Keyword Density: How Much is Too Much?
Keyword Density: How Much is Too Much? In the early days of search engine optimization, the recipe for ranking on the first page of Google was remarkably simple, if not entirely crude. Digital marketers would identify a target phrase, such as "best running shoes," and proceed to sprinkle it—or rather, douse it—throughout their content. It was not uncommon to see paragraphs where every third sentence contained the exact target phrase, regardless of how clunky or repetitive the prose became. This practice, known as keyword stuffing, worked for a time because search algorithms were primitive; they functioned primarily as sophisticated filing systems that matched search queries to the most frequent mentions on a webpage. (more…)
