Check keyword density and placement without the guesswork
The Keyword Density Checker analyses any text or HTML you paste and lists the most frequent single words, two-word and three-word phrases with their count and density percentage. Type a target keyword and it reports how often the phrase appears, whether it is in the first 100 words, the title, the H1 and sub-headings, and how early it first shows up.
It is built for writers, editors and SEO people who want to catch accidental repetition and missing topics — not to chase a magic percentage. Everything runs in your browser: the tool cannot fetch other websites (browsers block cross-site requests), so you paste the copy or the page source yourself and nothing is uploaded.
How to use the Keyword Density Checker
- Paste your article or the full HTML source into the box. With HTML, scripts, styles and tags are removed automatically and the title and headings are detected.
- Optionally type a target keyword and set the minimum number of times a phrase must appear to be listed.
- Choose whether to hide stop words and whether to give extra weight to words in the title and headings.
- Press Analyse keywords. Switch between single words and 2- or 3-word phrases with the tabs.
- Review the target keyword panel, then copy the table or download it as CSV.
Keyword Density Checker features
1-, 2- and 3-word phrases
Separate tables for single words, bigrams and trigrams, so “sourdough starter” is counted as a phrase, not just as two words.
Target keyword report
Occurrences, density, first-100-words check, prominence, a distribution map and whether the phrase appears in the title, H1, H2/H3 and meta description.
HTML aware
Paste view-source HTML and the checker strips tags, scripts and styles, keeps word boundaries between elements and reads the title and headings.
Stop-word filter
Hides common function words like “the”, “and” and “of” so the table shows the words that carry meaning.
Heading weighting
Optionally counts words in the title ×3, H1 ×2 and H2–H3 ×1.5, a rough way to reflect where search engines look first.
Export
Copy the table as tab-separated text or download a CSV for your content brief.
How keyword density is calculated
Keyword density is the number of times a word or phrase appears divided by the total number of words, expressed as a percentage. For a phrase of two or more words the tool divides by the number of possible phrase positions (words − phrase length + 1), which keeps multi-word percentages honest. Example: “apple” appears 4 times in 15 words, so its density is 4 ÷ 15 × 100 = 26.7%.
Words are matched as whole words, case-insensitively, with contractions kept together. Numbers on their own are ignored in the phrase tables. When heading weighting is on, counts can be fractional because headings add extra weight rather than extra words.
Is there an ideal keyword density?
No. You may still read advice to aim for 1–2% or 2–3%, but Google has said repeatedly that keyword density is not something its systems use, and that repeating words unnaturally (keyword stuffing) is against its spam policies. Modern ranking systems understand synonyms, related terms and context, so a page about sourdough starters will naturally mention flour, water, feeding and yeast without hitting any percentage.
What the numbers are useful for: spotting a phrase you have leaned on too hard, noticing that the subject of the page never appears in a heading, and checking that the main topic is clear in the opening paragraph and title. If the “Verdict” line says a phrase is used very heavily, read the text aloud and swap repeats for pronouns or synonyms. Pair this with the Readability Checker and the SERP Preview to make sure the page reads well and its snippet is clear.
Reading the target keyword panel
| Line | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Occurrences | Exact whole-phrase matches and the resulting density |
| In first 100 words | Whether the topic is introduced early, which helps readers and snippets |
| Prominence | How far into the text the phrase first appears — 100% means the very first word |
| Distribution | A 20-cell map of the text; filled cells mark sections where the phrase appears |
| Title / H1 / H2–H3 / description | Only shown for HTML input; reads the real elements, not a guess |
Keyword Density Checker FAQ
What is a good keyword density for SEO?
There isn’t one. Google doesn’t use keyword density as a ranking factor and treats unnatural repetition as spam. Use a keyword density checker to catch over-use and make sure the topic is clear, then write for the reader.
Can this tool check a live URL?
No. Web browsers block pages from reading other websites, so the checker cannot crawl a URL. Open the page, copy its text or use “View page source”, and paste it in. Tags, scripts and styles are removed for you.
Why are some counts not whole numbers?
With “Weight title and headings” switched on, words in the title, H1 and H2–H3 receive extra fractional weight. Turn the option off to see raw counts only.
Why doesn’t my keyword appear in the phrase table?
By default phrases must appear at least twice and must not start or end with a stop word. Lower the minimum to 1 or untick “Hide stop words”. The target keyword panel always counts your phrase regardless of these filters.
Does it work for languages other than English?
Yes for counting: words are detected in any Unicode script. The built-in stop-word list is English only, so untick the stop-word filter for other languages.
Is my text stored anywhere?
No. Analysis happens entirely in your browser and nothing is sent to a server.