Free Keyword Density Checker

A keyword density checker shows how often your target keyword appears in your copy, as a count and as a percentage of all words. This one also checks whether the keyword shows up in your first 100 words, and lists the words and 2- and 3-word phrases you repeat most. It’s free, your text stays in your browser, and it asks for your email once to show results.

Use it before you publish a page or article, to catch two problems: a keyword repeated so often the copy reads badly, and a topic you meant to cover that barely appears.

Key takeaways

• There's no ideal keyword density. Google doesn't use one, and stuffing a phrase in is against its spam policies.
• Put the keyword where readers look first: the title, the main heading and the opening two or three sentences.
• A warning above 3% means "reread this", not "you'll be penalized".
• The phrase tables are the most useful part: they show what your page is actually about.
• The tool matches exact words, so check singular and plural forms separately.

What a keyword density checker tells you

Keyword density is a simple ratio: how much of your text is taken up by one phrase. Years ago, some SEO advice set targets like 2% or 3%. Google never published a target, and its guidance today points the other way.

Google’s SEO Starter Guide says excessively repeating the same words over and over, even in variations, “is tiring for users,” and that keyword stuffing is against Google’s spam policies. The same guide says “there’s no magical word count target.” Its spam policies define keyword stuffing as “filling a web page with keywords or numbers in an attempt to manipulate rankings,” including “repeating the same words or phrases so often that it sounds unnatural.”

So the check is useful for two things only:

• Catching stuffing. If one phrase dominates every table, the copy probably reads that way too.
• Finding gaps. If the topic you’re targeting isn’t in your top phrases, the page may not cover it well.

How it works

Everything runs in your browser. When you press Check density, the tool:

1. Normalizes the text. It lowercases everything and turns curly apostrophes into straight ones, so It’s and it's match.
2. Splits it into words. A word is a run of letters or numbers, including apostrophes and hyphens inside it. So end-to-end is one word and seo's is different from seo.
3. Counts each keyword. It looks for the exact sequence of words you typed, anywhere in the text, ignoring case.
4. Calculates density as count × words in the phrase × 100 ÷ total words. A 3-word phrase takes up three words each time it appears, so it’s counted that way.
5. Checks the first 100 words for each keyword.
6. Builds three frequency tables: the top 10 single words, 2-word phrases and 3-word phrases. It skips common stop words (the, and, of, you and about 120 more) when they start or end a phrase, and skips numbers and one-letter words. Phrases need at least two uses to appear in the 2- and 3-word tables.

The tool needs at least 50 words to run, because percentages on a few sentences mean very little.

How to read your results

For each keyword, you’ll see up to three lines:

What you see	What it means	What to do
“appears N times (X%)” marked Good	The keyword is in the text	Check each use reads naturally
“appears 0 times” marked Fix	The exact phrase isn’t in the text	Use it at least once, in the intro or a heading, if it fits
“may read as stuffed” marked Improve	Density is above 3%	Reread those sentences. Use related terms and pronouns instead
“is in the first 100 words” marked Good	Your intro names the topic	Keep it
“isn’t in the first 100 words” marked Improve	The opening doesn’t name the topic	Answer the reader’s question early, using the phrase if it fits

As a rough guide to the density number itself:

Density	How to read it
0%	The exact phrase is missing. Fine if you use a close variant; otherwise add it once
Under about 3% on a full page	Normal for natural writing. Focus on quality, not the number
Over 3% on a full page	Often reads repetitive. Reread and vary the wording
Over 3% on a short snippet	Expected. One mention of a long phrase in 80 words is already above 3%

A worked example

Here’s an 80-word draft for a service page, checked against the keyword B2B SEO services and a second keyword, technical SEO:

We offer B2B SEO services for software companies. Our B2B SEO services start with a technical audit. Then we plan content around the questions your buyers ask. B2B SEO services work best when sales and marketing agree on the target accounts. We report on pipeline, not just rankings. Technical SEO fixes come first, because content can’t rank on a slow site. Our B2B SEO service includes keyword research, content briefs and link building. Ask about our B2B SEO services today.

The tool returns:

• B2B SEO services: 4 times. Density = 4 × 3 × 100 ÷ 80 = 15%, with a “may read as stuffed” warning. It’s in the first 100 words.
• technical SEO: 1 time. Density = 1 × 2 × 100 ÷ 80 = 2.5%.
• Top 3-word phrase: “b2b seo services”, 4 times. Top 2-word phrases: “b2b seo” 5 times, “seo services” 4 times.

Two things stand out. First, “b2b seo” appears 5 times but the full keyword only 4: the singular “B2B SEO service” doesn’t count as a match. Second, the 15% is a symptom you can hear when you read it aloud. Three of the eight sentences exist mainly to repeat the phrase.

Here’s the rewrite, 78 words:

We offer B2B SEO services for software companies, starting with a technical audit. Then we plan content around the questions your buyers ask before they book a demo. This works best when sales and marketing agree on the target accounts. We report on pipeline, not just rankings. Technical SEO fixes come first, because content can’t rank on a slow site. After that, we handle keyword research, content briefs and link building, and review results with you every month.

Now B2B SEO services appears once: 1 × 3 × 100 ÷ 78 = 3.85%. The tool still shows the 3% warning, because one mention of a 3-word phrase in 78 words is already above it. That’s the point of the example: on a short snippet, the percentage tells you almost nothing. On a full 900-word page, the same single mention would be 1 × 3 × 100 ÷ 900 = 0.33%, and five natural mentions would be 1.67%.

The useful signal is in the tables. After the rewrite, no 2- or 3-word phrase repeats at all, and “content” is now the top single word. The copy reads like a person wrote it.

Hitting a density target has never been the goal of a page we write. What I do notice is copy that sounds written for a robot, and buyers notice it too. Use the checker as a smoke alarm: if one phrase shows up far more than the rest, read the paragraph aloud and cut the repeats. Then spend your time on what the page actually answers.

Where to put your keyword

Natural keyword placement

• The title tag, close to the start.
• The main heading (H1) of the page.
• The first two or three sentences, as part of a direct answer.
• One or two subheadings, where it reads naturally.
• Image alt text only when the image actually shows it.
• Everywhere else: related terms, synonyms and the specific subtopics a buyer expects.

Related terms matter more than repetition. A page about B2B SEO services that never mentions technical SEO, content, links or reporting is thin, however often it repeats the main phrase. Good keyword research gives you that list of subtopics before you write. If two of your pages chase the same phrase, you have a keyword cannibalization problem, which no density figure will show.

Common keyword density mistakes

Myth vs fact

MythThere's an ideal keyword density, usually 1% to 3%.

FactGoogle publishes no target. Its SEO Starter Guide says repetition is tiring for users and keyword stuffing breaks its spam policies.

MythUsing the keyword more often helps the page rank.

FactRepetition past the natural point makes copy worse. Google's spam policies name repeating words or phrases so often they sound unnatural as keyword stuffing.

MythA low density means the page isn't optimized.

FactA page can rank with few exact mentions if it fully answers the query and covers the related subtopics.

Other mistakes to avoid:

• Writing to hit a number. Adding the phrase to reach 2% makes copy worse. Write the answer first, then check.
• Ignoring variations. “Service” and “services” are different phrases to this tool. Check the version your buyers actually search.
• Checking only the body. Your title, meta description and headings matter as much as body copy. The on-page SEO checker looks at those.

Where to go next

Keyword placement is one small part of a page that ranks. Our B2B SEO strategy guide covers how we choose topics and build pages around search intent. If you want help, our SEO team plans and writes pages around real buyer questions, and our technical SEO work fixes the problems that stop good content from ranking.