Keyword density is the share of a page's words taken up by a particular keyword or phrase. It is one of the most common questions for anyone writing for search: what percentage should you aim for? This guide covers what Google says, what density can and cannot tell you, and how to use a density check sensibly.
Facts in this article come from Google Search Central documentation, checked October 1, 2026. Sections marked "Our guidance" are WriterFlowLab's editorial recommendations, not Google rules.
The short answer
There is no "good" keyword density to aim for. Google does not publish a target percentage, and its documentation warns against repeating words excessively. Write for the reader, cover the topic properly, and use density only as a check for repetition you did not intend.
What keyword density means
Keyword density is usually calculated as the number of times a keyword appears, divided by the total number of words, multiplied by 100. For example, if "content workflow" appears 6 times in a 1,200-word article, its density is 6 ÷ 1,200 × 100 = 0.5%.
Tools count phrases in different ways. Some count each occurrence of a phrase once, while others multiply by the number of words in the phrase, so the same text can produce different percentages in different tools. Our keyword density checker counts each non-overlapping occurrence of a phrase once and shows the formula it used.
What Google says
Google Search Central does not give a keyword density target, but it does address repetition directly:
- In its SEO Starter Guide, Google lists keyword stuffing among the things it believes you should not focus on: "Excessively repeating the same words over and over (even in variations) is tiring for users, and keyword stuffing is against Google's spam policies."
- Google's spam policies define keyword stuffing as "the practice of filling a web page with keywords or numbers in an attempt to manipulate rankings in Google Search results", and give examples that include repeating words or phrases so often that the text sounds unnatural.
- Google's guidance on creating helpful content encourages content made primarily for people, rather than content made primarily to attract visits from search engines.
Sources: Google's SEO Starter Guide, spam policies and guidance on creating helpful, reliable, people-first content.
Why a fixed percentage is the wrong target
Our guidance: a single number cannot account for the difference between a 300-word product note and a 3,000-word guide, or between a short keyword such as "SEO" and a long phrase such as "how to clean AI-generated text". Chasing a percentage tends to produce awkward sentences, which is exactly the kind of repetition Google's documentation warns against. A page can also cover a topic well while using its main keyword only a few times, because readers understand synonyms, related terms and context.
What keyword density can tell you
- Accidental repetition: a word or phrase that appears far more often than you realised, which is common in AI-assisted drafts and in text pieced together from several sources.
- Missing focus: if the main topic of a page barely appears, the page may not say clearly what it is about.
- Overused filler: the frequency tables in a checker reveal pet words and phrases worth varying.
What it cannot tell you
- Whether the page answers the reader's question.
- Whether the information is accurate, current or original.
- How the page will rank. Google's documentation does not ask you to optimise for keyword frequency, and it treats excessive repetition as a problem.
How to use a density checker sensibly
- Finish the draft first, writing naturally for the reader.
- Paste it into the keyword density checker and enter your main keyword or phrase.
- Look at the most frequent words and phrases, not just the percentage.
- If a word or phrase stands out, read those sentences aloud. If they sound repetitive, rewrite them using pronouns, synonyms or a different sentence structure.
- Check that the page still says clearly what it is about, especially in the title, headings and introduction.
A worked example
Suppose a 1,000-word draft about AI writing tools uses the phrase "AI writing tool" 24 times. By our checker's method, that is a density of 24 ÷ 1,000 × 100 = 2.4%. That number is not a score, and there is no percentage it should be raised or lowered to. What matters is that the phrase appears roughly every 40 words, which readers are likely to notice. Rewriting some mentions as "these tools", "the assistant" or a product name keeps the meaning and reads more naturally.
Better things to focus on
Our guidance:
- Match the search intent: work out what someone searching for your topic needs, and answer it early.
- Cover the topic properly, including the questions a reader is likely to ask next.
- Use clear titles and headings that describe the content.
- Use related terms naturally rather than repeating one phrase.
- Keep pages readable, with short paragraphs, plain language and a logical structure.
- Avoid keyword stuffing: never repeat a word or phrase just to raise its count.
Length raises a similar question. See how many words a blog post should be for what Google says about word count.
Frequently asked questions
Is there an ideal keyword density percentage?
No. Google does not prescribe an ideal keyword density, and WriterFlowLab does not recommend one. Treat density as a diagnostic for excessive repetition, not a number to optimise toward.
Can keyword density be too low?
Google does not set a minimum. A very low count for your main topic can be a sign that the page does not say clearly what it is about, which is worth fixing for readers.
Does Google use the keywords meta tag?
No. Google's SEO Starter Guide states: "Google Search doesn't use the keywords meta tag."