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Key takeaways
- Ctrl+F (Cmd+F on Mac) finds a word in the visible text; view source finds it in titles, meta tags and hidden elements.
- SEO browser extensions show keyword density and on-page elements in one click.
- Check where a keyword appears, title, H1, first paragraph, not just how many times.
Method 1: Find in Page
The fastest way to look up a keyword on a page is your browser's find feature.
- Open the page.
- Press Ctrl+F on Windows or Cmd+F on Mac. On a phone, use the browser menu and choose “Find in page.”
- Type the keyword. The browser highlights each match and shows the count.
This only searches visible text. It won't find a keyword in the title tag, meta description, image alt text or collapsed sections.
Method 2: View the Page Source
- Right-click the page and choose “View page source,” or press Ctrl+U (Cmd+Option+U on Mac).
- Press Ctrl+F or Cmd+F in the source view and search for the keyword.
- Check the
<title>,meta name="description", headings andaltattributes.
Page source shows the HTML the server sent. On sites that load content with JavaScript, some text may not appear here.
Related: The Tampa SEO Company That Fills Your Pipeline.
Method 3: Browser Developer Tools
For JavaScript-heavy pages, open developer tools (F12, or right-click and choose “Inspect”), go to the Elements panel and press Ctrl+F or Cmd+F. This searches the page as it's currently rendered, including content added by scripts.
Method 4: SEO Browser Extensions
SEO extensions show a page's title, meta description, headings and keyword density in one click. Some also highlight keywords on the page. See my list of the best SEO toolbars for Chrome and Firefox.
Method 5: An SEO Audit Tool
An on-page audit tool checks where your keyword appears across the elements that matter and flags what's missing. My free SEO audit tool runs 14 on-page checks on any URL.
What to Look For
Counting keywords matters less than where they appear. For a page targeting a keyword, check that:
- The keyword (or a close variant) is in the title tag and H1.
- It appears early in the first paragraph.
- Subheadings cover related topics and questions.
- Images have descriptive alt text where relevant.
- The page reads naturally. Repeating a keyword too often hurts readability and can look like spam.
For more on how many keywords a single page should target, see how many keywords per page.