What is the optimal keyword density?

[Mike T]

I am using Yoast SEO plugin which comes very highly recommended. It suggests that keyword density should not be more than 2,5%. Harsh Agrawal from Shout me load recommends approx 1.5% and if you google the question his article is 1st or 2nd place.
Also, I have come across quite a number of articles suggesting that keyword density is not really an important metric for ranking in the SERPs. I surely hope I have not wasted all the effort of ensuring my posts are all keyword optimized.

So to boil down to the bedrock of my question - What is the optimal keyword density?

[webxerossolutions]

Keyword Density is the percentage of the number of times a keyword appears on a web page. In recent days, keywords matter much less than site quality, but it doesn't mean that keyword density holds no value in SEO. Some people have a myth, if we use our keyword many times it will rank higher in the search engine.  But in actual, Google considers it as a keyword spamming. 
There is no exact percentage for better ranking. According to me, 1.2% of keyword density is better along with LSI keywords. 

[Neel Patel]

less then 2.5-3% is good to go!

[LOTUSContainers4]

Keyword density is the percentage of times a keyword or phrase appears on a web page compared to the total number of words on the page. The best Suggestion to use keyword density of between 0.5% to 2.5%.

[Rattan11]

Despite what many SEO Tools would indicate, the short answer to this is, in my experience, there is no IDEAL % of the keywords inside the article.

There is no one-size-fits-all optimal ‘keyword density’ percentage anybody has ever demonstrated had direct positive ranking improvement in a public arena.

I certainly do not believe there is a particular percent of keywords in words of text to get a page to number 1 in Google. While the key to success in many niches is often simple SEO, search engines are not that easy to fool in 2020.

There may not be a perfect % for you to aim for – but I do think you run the risk of tripping keyword stuffing penalty filters if you, for instance, were to keyword stuff a page and every element on it with your focus terms.

[Dorothy]

Keyword density is the repetition rate of targeted queries.
You can use 3% of the keywords in your content. The most important thing is not to overdo it.

[Elyman]

Hello
I tend to agree with Rattan. Early on in my SEO learning it was stressed that keywords and semantic words were very important when used for the benefit of the reader / visitor and that there is no fixed percentage that should be met. Having always followed that guidance I find that keywords used in titles, descriptions, headings and sub-headings, and used in context in the content achieve a sound outcome.
Regards
Neil

[hynds]

I think it's better when the keyword density about 1,5% - 2,5%

[susanburling]

An optimal keyword density is a myth. There is neither an ideal percentage nor a one size fits all solution.
Stuffing your content with a high volume of keywords is not as important as inserting them into the right places. As a general rule, keywords should appear in:
 
Most important:
Title tag (ideally at the beginning of the title)
Body content (the higher in the page or article, the better)
Headings (H1, H2, and so on)
URL (slug)
Meta description
Image alt tags

[arunviru]

Most SEO experts believe that an ideal keyword density is around 1-2%. This means the target keyword appears about one to two times per 100 words. At this rate, the keyword appears enough times to show search engines what the page is about without engaging in keyword stuffing.