Keyword Density
Keyword density is the percentage of a page's total words that are a given keyword. It was an actual ranking factor in the early 2000s and is now obsolete. Modern search engines evaluate topical relevance and meaning, not repetition counts.
Why it matters for your rankings
Keyword density persists in SEO tools and briefs long after it stopped mattering, and chasing a target percentage actively damages writing. Text engineered to hit 2.5 percent reads badly to humans, which is the audience that decides whether you convert.
Google's systems understand synonyms, related concepts and context. A page can rank for a phrase it never uses verbatim, because relevance is judged semantically. What density scores actually detect is the rare genuine problem of keyword stuffing, where repetition is so heavy it looks manipulative. Below that threshold, the number is noise. The productive replacement is coverage: does the page address the subject and its related questions thoroughly and in natural language.
How to check it on your site
Read the page aloud
Any phrase that sounds forced or repeated unnaturally is a problem regardless of what a density tool reports.
Check for genuine stuffing
Look for repeated exact-match phrases in footers, alt text, hidden divs and image filenames, which is where stuffing usually hides.
Compare topic coverage instead
List the subtopics and questions competitors cover. Gaps in coverage matter far more than word frequency.
Use natural variation
Write with synonyms and related terms as you naturally would. Search engines handle this well and readers prefer it.