The most common doubt that comes across many businesses' or SEO professional's minds when working on implementing keywords in their SEO campaign is
"How many SEO keywords should each page have?" or
"Should I target multiple keywords on a single page?" or
"Shall I create new pages for every keyword to target?"
"How many times a single keyword can be repeated on a page?"
If you are also searching for answers to these questions, you have come to the right place! This blog discusses the correct quantity of keywords for SEO on each page and how to target them appropriately to get the best results.
Importance Of Keyword Targeting In SEO
The process of optimizing your web pages with relevant and specific phrases that users might search for to find similar content, products, or services is known as keyword targeting
The foundation of generating traffic using SEO strategy starts by choosing the right keywords to target.
When a user searches for a keyword, search engines crawl their web directory to find a page with specific or similar keywords. Based on the intent of the search and page content, search engines display several results related to that keyword.
Having relevant keywords on your page increases the chances of finding your page by search engine bots and serving it to the user. If keywords are not targeted adequately on the page, search engines won't be able to understand the context of it. Consequently, you have very little chance of ranking your page.
Keyword Density: The Myth And Truth
In creating a keyword targeting strategy, keyword density is prioritized. The number of times a particular phrase appears on a web page against total words is the keyword density of that phrase. Even if you use phrase variations, search engines could count it all the same to decide the keyword density. Many marketers and SEO professionals consider having 2 to 3 percent keyword density helps to rank a page.
50% Of Search Queries Contain 4 Or More Words
But Does Keyword Density Matter For Rankings?
Like many other ranking factors, keyword density is considered a very crucial one. But today, search engines grew to be more advanced, and just having a fixed keyword density won't help anymore. Although if the keyword usage is shallow, it could make it hard for search engines to judge your page's content and rank you. But that doesn't mean you fill your page with keywords.
Today search engines like Google work differently and prefer the page's context over keywords. A page with significantly less keyword density could rank over one that has maintained the myth number of 2-3%.
For example, a blog on "how to fix a leaking roof" has a keyword density of only 2% for the phrase "fix leaking roof." However, if the page is well-written, informative, and provides step-by-step instructions on how to fix a leaking roof. Even with the low keyword density, the page's ranking is likely to stay strong if it satisfies the user's search intent and provides accurate information to the user.
What Do Google Experts Say?
Google has never released any official statement saying keyword density helps better SERP ranking. Google doesn't recommend using keywords randomly to attain a density of keywords in the content. In a Q&A session on Google Search Central's youtube channel, Matt Cutts clearly stated that repeating keywords won't help to achieve higher rankings on Google. Using it a couple of times might allow Google to understand your content copy, but using it, again and again, might lead to spam, like keyword stuffing. He also mentioned that there is no fixed keyword density value that decides a page's ranking.
I would love it if people could stop obsessing about keyword density. It's going to vary. It's going to vary by area; it's going to vary based on what other sites are ranking it.
It's not a hard and fast rule, and anyone who tells you there is a hard and fast rule, you might be careful because they might be selling you keyword density software or something along those lines.
How Many SEO Keywords Should You Focus On Per Page?
One primary keyword and two to three keyword variants should be targeted for each content page. Again, it depends on the type of keyword and length of your content. If your seed keyword has multiple terms with the same meaning, you can choose those as your secondary keyword.
For example, if you have a page about "weight loss exercises", your keyword variations can be "Fat burning workouts" or "Cardio exercises for weight loss".
When trying to rank your website for your core keyword, you must remember that placing too many keywords on a single page will decrease your chances of ranking. Instead, focus on one primary keyword with other supporting terms with the same meaning. Further, even if you target one keyword, you will inevitably rank for various ones.
To determine the number of keywords to target on your page, start by identifying following
Page Subject
Identify the main subject of your page content to find the primary keyword to target. For example, you are an e-commerce brand selling shoes. So, in this case, "shoes" are your primary subject. So your keywords should focus on the phrase "shoes"
Subtopics Under That Subject
Assess the many keyword variants once you've chosen the one you wish to use. In this situation, you might select from
"Running shoes,"
"Casual shoes"
"Formal shoes"
Add Keywords In The Right Places
It would be best if you didn't omit to add keywords to essential parts of your content. Ideally, it would help if you placed your keyword on
- Title of the page
- Body of the page
- Heading tags
- URL of the page
- Alt tags
- Meta description
Using keywords on these elements on your page doesn't guarantee top ranking on SERP. There are so many other factors that your content should meet to achieve a position. But having your primary keywords title, body, and heading would help search engine bots understand your content better to rank it.
Calculating The Keyword Density Of Your Page
Based on our above discussion and statements from Google itself, there is no such perfect keyword density value or the total number of keywords to be used. Despite focusing on such an outdated concept, start working on making your content a quality one that both users and search engine value.
But having said that, you should use keywords sparingly that can lead to spam, like keyword stuffing. So, it's essential to calculate the density of keywords you are using to maintain a proper density.
To find the keyword density of your content, follow these steps
- Identify primary keyword
- Find the total number of words on your page
- Once you have found these, divide the total of times your keyword is present in the content by the total number of words
- Now multiply the obtained number by 100
Here is an example to help you understand better,
Total number of words on content = 1000
Number of times keyword present = 20
Keyword density = 20/1000 x 100 = 2%
Why Focusing On Fewer Keywords Per Page Is Beneficial?
Targeting more keywords is not the answer to rank. The more keywords you target, the more confusion it creates for the search engines to rank your page. Some of the benefits of targeting fewer keywords are:
Better Targeting Matching Intent
Targeting fewer keywords lets you create specific content around each keyword. Your content is less likely to distract search engines and users with many keywords floating around. Moreover, when you choose fewer keywords, your content can be optimized to match the user's query and search intent
Avoid Stuffing Keywords
The chances of targeting multiple pages with a keyword reduce when you focus on the specific terms for every page. Besides lowering your page ranking chances, keyword stuffing can lead to search engine penalties on your website.
Better User Experience
Having too many keywords on your page could be frustrating for users looking for specific information on your page. They may be felt oversold constantly, with keywords appearing everywhere on the page. This can degrade the quality of experience for a user and lead them to quit your site. Targeting lesser and only necessary keywords helps users to browse and read your content seamlessly.
Conclusion: What Matters In Keyword Targeting For Better Rankings?
The key is to match the user's search intent and answer the query in detail. If you cover the content in detail, targeting keywords will not be a worry. Keywords will naturally get placed in your content when your main focus is to offer users the exact information they seek.
However, you should also focus on optimizing keywords in your page content and target majorly 1-2 primary keywords for each page. All should be related or synonyms that show the same intent. Make sure to use only a few of them to avoid stuffing keywords.
