2007 March 23

Affiliate Classroom Blog Archives

Should You be (Keyword) Dense?

Friday, March 23rd, 2007 at 6:40 pm by Matt Van Atta

The concept of keyword density is less relevant in affiliate marketing than it used to be. Yet some – particularly the keyword density analyzer folks – still care about it and want you to care as well.

Without a doubt, the right use of keywords – terms entered into a search engine in order to seek information on the web – makes your web page stand out more in a visitor’s search results. The processes used to determine search results have changed greatly. But the purpose of keywords to affiliate marketers has not changed.

Keyword density is a ratio of the number of times a keyword appears on a web page compared to the total number of words on that page. For example, a web page with 1,000 words of content and 10 keyword appearances has a density of 1% for that keyword. (10/1000 x 100%)

Back in the day, keyword density was considered a good thing in creating SEO-enhanced web pages. But it’s now considered more for its negatives than for its positives.

Ever attended a party that was fun at first, but a rude guest spoiled it for everyone else? Keyword density became such a party. Spammers optimized their web pages through “keyword stuffing,” or loading a page with keywords, to maximize search engine ranking – even if the resulting page content made no sense.

Justifiably, search engines labeled this practice unethical and set limits on keyword density levels. Adjusting to these limits, however, the spammers continued their onslaught. These events changed how search engines treat keyword density.

Keyword density today is a balancing act. Insert too few keyword appearances on a page, and search engines will label your page as irrelevant. Insert too many, and search engines will label your page as spam. Either way, you won’t find your page in the search results without another search to narrow those results.

So, when creating website content, where’s the happy medium? The answer is, don’t worry about it. Simply do the following and keyword density won’t become an issue:

Focus on writing useful content for your target audience. Insert the keywords, of course, but make sure they flow naturally within the content. Do not force keywords into your content just to include them.

Position your keywords not just in the specific page content, but also in the title tags and header tags.

Make sure your keywords relate well to the niche to which you are marketing.