Doug or Karon

[gd7777]

So ALL of the words on my pages have to be in the 3-4% range?

BTW, for anyone that cares someone at Ah-ha.com which is over Excite.com and Webcrawler.com told me that they look for 3-7% for the MAIN keywords for a page...

Do you really get penalized (lower ranking) then if you are over the target 3-7 or 3-4 %?

[MsSearch]

There is no specific limit but the 3-7% is a safe range that keyword densities typically fall between....

Use your main keywords too few times on your page and your visitors as well as the bots may not be able to distinguish what your web page is about...use your keywords too many times throughout the page and the copy will not flow and will look unprofessional...

I have seen pages that rank highly with keyword densities anywhere from 0 occurrances on the page (all occurrances were in anchor text of backlinks) to 13% .....

there are too many factors/elements incorporated into the algorithms to spend too much time obsessing over just one element...

[gd7777]

Thanks for your input. Think I am starting to understand more and more what the se's are looking for.....

[Advisor]

Use your keyword phrase as many times as it makes sense to do so, without it sounding stupid. Forget density numbers.

Jill

[Copywriter]

Yes... remember it's just a "guideline"... it's not carved in stone. Don't focus on calculating 3%-7%. Obviously, if every other word is your keyword, you're stuffing. That'll get you in trouble. But - like Jill said - use it as many times as it makes sense to do in the copy without making the copy to sound "forced."

I write SEO copy all day long and I rarely stop to actually calculate whether I've gotten a 3%-7% ratio or not. It's just a guideline.

The SEs need to be able to distinquish what your site (or each page) is about. That's the purpose for keywords. Use your keywords too many times and you get in trouble (or your copy will not make sense and your sales will suffer)... don't use them enough - or in the right places - and your competition will beat you out. It takes a little practice, and some knowledge.

Hope it helps!
Karon

[Advisor]

There are times when I can see additional places within the copy to add the keyword phrases, but decide not to. Karon does the same thing. She sends me the optimized copy and then I look to see if I see any other spots. We've had a few pages recently where I get the "itch" to add it in just one more time...but then I stop myself!

Generally, as a copywriter, Karon has a better feel for what sounds best to the reader. But from my perspective as the SEO, I always want to find that one more place. As long as I see the keyword phrases used fairly often, I try to leave it alone. Every now and then I can squeak out an extra spot that doesn't ruin the flow, but now that Karon is quite the expert SEO-writer, those times are few and far between! :)

Jill