The Bashor Agreement: What It Is and Why It Matters
The Bashor Agreement, also known as the Bashor formula or Bashor rule, is an algorithm designed to help determine the appropriate keyword density within a piece of written content for SEO purposes.
First introduced by Michael Bashor in 2003, the Bashor Agreement aims to strike a balance between keyword optimization and readability. The formula works by calculating the number of keywords used in a piece of content and dividing it by the total number of words. This gives a percentage which represents the keyword density of the content.
The Bashor Agreement suggests that the ideal keyword density for SEO purposes is between 2% and 3%. This means that for a piece of content that contains 500 words, the keyword should appear between 10 to 15 times. Anything above this range could be seen as keyword stuffing, which can negatively impact SEO rankings.
However, Bashor himself noted that the formula should not be applied uniformly across all types of content. For example, a blog post that is intended to provide informative content may require a lower keyword density compared to a product description or a landing page.
The Bashor Agreement has been a valuable tool for SEO professionals in ensuring that their content is optimized for search engines without sacrificing readability. It has helped prevent the use of excessive keywords or keyword stuffing, which can result in penalties from search engines.
There have been debates on the efficacy of the Bashor Agreement, with some arguing that keyword density is just one of many factors that search engines consider in ranking content. However, it remains a valuable guideline for SEO copywriters and editors.
To ensure that your content is optimized for search engines, it is important to keep in mind the Bashor Agreement. However, it should not be used as a strict rule, as the ideal keyword density may vary depending on the type of content and the target audience. Ultimately, the key to effective SEO is creating quality content that is valuable to your target audience.