Keyword optimization is tricky. You need to know which keywords to target, how to use them, and how often to use them. It’s part art and part science, for sure.
To make matters more complicated, it’s tough to figure out how many keywords you should target with a single post or page.
There’s tons of conflicting advice. Lots of it is outdated. But if you want to optimize your post and rank higher, you need the right keyword strategy.
In this post, we’ll walk you through how many keywords your next post or page should target and how you can get the most out of each piece of content.
Are Keywords Still Important?
Gone are the days when you needed to focus solely on using keywords a certain number of times in each post for it to rank.
Search engines are more sophisticated.
Numerous ranking factors (Google has over 200) determine whether or not your post will rank.
Despite that, keywords still matter. Without them, your content may not gain traction.
Search engines use bots to crawl posts. These bots look for certain indicators to determine what the post covers. Keywords (and their placement) help facilitate that process.
If you’ve ever published a post only to hear crickets, your keyword targeting may be off.
With competition growing, it’s increasingly difficult to rank high in search results and drive traffic. If you want results, your content needs to avoid the pitfalls of keyword usage.
How Many Keywords Should You Target Per Post?
Each post or page should target a single primary keyword. You can also target additional keywords as long as they are subcategories of the main keyword.
At Lead Comet, we refer to these keywords as “framing keywords.” They frame the post, giving it structure and ensuring it covers the topic thoroughly.
(Look at all the headings in this piece. These are essentially the framing keywords.)
You want to focus on the main keyword throughout the post without overusing it. But, simultaneously, you want to use variations of those keywords.
This helps the text feel natural.
At the same time, you also want to use framing keywords to ensure your post is comprehensive. You can find framing keywords by researching and analyzing search intent.
The fundamentals of keyword research are too complex to discuss in this post.
If you’re interested in learning more, visit our guide here.
How Important Are Exact Match Keywords?
Lots of agencies and businesses get this wrong. They think you need to target the exact keyword phrase to rank for a keyword.
That’s not always the case. In fact, it can look really weird or unnatural if you do it that way.
This is where you see many people complaining that SEO kills writing. Rather, it’s a misunderstanding of SEO principles.
This post targets, “How many SEO keywords should I use.” If we repeated that phrase throughout this piece and added it to headings, it would look extremely unnatural.
Keywords should blend into the piece. The user doesn’t care about them. They care about the solution. Keep keyword use subtle.
How Important Are Keyword Variations?
You can target a single keyword for a post and end up ranking for tens, hundreds, or even thousands of keywords.
While going after every keyword variation may be tempting, you’ll waste your time.
Instead, focus on writing a comprehensive post that has a natural voice and targets a primary keyword. When you do this, you’ll fully answer the query while using keyword variation naturally.
You don’t want to use the same keyword phrase repeatedly. It’s awkward and unnatural.
You see this frequently with businesses trying to target “near me” searches. These businesses and agencies mistakenly believe that they need to include “near me” with their target keyword.
The result is an awkwardly worded post.
Instead, your business will automatically send numerous signals indicating its location. (As long as this is all set up properly.)
When people search “X service near me”, they’ll see results based on that locational data. Not by targeting the keyword “X service near me.”
You also don’t need to write separate posts for synonyms of words.
For example, “cost cutting”, “cost-cutting”, “cost-reduction”, etc. are all essentially the same thing. You don’t need separate posts for each phrase.
But there are some exceptions.
For example, “best tips for X” doesn’t always give you the same results as “best strategies for X.” “Tips” can be more personal searches and target customers directly, whereas “strategies” tends to be business languages and may pull up more business-focused results.
This is why you should always double-check the search engine results to be sure.
What Is Keyword Density? (And Does It Still Matter?)
Keyword density is the number of times keywords or phrases appear in a section of text. In essence, it’s the ratio of keywords in your post.
Experts still debate the “right” number of keywords to use in a passage.
Some SEO strategists maintain that the “2% Rule” is the best strategy. The 2% Rule suggests that keywords should make up about 1-2% of a piece of text. Other experts suggest that target keywords should appear more often in headings than in the body of the post.
Overall, there is no clear consensus on keyword density. And frankly, keeping track of these debates wastes your time.
Instead, just focus on producing a quality piece of content. Write with the main keyword in mind. Try to use it where it fits naturally.
That’s what matters.
Don’t Stuff Keywords
The goal is to satisfy search intent, not saturate your post with keywords.
Obsessing over keyword ratios will make your writing feel clunky or forced. It can also negatively impact your user experience, and that can negatively impact your rankings.
Don’t do it.
Write the post. Target the keywords. Focus on providing real value.
Everything else will follow.
Longer Isn’t Always Better
Cooking sites are one of the worst culprits for manipulating search results.
You land on a page looking for a recipe and often scroll endlessly through personal stories and fluff until you find the recipe (usually at the bottom of the page).
The current trend with SEO is to produce longer content.
As a result, you get 3000-word posts covering questions that could have been answered in 1000 words.
It’s everywhere.
Search for “Top Procurement Software,” and you’ll have to steamroll through sections on “What is procurement software?” and “why does procurement software exist?” before you get to what you really wanted, which is just a list of the best software solutions out there.
This is unnecessary.
If a user searches for “top procurement software,” they don’t need a walk-through on what procurement software is. It’s annoying.
Instead, focus on the meat of the post first. Answer the search intent. After, you can dive into a tangential topic that will shed more light on the topic.
For example, you could write “How to Choose Procurement Software”, “Best Procurement Software Features”, and “Procurement Software with Free Trials” toward the end of your post if it adds value and even satisfies intent.
The key is in the research.
In some cases, it may be better to simply write new posts that target those keywords. Other times, a couple of short sections at the end of a piece can really drive home your point.
Can Multiple Posts Target the Same Keywords?
Never write two posts that target the same target keyword. You’ll waste your time and your money.
When two posts target the same keyword, they compete with each other. This is known as keyword cannibalization.
The oldest post will most likely rank. Newer posts won’t get traffic.
This is because Google rarely shows multiple posts from the same site on the same keyword. Instead, it tries to show a variety of results. (The exceptions here would be keyword terms that are uniquely related to a specific business, like “business + support”).
Rather than creating two posts with the same target keyword (or slight variation), dig deeper.
You can likely use more specific, long-tail keywords on one or both pages to create two unique posts that drive results.
Just make sure your long-tail keywords target the same search intent as your original ones.
How Many Keywords Should You Target for the Home Page?
Home page keyword optimization is difficult to nail down. It’s an exception to the rule.
For home pages, you can likely rank for branded search terms and terms around your product or service.
Branded keywords are approachable. You should be able to rank for these without any problems.
However, ranking for keywords around your service or product on your home page will be challenging. There’s a lot of competition.
For example, if you own a software development company, ranking for “software development” will take a lot of time and resources. In cases like these, it’s often a better use of time and resources to try and rank for other, less competitive keywords.
You’ll still want to target a single, critical keyword for your home page. As you build up your online presence through content and backlinks, you can reevaluate your progress and adjust your keyword targeting.
How Many Keywords to Target for Service or Product Pages?
Product and Service Pages follow the same principles as your homepage. Focus on a single keyword for each service page.
Service pages are competitive. They’re your money pages. So, you want to find less competitive keywords to drive relevant traffic to your site.
Long-tail keywords can work well, provided they align with your prospective customers’ needs.
Trial and error work best here. Test out targeting on a single keyword for 3 – 4 months. If you don’t notice any significant improvement, test out other variations.
How Many Keywords Can a Page Rank For?
According to research by Ahrefs, a page can rank for hundreds or thousands of related keywords at a time.
But ranking for this many keywords doesn’t come from jamming as many as possible onto a single page. Instead, it comes from having a high-quality SEO strategy.
You need to have quality content that fully satisfies search intent. It needs to follow SEO best practices. Plus, you need backlinks to the content and your website.
All these factors work together to help your content rank higher for more keywords and drive better results.
Which Keywords Should You Target?
There are thousands of potentially relevant keywords and phrases that could drive relevant search traffic to your site.
But which ones should you prioritize?
This is where an SEO roadmap (strategy) comes in handy.
An SEO strategy goes beyond simple keyword research. Instead, it takes a look at your site, your competitors, your market, and your sales needs. It distills all this data into an actionable strategy that drives results.
At Lead Comet, we help you find which keywords you should target to drive more revenue to your business. We pull data from numerous sources, speak with your sales team, and analyze your website to determine which keywords you should target.
And if you don’t have the time to write content, you can work with our team. We’ll draft, edit, and publish posts that rank and drive results.
Reach out to us for help with your SEO strategy today!
