Keyword Density Checker - Word and Phrase Frequency Tool

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What is a Keyword Density Checker?

Keyword density tells you how often a word or phrase appears in a text compared with the total number of words, shown as a percentage. A keyword density checker counts every word and phrase in your text and shows you which ones repeat the most. Bloggers and writers use it to find words that appear too often, to see which topics their article really stresses and to check that the main keyword is present without being repeated too much.

This tool lists single words, two-word phrases and three-word phrases, because real search phrases are often two or three words long.

How to Check Keyword Density

1. Copy the text of your article or blog post. Copy the visible text and not the page source.
2. Paste it into the box.
3. Click Analyze Text.
4. Read the summary: total words, characters, sentences and estimated reading time.
5. Open the 1-word, 2-word and 3-word tables and look at the count and the density of each phrase.
6. Tick the stop words option to hide very common words such as is, the, and and in, so that meaningful keywords stand out.
7. Click Copy Keywords if you want to paste the keywords into a document or a spreadsheet.

Edit your text and click Analyze Text again to see how the numbers change.

What You See on the Page

Item	Meaning
Text box	Where you paste your article
Total Words	The number of words in your text
Total Characters	The number of characters in your text
Total Sentences	The number of sentences, found by full stops, question marks and exclamation marks
Estimated Reading Time	The word count divided by an average reading speed
Keyword density table	Lists phrases with their count and their density percentage
1-word, 2-word and 3-word phrases	Single words, bigrams and trigrams
Red and green rows	Red: more than 3 percent of all words. Green: 3 percent or less
Stop words option	Hides very common English words from the table
Copy Keywords	Copies the keywords from the table

How Keyword Density is Calculated

Density (%) = (times the word or phrase appears / total words) x 100

The tool uses this same method for one-word, two-word and three-word phrases.

Appears	Total words	Calculation	Density
6 times	500	6 / 500 x 100	1.2%
10 times	500	10 / 500 x 100	2%
20 times	500	20 / 500 x 100	4%
12 times	1,000	12 / 1,000 x 100	1.2%

What 3 percent means in real numbers

Length of your text	3% of the words	Row turns red when the phrase appears more than
300 words	9	9 times
500 words	15	15 times
1,000 words	30	30 times
2,000 words	60	60 times

A Worked Example

Take this short text of 26 words and 3 sentences. It is deliberately repetitive.

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Phrase	Type	Count	Calculation	Density
free	1-word	4	4 / 26 x 100	about 15.4%
tools	1-word	5	5 / 26 x 100	about 19.2%
free tools	2-word	4	4 / 26 x 100	about 15.4%
free tools save	3-word	1	1 / 26 x 100	about 3.8%

All of these are well above 3 percent, so the first three rows would be red. The last one is above 3 percent only because the text is so short: a single appearance in 26 words is 3.8 percent. In a real article of 500 words, the same phrase appearing once would be 0.2 percent. This is why density numbers for very short texts are not meaningful.

One-Word, Two-Word and Three-Word Phrases

Type	Also called	Example	Useful for
1-word	Unigram	tools	Seeing which single words you lean on
2-word	Bigram	free tools	Checking short keyword phrases
3-word	Trigram	free online tools	Checking longer, more specific phrases

Phrases are made of words that appear next to each other. The more words a phrase has, the less often it usually repeats, so three-word phrases tend to have lower counts and lower percentages than single words.

Red and Green: What the 3 Percent Line Means

The table shows a row in red when a word or phrase is more than 3 percent of all the words in your text, and in green when it is 3 percent or less. Think of red as a prompt to look again, not as a mistake.

• It is a rule of thumb. Many SEO guides suggest staying below about 3 percent for a single keyword, but it is not an official limit from any search engine.
• Some red rows are normal. A short text, a product name or a topic word that must be repeated can go above 3 percent without any problem.
• Common words can show up in red when stop words are not hidden. Words such as the or and are usually far above 3 percent in normal writing, which is why the stop words option exists.
• Green does not mean good. A green row only means that the phrase is not repeated very often. It says nothing about the quality of your article.

Is There an Ideal Keyword Density?

Search engines do not publish an ideal keyword density, and there is no official percentage to aim for. They look at many things, such as how useful, clear and relevant a page is for the search. Repeating a keyword again and again in an unnatural way is called keyword stuffing, and search engine guidelines warn against it. Text that is stuffed with the same phrase is also tiring for readers.

• Write for people first. Say what you want to say clearly, and use your main keyword where it fits.
• Use the checker as a mirror. It shows which words and phrases you repeat, which is easy to miss when you read your own text.
• Do not chase a percentage. Pushing a number up to look right does not make an article better, and it can make the writing worse.
• No guarantees. A good density does not guarantee good rankings, and this tool cannot predict how your page will rank.

Stop Words

Stop words are very common words that carry little meaning on their own, such as is, the, and, in, of and to. They appear in almost every text and they would fill the top of your table. Tick the stop words option to hide them, so that the meaningful keywords, such as digital marketing or free tools, are easy to see.

• The list covers common English words.
• Hiding stop words only changes what is shown in the table. The total word count and the percentages still use all the words of your text.
• Untick the option if you want to see every word, for example to check how often you use a filler word.

The Other Numbers: Words, Characters, Sentences and Reading Time

Number	How it is worked out	Good to know
Total Words	Words are counted from your text	Pasted web page code, menus and captions are counted too, so paste only the text you want to check
Total Characters	The characters in your text	Useful for limits, such as a meta description or a social media post
Total Sentences	Sentences are found by full stops, question marks and exclamation marks	It can be off for abbreviations such as e.g. and for decimal numbers
Estimated Reading Time	Word count divided by an average reading speed	Adults often read about 200 to 250 words per minute, but real readers vary a lot

Reading time examples

Words	At 200 words per minute	At 250 words per minute
500	2.5 minutes	2 minutes
1,000	5 minutes	4 minutes
2,000	10 minutes	8 minutes

Tips for Bloggers

• Check after you finish writing, not while you write. Write naturally first and then use the table to find repetition.
• Look at the two-word and three-word tables. They show the phrases that readers are more likely to search for.
• Vary your wording. Use synonyms, related words and different ways of saying the same thing, instead of repeating one phrase.
• Put the main idea where it belongs, such as the title, a heading or the first paragraph, as long as it reads naturally.
• Read the article aloud. If a phrase sounds forced, it probably is.
• Check longer texts. Percentages from a very short text, such as a few sentences, swing wildly and are not meaningful.
• Compare drafts. Run an earlier and a later version of your article through the tool to see how repetition changed.
• Remember what the tool does not know: it does not check search volume, competition, quality or whether a keyword suits your topic.

Common Mistakes

• Treating 3 percent as a rule from Google: It is only a rule of thumb.
• Forcing a keyword in to reach a number: That is how keyword stuffing starts.
• Pasting the page source: HTML tags and code are counted as words and spoil the result. Paste the visible text.
• Including menus, comments and footers: They add words that are not part of your article.
• Checking a very short text: A single repeat looks huge in a short text.
• Ignoring the two-word and three-word phrases: Many keywords are phrases and not single words.
• Comparing numbers from different tools directly: Each tool counts in its own way.

Good to Know

• Paste text, not a web address. The tool does not fetch web pages. Open your page, copy the text and paste it.
• English works best. The stop word list is English only.
• The numbers are exact counts of your text, but the rules are simple. Words are separated by spaces and sentences by end marks, so unusual text can be counted differently from other tools.
• It is not an SEO score. The tool counts repetition. It does not judge quality, relevance or rankings.
• It does not change your text. Edit your article in your own editor and paste it again.

Privacy

• The analysis runs in your browser, and the text you paste is not sent to our server.
• We do not save your text or your results. They disappear when you close or reload the page.
• It is still a good habit to avoid pasting private or confidential material into any online tool, and to use a device you trust.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I check keyword density?

Paste your article or blog post into the box and click Analyze Text. The tool shows the total words, characters, sentences and reading time, and a table of one-word, two-word and three-word phrases with how often each appears and its density percentage.

What is keyword density?

Keyword density is how often a word or phrase appears in a text compared with the total number of words, shown as a percentage. It is a quick way to see which words and phrases you repeat most, and whether one of them is repeated too much.

How is keyword density calculated?

Density is the number of times a word or phrase appears divided by the total number of words in the text, multiplied by 100. For example, if a phrase appears 6 times in a 500-word article, its density is 6 divided by 500, times 100, which is 1.2 percent. The tool uses the same method for one-word, two-word and three-word phrases.

What are one-word, two-word and three-word phrases?

A one-word phrase is a single word, such as tools. A two-word phrase, also called a bigram, is two words that appear next to each other, such as free tools. A three-word phrase, also called a trigram, is three words in a row, such as free online tools. Real keywords are often two or three words long, which is why the table shows all three.

Why are some keywords red and others green?

A row is shown in red when the word or phrase makes up more than 3 percent of all the words, which can be a sign of too much repetition. The other rows are shown in green. The 3 percent line is a rule of thumb used in many SEO guides and not an official limit, and a high number is not always a problem. A short text, or a name that has to repeat, can go above 3 percent naturally.

What is a good keyword density?

There is no official number. Some SEO guides suggest staying under about 3 percent for a single keyword, and that is the line this tool uses to turn a row red. Treat it as a rough warning about repetition and not as a rule from search engines. Write naturally for your readers first, and use the percentage only to spot words or phrases that you repeat too often.

Does keyword density affect Google rankings?

Search engines look at many things, such as how useful and relevant a page is, and they do not publish an ideal keyword density. Repeating a keyword again and again in an unnatural way is called keyword stuffing, and search engine guidelines warn against it. Keyword density is a quick check for repetition and not a ranking score, and a good percentage does not guarantee good rankings.

What does the stop words option do?

Stop words are very common words such as is, the, and and in. When you tick the stop words option, these words are hidden from the list so that more meaningful keywords stand out. The list covers common English words. The total word count and the percentages still use all of your words.

What do Total Words, Total Characters, Total Sentences and Reading Time mean?

Total Words is the number of words in your text. Total Characters is the number of characters. Total Sentences is the number of sentences, found by sentence-ending marks such as full stops, question marks and exclamation marks. Reading Time is an estimate that divides the word count by an average reading speed, and real readers are faster or slower.

Why do my numbers differ from other tools?

Tools count in slightly different ways. Some change text to lower case and remove punctuation and others do not. They can treat hyphens, numbers, apostrophes and stop words differently, and some divide by the total words while others divide by the total number of phrases. For a fair comparison, check the same text in the same way, and use the numbers to compare your own drafts.

Can I paste a web page address instead of text?

No. The tool analyses the text that you paste and does not fetch web pages. Open your page, copy the article text and paste it here. Paste the visible text and not the page source, because HTML tags would be counted as words.

Does it work for languages other than English?

The tool is made for English text. The list of stop words is English only. You can paste text in other languages, but the results may be less accurate, for example in how words and sentences are separated.

What does Copy Keywords copy?

It copies the keywords from the table so that you can paste them into a document or a spreadsheet. If you ticked the stop words option, the copied list follows what is shown in the table.

Is my text sent to a server?

No. The analysis runs in your browser using JavaScript, and the text you paste is not sent to our server. It is still a good habit to avoid pasting private or confidential material into any online tool.

Is this keyword density checker free, and does it work on mobile?

Yes. The tool is free and needs no signup. It is designed for phone screens as well as desktop.