Stop words
Without filtering, the top of every list is the, of, and and to — true and useless. Filtering common function words leaves the terms that actually characterise the text.
Turn it off when the function words are the point: analysing writing style, checking a translation, or looking at how often a document says must versus should.
What repetition tells you about a draft
A word you have used eleven times in nine hundred is usually invisible while writing and obvious to a reader. Frequency counting is the cheapest way to catch a crutch phrase before someone else does.
It is much less useful as an SEO measure than it used to be. Keyword density has not been a meaningful ranking signal for years, and writing to hit a percentage produces exactly the stilted prose that current systems demote.
Frequently asked questions
What are stop words?
Common function words — the, of, and, to — filtered out because otherwise they occupy the whole top of the list and tell you nothing.
Is keyword density worth optimising?
No. It has not been a meaningful ranking signal for years, and writing to hit a target percentage produces the stilted text that search systems now demote.
Does it count phrases as well as single words?
Yes — two and three word phrases are grouped too, which is where a repeated crutch usually shows up.
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