Overheard an SEO guy say keyword density is dead and it got me thinking

I sat in on a call last Tuesday where a consultant told a client that stuffing 'best running shoes' into every paragraph actually hurts rankings now, and I'm curious if anyone here has seen real data on topic clusters replacing keywords for good.

2 comments

2 Comments

claire_walker1mo agoTop Commenter

Oh man, keyword density has been dead for years now. Google's algorithm is way smarter than counting how many times you say a word. Topic clusters and actual helpful content are where it's at now.

clark.robin1mo ago

Claire I feel like that "best running shoes" bit is exactly how it works now. Google's been doing this thing where it understands context, not just counting words. It reminds me of how people stopped memorizing phone numbers once smartphones came out, we adapted because the whole system changed. Same deal with SEO now, you gotta write for people first and let the algorithm figure out what your page is actually about. The days of just repeating a phrase over and over are long gone.