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Keyword Density Checker

Paste a URL or your draft to see keyword density, top phrases, word count and reading time, with a clear thin, fine or stuffed verdict.

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The search you want this page to be found for. Leave it blank for word counts and top phrases only.

Try it with

Enter a page address to see its word count, reading time, top phrases and how often it uses your target phrase.

Why keyword use and length still matter

Google doesn't rank pages by keyword percentage or word count. But the words on a page are still how people, Google and AI assistants work out what it's about and whether it answers the question. This checker catches the two wording mistakes that actually cost visibility, and gives you accurate counts while you write.

Pages that never say it rarely get found for it
Owners often write around a topic without using the words customers search for: "our loaves" but never "sourdough bread in Portland". If the phrase people type isn't on the page, Google and AI engines have less reason to match you to that search.
Stuffing hurts more than it helps
Repeating a phrase in every sentence makes copy hard to read, and Google's spam policies name keyword stuffing specifically. A quick density check shows when a draft has tipped from clear to repetitive.
AI answers quote clear, direct sentences
ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI Overviews pull short passages that answer a question directly. Natural wording in plain sentences, rather than one exact phrase repeated, makes your page easier to quote.
Accurate counts for real limits
Word count, characters, sentences and reading time help when a brief, a marketplace listing or an email platform sets limits. Words are matched in any language, so accented words, contractions and prices count correctly.

How to use the Keyword Density Checker

  1. Check a page or paste your text

    Enter a URL to read the live article, or switch to Paste text to check a draft as you type. If a site blocks our reader or builds its text with JavaScript, the tool says so and you can paste the text instead.

  2. Add the phrase the page should be found for

    Type the search you want this page to show up for, such as "gluten free bakery portland". Matches are exact and include small words like "for" and "in", so use the wording customers actually type.

  3. Read the verdict and fix what matters

    Thin means the phrase is barely there, fine means leave it alone, and stuffed means cut some repeats. Then scan the most repeated phrases to see what the page really emphasises.

What the verdict means, and reading time at a glance

The bands below are readability guardrails, not a Google formula. A 1,200-word article that uses its phrase 6 times has a density of 0.5%, which is plenty when those mentions sit in the title, the opening and a subheading.

Density verdicts
VerdictPhrase densityWhat to do
ThinUnder 0.5%, or not used at allUse the phrase in the title or first paragraph and in one subheading.
Fine0.5% to 3%Leave it alone. Make the page more useful instead.
StuffedOver 3%Replace some repeats with pronouns, synonyms or related terms.
Reading and speaking time
WordsReading timeSpeaking time
3001 min2 min
6003 min4 min
1,0004 min7 min
1,5006 min11 min
2,50011 min18 min

Reading time uses about 238 words a minute, a commonly cited average for adults reading non-fiction. Speaking time uses about 140 words a minute, a comfortable pace for a talk or video script. Real speed varies with the topic and the reader.

Questions about the Keyword Density Checker

There isn't a Google-approved number. This tool calls a phrase thin below 0.5% of the words, fine from 0.5% to 3%, and stuffed above 3%, but those are readability guardrails, not ranking targets. If the phrase appears naturally in the title, the opening paragraph and a subheading, and the page reads well out loud, the percentage doesn't need tuning.

No. Google has said for years that there's no ideal keyword density, and its systems understand synonyms and related terms. What still matters is using the words people search for somewhere on the page, and not repeating them unnaturally, which Google's spam policies call keyword stuffing.

Keyword density is the number of times the exact phrase appears, divided by the total number of words, multiplied by 100. A phrase used 6 times in a 1,200-word article has a density of 0.5%. This tool counts every word in the total, including small words like "the", and counts overlapping repeats of a phrase only once.

About 4 minutes at an average silent reading pace of around 238 words a minute, and about 7 minutes to say out loud at a comfortable 140 words a minute. The tool shows both for your text, and shows "under 1 min" for short pieces instead of rounding a few words up to a full minute.

As many as it takes to fully answer the question, and no more. Google doesn't reward length for its own sake: a post on what time your farmers market stall opens might need 300 words, while a guide to choosing a wedding cake might need 2,000. A practical check is to look at the pages already ranking for your search, note the questions they answer, and make sure yours answers them more clearly. Cut anything that only exists to hit a word count.

Long enough to answer what a shopper wants to know before buying: what it is, who it's for, size or materials, and how to use or care for it. For most products that's a short paragraph plus a few specific details. Write it in your own words rather than pasting the manufacturer's copy, which usually appears on many other stores too.

Some sites build their text in the browser with JavaScript, hide it behind a login, or block automated readers, so our reader sees little more than a menu and a footer. Paste the article text to check it. It's worth fixing if it's your own site: many AI crawlers read pages the same way, so text that only appears after JavaScript runs may be invisible to them too.

Words are runs of letters or numbers in any language, so "café", "don't", "3.5" and "rankbull.io" each count as one word. Sentences end at a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark followed by a space, but not after abbreviations such as "e.g." or "Dr.". Headings and list items on their own line count as separate sentences.

Density is one check. RankBull writes to a target.

Every RankBull article gets a length and phrase budget from the pages that already rank, and it's scored before it publishes.

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