Keyword Density Checker

Keyword density: a diagnostic, not a target

Keyword density is the percentage of a page's words made up by a given term or phrase. This tool counts every word and phrase in the text you paste, filters out common stop words, and ranks single words and 2- and 3-word phrases by frequency and density. Used correctly it is a quick way to audit what a page is really about — and to catch over-optimisation before it hurts you.

How density is calculated

density (%) = (occurrences of term / total words) × 100

Example: "running" appears 6 times in 600 words
         6 / 600 × 100 = 1.0%

For multi-word phrases the same formula applies to the count of that exact n-gram. The total words figure excludes nothing, but the ranked terms exclude stop words so the list stays meaningful.

Why chasing a percentage is the wrong move

Early-2000s SEO advice prescribed exact density targets. Modern search engines do not work that way. Google uses natural-language models that understand synonyms, entities, and intent, so a page that covers a topic thoroughly will rank without any particular keyword ratio. Optimising to a number tends to produce stilted, repetitive copy that performs worse, not better. Treat density as a smoke detector, not a thermostat.

What the numbers actually tell you

• Your target term is near zero: the page may not clearly signal its topic. Work the term and its variations into headings and body copy naturally.
• One term is unusually high (3%+): you may be stuffing. Replace some instances with pronouns or synonyms.
• Unexpected words top the list: boilerplate or an off-topic tangent may be dominating — a sign to tighten the content.

Use phrases, not just words

Single-word counts are noisy. The phrase view is where the insight is: it reveals whether your page emphasises "wireless noise-cancelling headphones" or just scatters the word "headphones" around. Search intent is expressed in phrases, so the 2- and 3-word n-grams are the closest proxy for the queries a page can satisfy.

A practical on-page workflow

Write the page for a human reader first. Then paste the main content here and scan the rankings: confirm your primary topic appears prominently, confirm related subtopics show up as supporting phrases, and confirm nothing is wildly over-represented. Make small edits for readability and coverage, not to hit a number. Re-run if you made significant changes.

Related SEO tools

• Meta Tag Generator — turn your target phrases into an optimised title and description.
• Word Counter — get exact word, character, and reading-time counts.
• Text Statistics — see word frequency and average word length at a glance.
• Schema Generator — add structured data so search engines understand your content.