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Keyword Density Checker

Paste any text into this keyword density checker to list every word by how often it appears and its percentage of all words, optionally skipping common words like "the" and "and", and highlight one keyword where it occurs.

Highlight preview shows the first 5,000 characters; counts use the full input.
Descriptive frequency only: no ideal SEO density is implied.
How keyword density is calculated
  • Densitytimes the word appears ÷ total words × 100
  • Total wordsevery run of letters or digits, any language; word-internal ' and - kept
  • Unique wordsdistinct words after lowercasing
Results list every word from most to least frequent, with its count and percentage, separated by tabs — paste them straight into a spreadsheet. Type a word into "Highlight one keyword" to mark each place it appears and see its count and share on its own.
"Ignore common English words" hides a, an, the, of, to, and, or, is, are, in, on, for, with, it and that from the list. Percentages are still out of all words, so the figure for any word you keep doesn't change between modes.
Descriptive frequency only: no ideal SEO density is implied.
Worked example
Cold brew coffee is coffee steeped in cold water for 12 to 24 hours. Cold brew tastes smoother than hot coffee, and cold brew concentrate keeps for a week in the fridge.
32 words, 23 unique. Top words in each mode:
All wordsDensityCommon words ignoredDensity
cold ×412.50%cold ×412.50%
brew ×39.38%brew ×39.38%
coffee ×39.38%coffee ×39.38%
in ×26.25%steeped ×13.13%
for ×26.25%water ×13.13%
is ×13.13%12 ×13.13%
"Brew" is 9.38% because it appears 3 times in 32 words: 3 ÷ 32 × 100. In a two-sentence snippet, a few repeats make big percentages — the same 3 uses in a 600-word page would be 0.50%. Density only means much on full-length text.
What keyword density is good for (and what it isn't)
No magic percentage
The "1–2% keyword density" rule is SEO folklore, not from any search engine. Google's guidance is to write helpful, people-first content, and its spam policies list keyword stuffing — repeating words unnaturally to manipulate rankings — as a violation.
Useful checks
  • Spot a crutch word you've used 20 times.
  • Confirm the main topic actually appears in the copy, not just in your head.
  • Compare your word list with a competing page to find terms readers expect that you've left out.
Signs of over-optimization
Your keyword tops the list above "the" and "and", the exact phrase starts several sentences in a row, or the text reads awkwardly aloud. Replace some repeats with pronouns and natural variants — search engines understand synonyms.
Placement matters more than repetition. Put the topic in the page title, the main heading and the first paragraph, write a clear meta description, and then let the body text use the words a reader naturally would. The Meta Tag Generator and Readability Checker cover those next steps.
Sources: Google Search Central, "Spam policies for Google web search" (keyword stuffing) and "Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content". Checked 15 October 2026.
A quick editing pass with word frequency
  1. Paste the finished draft, not an outline — density on a few sentences is mostly noise.
  2. Turn on "Ignore common English words" so the topic words rise to the top of the list.
  3. Read the top ten. They should describe what the page is about. If a filler word like "really", "very" or "solution" is up there, trim it.
  4. Highlight your main keyword and scan the preview. A cluster in one paragraph reads worse than the same count spread through the piece.
  5. Check variants separately. "Coffee" and "coffees" are counted as different words, so look up each form you use.
Comparing drafts? Run each version and compare the counts for the same word. Because each row comes back as word, count and percentage separated by tabs, both lists paste cleanly into adjacent spreadsheet columns.
Frequently asked questions
How is keyword density calculated?+
Count how many times the word appears, divide by the total number of words, and multiply by 100. In a 32-word paragraph where "cold" appears 4 times, its density is 4 ÷ 32 × 100 = 12.50%.
What is a good keyword density for SEO?+
There isn't one. Google has never published a target density, and repeating a keyword to hit a number is "keyword stuffing", which its spam policies name explicitly. Use density to spot accidental repetition, not as a score — write for the reader and use the words they would use.
Can it check two- or three-word phrases?+
No. It counts single words only, so "cold brew" shows up as separate counts for "cold" and "brew". The Highlight box also matches one whole word. To gauge a phrase, compare the counts of its words and look at the highlighted text to see whether they appear together.
Which words does "Ignore common English words" remove?+
Fifteen: a, an, the, of, to, and, or, is, are, in, on, for, with, it and that. They are dropped from the list, but the percentages are still based on the total of all words, so a keyword's density stays the same in either mode.
What counts as a word?+
Any run of letters or digits, in any alphabet, so "24" and "café" are words. Hyphens and apostrophes inside a word keep it together — "cold-pressed" and "don't" each count once. Counting is case-insensitive, so "Coffee" and "coffee" are the same word.
Why doesn't my count match my word processor?+
Word processors split words differently. Many count anything between spaces, so "12–24" written with an en dash is one word there but two here, and a lone "&" counts there but not here. Differences are usually a few words per thousand.
What's the difference between keyword frequency and keyword density?+
Frequency is the raw count — how many times a word appears. Density is that count as a share of all words. The checker shows both side by side: in the sample above, "cold" has a frequency of 4 and a density of 12.50%. Frequency is more useful for comparing drafts of the same length; density for comparing texts of different lengths.
How do I find overused words in my writing?+
Paste your draft, choose "Ignore common English words" and run the check: the list is sorted by count, so words you lean on rise to the top. Type one into the Highlight box to see where it clusters, then swap in synonyms or cut sentences where it repeats close together.
Can I paste HTML or a whole web page?+
You can, but tags and attributes are counted as words. The snippet <p class="intro">Cold brew coffee</p> counts as 7 words instead of 3, because "p", "class" and "intro" are included. For accurate results, copy the visible text from the page in your browser rather than its source code.
Is there a length limit?+
The input box takes up to 1,000,000 characters — well over 100,000 words of English. All words are counted; the highlight preview shows only the first 5,000 characters to stay responsive.
Is my text uploaded?+
No. Counting happens in your browser and the text never leaves your device, so it's safe for unpublished drafts and client copy. Nothing is saved after you close the tab.
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