Keyword density stopped being a meaningful ranking factor around 2013 when Google's Hummingbird update introduced semantic search capabilities. Modern algorithms use natural language processing and contextual understanding to evaluate content relevance, making the old practice of targeting specific density percentages (like 2-3%) obsolete and potentially harmful. What matters now is topical coverage and natural language use. Google's RankBrain and BERT updates reinforced this shift by evaluating how well content matches search intent and covers a topic comprehensively. You should use your target keyword where it makes sense—typically in the title, an H1, early in the introduction, and a few times throughout the body—but forcing it to hit arbitrary frequency targets usually degrades readability and can trigger over-optimization penalties. The risk with fixating on density is twofold. First, you create awkward, repetitive content that users bounce from, which does hurt rankings through behavioral signals. Second, you miss the bigger opportunity: covering related concepts, synonyms, and questions that signal topical authority. A page ranking for "Ottawa web design" likely mentions design process, responsive layouts, branding, and user experience without stuffing the exact phrase everywhere. At Ottawa SEO, we audit pages for natural keyword use during content reviews, but we're looking at semantic clusters and whether the page answers the query completely. If a 1,200-word article uses the target keyword 8 times versus 15 times, that difference means nothing if one version covers subtopics comprehensively and the other just repeats itself. Practical approach: Write for humans first, then verify your target keyword appears in strategic locations (title tag, H1, first 100 words, conclusion). Use variations and related terms naturally throughout. If you're hitting 5-10 mentions of your primary keyword in 800-1,200 words, you're probably fine. Tools that flag "low keyword density" are measuring the wrong thing—ignore them and focus on whether someone searching that term would find your page genuinely useful and complete.