Keyword Density Checker

How to use the Keyword Density Checker

1. Paste the text you want to check. For a live page, copy the main content rather than the whole page so navigation menus and footers do not distort the counts.
2. Optionally enter a target keyword or phrase to see its exact count, density and every location in the text.
3. Keep Ignore common words ticked to hide words like “the” and “and”, which are always the most frequent and rarely interesting.
4. Select Check density, then switch between single words, two-word and three-word phrases.
5. If one phrase stands far above the rest, read those passages aloud. Repetition that sounds forced to you will read the same way to visitors.

Example: a 400-word coffee guide

In a 400-word article, the phrase “cold brew” appears 14 times. Its density is calculated as:

(14 occurrences × 2 words) ÷ 400 words × 100 = 7.0%

The two-word phrase table shows “cold brew” well ahead of the next phrase, “coffee grounds”, at 5 occurrences. That is a sign to vary the wording — “the concentrate”, “your brew”, “it” — where the repetition is not needed for clarity.

What keyword density can and cannot tell you

Keyword density is the share of a text made up of a particular word or phrase. In the early days of search, some people tried to rank by hitting a “perfect” percentage. Search engines have long since moved on: Google’s guidance warns against keyword stuffing and there is no ideal density that guarantees a ranking.

The measure is still useful as a diagnostic. It shows at a glance which terms dominate a piece of writing, which can reveal that:

• a phrase has been repeated so often that the text reads unnaturally;
• the main topic is barely mentioned, so the page is less clear than you thought;
• a draft leans on a few words that could be varied for readability.

How the numbers are calculated

The text is split into words using your browser’s language-aware word segmentation. Words are compared in lower case, so “Coffee” and “coffee” are counted together.

For single words, density is the number of occurrences divided by the total number of words. For phrases, each occurrence covers several words, so the count is multiplied by the phrase length:

density = (occurrences × words in phrase) ÷ total words × 100

The total word count always includes every word, even when common words are hidden from the table, so densities stay comparable whether or not filtering is on. Phrases are counted within sentences, so a phrase never spans a full stop.

Who uses it

Copywriters use it to catch repetitive phrasing before a draft goes to a client. Editors use it to compare a rewrite with the original. SEO practitioners use it to check that a page actually discusses the topic it is meant to cover, and students use it to spot overused words in essays.

Limitations to keep in mind

• Density measures repetition, not quality or relevance. A page with a “good” density can still fail to answer the searcher’s question.
• The common-word filter is English. For other languages, untick it and ignore the function words in the results.
• Words are matched exactly after lower-casing, so “run”, “runs” and “running” are counted separately.
• Pasting a whole web page includes menus and footers. Copy only the main content for meaningful numbers.

How your data is handled

Your text is analysed in your browser and never sent anywhere. That makes the tool suitable for unpublished drafts and client copy.

Frequently asked questions