Keyword Density Checker — Phrase Frequency & Keyword Analysis
Count one-, two- and three-word phrases, see their density, and check where your target keyword appears.
82 words
Positions (word number): 1, 22, 35, 73
| # | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | coffee | 6 | 7.32% |
| 2 | cold | 5 | 6.10% |
| 3 | brew | 4 | 4.88% |
| 4 | water | 4 | 4.88% |
| 5 | fridge | 2 | 2.44% |
Density = occurrences ÷ total words × 100. Two- and three-word phrases starting or ending with a stop word are hidden when stop words are ignored.
Runs entirely in your browser. Your text is never uploaded or stored. Browse all free tools.
Found a problem, or something that could be better? We read every message and we fix things quickly.
This free keyword density checker counts every one-, two- and three-word phrase in your text and shows how often each appears and what share of the words it takes up. Enter a target keyword to see how many times it appears, its density, the word position of each occurrence, and every occurrence highlighted in the text, so you can tell at a glance whether it is spread through the page or bunched in one paragraph.
Density is a diagnostic, not a target. Google has never published an ideal keyword density, and its spam policies name keyword stuffing as a violation, so the point of checking is to catch two problems: a phrase repeated so often that the text reads as written for a machine, and a page whose main topic barely appears in it at all. The phrase table is often more useful than the keyword number, because it shows which topics your page actually talks about.
How to use
- Paste your article or page copy. Counts update as you type.
- Enter your target keyword or phrase to see its count, density and positions, with each occurrence highlighted.
- Switch between 1, 2 and 3-word phrases. Keep Ignore stop words on to hide phrases like “of the”.
- Raise or lower the minimum count, and click column headers to sort by phrase, count or density.
- Export the table to CSV to compare pages or share with a writer.
Frequently asked questions
What is keyword density?
Keyword density is the number of times a word or phrase appears, divided by the total number of words, times 100. A phrase that appears 5 times in a 500-word article has a density of 1 percent. Some tools multiply by the number of words in the phrase, which gives a higher figure for multi-word phrases; this tool uses the plain occurrences-per-word definition and says so.
What is a good keyword density for SEO?
There is no correct number. Search engines rank pages on relevance and quality, and Google has never recommended a density. Naturally written pages usually end up with their main phrase at roughly 0.5 to 2 percent simply because the text is about that topic. Above about 3 percent text usually starts to read as repetitive; at that point rewrite for readers rather than aiming for a figure.
What is keyword stuffing?
Keyword stuffing is repeating a keyword unnaturally to try to rank for it: the same phrase in every sentence, lists of cities or keywords, or hidden text. Google's spam policies list it explicitly, and it can lower rankings rather than raise them. If the phrase table shows one phrase far ahead of everything else, read the text aloud; stuffing is obvious when heard.
What are stop words and why filter them?
Stop words are very common words such as the, and, of, to and is. They are the most frequent words in almost any English text, so without filtering they crowd the top of the table and hide the words that carry meaning. With the filter on, single stop words are hidden, and two- and three-word phrases that start or end with one are hidden, while phrases like “return on investment” are kept.
Why does my keyword count differ from other tools?
Tools tokenize text differently. This one counts whole-word matches, case-insensitively, treats hyphenated words and contractions as single words, does not let phrases run across a sentence break, and counts non-overlapping occurrences. Others may match inside longer words (counting “art” in “start”), include headings and navigation from a URL, or use the multiplied density formula.
How to read the phrase table
Start with the two- and three-word view. The phrases near the top are what your page is about to a reader skimming it. If your target topic is not in the top few, the page is probably about something slightly different from what you intended, which matters more than any density figure.
Next look for accidental repetition: a pet phrase (“in order to”, “it is important to”) or a product name that appears in every paragraph. Those make text tiring to read. Finally, check the spread in the keyword panel: occurrences at word 3, 9 and 14 and then nothing for 1,000 words means the opening is crowded and the rest of the page drifts.
Better signals than density
• Put the main topic in the title, the first heading and the first paragraph, where readers and search engines look first.
• Use related terms and synonyms. A page about cold brew coffee naturally mentions grounds, steeping, ratio and concentrate; the three-word table shows whether yours does.
• Answer the question the searcher had. Check the top results for your keyword and make sure your page covers what they cover, plus something they do not.
• Write a title and meta description that earn the click, and preview them in the SERP preview tool.
Related free tools
- Word Counter — Count words, characters, sentences and reading time, and check X, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, SEO and SMS limits as you type.
- Readability Checker — Score your text with Flesch, Flesch–Kincaid, Gunning Fog, SMOG and more, and see the long sentences and hard words to fix.
- SERP Snippet Preview — Preview how your page title and meta description will look in Google — with live character-count checks.
- Meta Tag Generator — Fill in a page's title, description and social card details; get a complete, correctly escaped <head> block with live length counters.
- URL Slug Generator — Convert titles into short, readable URL slugs, with accent transliteration, stop-word removal and bulk mode.