not as much as in headings and sub-headings, correct? Makes sense, I suppose.

  3. Rupert Taylor profile image96
    Rupert Taylorposted 5 years ago

    I've given up on keywords. I tried reading up on SEO several times but my eyes glazed over and my mind started focusing on whether it was too early for happy hour to begin. Then I went to my grumpy place and argued I've been writing all my adult life and I'm damned if I'll let some bloody algorithm tell me what words to use.

  4. DrMark1961 profile image97
    DrMark1961posted 5 years ago

    Several months ago I wrote a new article and felt like I used the keyword too much. Brandon made a comment that the keyword should not be more than about 2%. I wrote naturally, and when I did check the keyword count was less than that.
    So, as Bev points out, as long as you write normally the keywords are unlikely to be used excessively.
    How many keywords do I try to rank for? Again, if you write naturally I think you will rank in several different querys on Google. For the last year or so I have been using ubersuggest and Google suggest to make sure that I do not leave any phrases out of my article. It is a successful strategy.

  5. Natalie Frank profile image92
    Natalie Frankposted 5 years ago

    Thanks.  I have always just written naturally figuring that the keywords would take care of themselves but then you read all this stuff that says how important this SEO strategy is or that one and thought I'd give keywords a shot.  Guess I'll stick with what I've been doing.

  6. Rupert Taylor profile image96
    Rupert Taylorposted 5 years ago

    I'm working on an article about a woman who ran an alternative medicine clinic in the Pacific northwest and who starved several of her wealthy patients/victims to death. I think I'll entitle it "The Endangered Snow Leopard."

    1. theraggededge profile image97
      theraggededgeposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Ah... I think I know who you're referring to. Forget her name. Horrific woman. I'm sure I heard her referred to in a Podcast. Was it Tanis?

      1. Wesman Todd Shaw profile image81
        Wesman Todd Shawposted 5 years agoin reply to this

        https://hubpages.com/education/The-Enda … ow-Leopard 

        No, unless that is her real name. The page is still indexed and such. I'm not complaining about the person or the page, but the use of the phrase in the title is just ridiculous.

        1. theraggededge profile image97
          theraggededgeposted 5 years agoin reply to this

          Sorry, Wesman, I was replying to Rupert and his evil Florence Nightingale.

  7. lobobrandon profile image87
    lobobrandonposted 5 years ago

    As DrMark says, I did say that one should not cross 2%, as a ballpark figure. But as others and I would advise you, write naturally and you do not have to worry about keyword density at all.

    Google does, in fact, tell you the kind of keyword density they are okay with. Just take a look at the top results for the search terms you would like to rank for. Every search query has a different keyword density, but thinking about that is just going overboard. This is a great tool to check your keyword density: https://www.internetmarketingninjas.com … d-density/

    Regarding your question on how often I go back to see what other keywords I am ranking for, and so on, I extensively explained this in my Hub Pages On Page SEO Guide. That's the whole reason I wrote that hub and it then went into other things too. I originally begin using ubersuggest and answerthepublic to find just one main keyword on the topic I'd like to write for. While doing this I tend to find other useful keywords that would be great sub-headings.

    So I focus on the URL and title a lot, some sub-headings and then the rest I write naturally to make my article the best on the topic on the internet.

    I originally began by focusing on 5 or 6 keywords on one of my hubs but it now ranks for 925 keywords in the top 100 spots on Google.com according to SEMRush. Of course, many of them are not directly related, but around 50 or so are super targeted to my article.

  8. Kenna McHugh profile image91
    Kenna McHughposted 5 years ago

    Like Bev, titles and subtitles work for me.

  9. Rupert Taylor profile image96
    Rupert Taylorposted 5 years ago

    No Bev, it was someone called Linda Hazzard. Stay tuned, it might be up on Monday Sept. 17.

    1. theraggededge profile image97
      theraggededgeposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      LOL... we're getting all mixed up. I meant the podcast was called Tanis (highly recommended when doing boring routine work). I think it mentioned her. She practically kept her clients captive under the pretence that all their ailments were due to their diet. And people kept coming to her even though her clients kept dying. She was, in effect, a serial killer.

  10. Miebakagh57 profile image72
    Miebakagh57posted 5 years ago

    Hey, theraggededge, but did you noticed that when writing articles on HubPages, (I do not know if it applies to other websites), and when it comes to subtitles, you are advised not to stuff it with keywords? Correct me if I am wrong. But I have noted your opinion of varying the keywords and phrases in subtitles. Thank you.

    1. theraggededge profile image97
      theraggededgeposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Of course... but they are referring to the same keywords. So, for example, take the topic of... let's say dog walking. So varied keyphrases could be

      How Often Should You Exercise Your Dog?
      Should You Walk Your Pooch After Feeding?
      Canine Digestion and Exercise
      Off the Leash: How Often and for How Long?

      All those could be incorporated into one article and they are all likely key phrases. I just made them up though smile

      Google is now 'clever' enough to recognize relevant keyphrases even if they are very varied.

      1. Miebakagh57 profile image72
        Miebakagh57posted 5 years agoin reply to this

        Hey, theraggededge, thanks for being helpful here. I know anytime I get a comment from you, you're mentoring me. I have never forgotten that your rich experience will alsways put me on a positive path. Now, I have learn a new trick. Thanks again.

  11. Kenna McHugh profile image91
    Kenna McHughposted 5 years ago

    Great examples, Bev.

  12. theraggededge profile image97
    theraggededgeposted 5 years ago

    There are an awful lot of passive sentences in those edits too.

    My Hubpro editor always says I can rewrite her additions to make them sound like my 'voice' if I want to. Why don't you give it a go?

    Also, not a good idea to leave it here in the forum as it is now duplicate content.

    1. Natalie Frank profile image92
      Natalie Frankposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Good point about duplicate content.  I have tried to rewrite a good portion of the article but it was so messed up it meant largely starting from scratch.  I got rid of a some of the 1984's and a few other keywords that I thought were there way too much. But as I was told that this is the way you get traffic as well as if I changed things and got rid of too much the article would be moved to HP I left the section largely as is.  I still have the second big chunk of the article to rewrite as it is simply off topic and has parts that aren't accurate but I'm burned out on the article since I can't get it back to the point that it was before.  I thought there was a delete button for posts?  I can't see how to get rid of it.  Thanks.

      1. DrMark1961 profile image97
        DrMark1961posted 5 years agoin reply to this

        You should be able to edit it. Click on the edit button and then go back and remove the sections that would be duplicate content.
        I just read the "The Meaning of War..." on Owlcation. I think that section that they added at the bottom may not be what you want but it does seem like it is going to be helpful for a lot of readers. If you are a kid doing a report on 1984 and read the whole thing, all of that material really helps.
        Bright side: the editor did not add any unrelated material, at least that I noticed. It may cover more than you wanted, and you may want to change the title, but it is still focused on the book.

        1. Natalie Frank profile image92
          Natalie Frankposted 5 years agoin reply to this

          It is focused on the book but not the topic.  And yes now most everything is related because I edited much of it back to the way that it was removing material that came out of nowhere, was unrelated to the topic and was simply wrong.  Such as the statement about all of the pre-emptive wars that NATO engages. 

          The bottom info is actually not really focused on the topic which is how the use of contradictions functions in the novel.  Things like Duckspeak have nothing to do with that at all.  I tried to make this better by moving it from the middle of a section with not subheading to the end with the subheading "Related Questions".  The info might help a kid do homework by providing them with a bunch of stuff they can use for a report but that doesn't necessarily make it information needed for an essay on a specific topic.  Plus the way it was originally written I think would be the definition of keyword stuffing and read unnaturally.  It's still not great but a bit better perhaps.

          I truly don't mean to sound like I'm attacking or criticizing you at all - I very much appreciate your taking the time to read the article and let me know what you think - I'm still just frustrated that the original article was essentially completely rewritten with someone else's ideas, words, structure and interpretations which turned into a basic essay just defining the three mottos - the resulting essay being pretty much the same as hundreds if not thousands of other basic essays defining the 3 mottos.  Plus, the resulting loss of traffic, income, rank, the loss of the snippet, decreased hubscore etc. which I have yet to find a way to reverse and likely won't ever manage (similar to the other article this happened with) is extremely frustrating and demoralizing.

          Thank you again for taking the time to read it and give me your feedback.  Maybe it really isn't still as bad as it seems to me and I'm just too close to it to see that.  Maybe traffic will come back up and it just hasn't been long enough.  I guess I don't know what a normal traffic drop is based on a new edit of an article or whether a complete rewrite makes Google wary so that it re-evaluates it as a completely new article which takes longer to establish traffic.

          1. Natalie Frank profile image92
            Natalie Frankposted 5 years agoin reply to this

            I see the delete on the above reply but don't see it on the original post.  How do I delete the OP

            1. DrMark1961 profile image97
              DrMark1961posted 5 years agoin reply to this

              I just checked mine that I left you above and do not see an "edit" next to "report". I am pretty sure it was that way in the past, but maybe there is a time limit. If not, this is something HP has changed but I was not aware of.

              You are right in that I did not read it before so do not know how many changes were made. I am sorry you lost the snippet for the article. I hope they (Google) fixes this and your article goes back to the top.

            2. theraggededge profile image97
              theraggededgeposted 5 years agoin reply to this

              There's a time limit, I think. A couple of hours or so sad

              1. Natalie Frank profile image92
                Natalie Frankposted 5 years agoin reply to this

                I just reported it hoping they'll delete it.

 
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