It’s a well-known fact that your online content needs to contain a certain number of keywords related to topics people search for. But exactly how many keywords per page do you need?
Well, the answer isn’t as straightforward as you might think. Here are some tips to help you. But of course, keep reading this article for more…
What are keywords?
Before we get into determining how many keywords per page you need, we first should explain what keywords are. They basically revolve around the topics or ideas that your content is about.
If you were to boil everything down on your webpage, including videos, images, and text, to simple words or sentences, those would be your keywords. In terms of search engine optimisation (SEO), keywords are phrases and words that people enter in the search engine when looking for whatever.
So, when running a website, you should try to keep your keywords on par with what people tend to search for. This will increase the chances of your website being higher in the search results.
Why are keywords important?
Keywords are very important because they act as a connector between what people search for and the content you are providing to satisfy their needs. Everyone’s goal is to drive traffic from search engine result pages (SERPs), and the only way to do so is through relying on the right keywords. Not only do they affect the quantity of the traffic you get but also its quality.
Moreover, the focus of keywords is your audience rather than the content you are creating. In other words, you need to make content that is organic and drives enough traffic. This is achievable by understanding the needs of potential visitors first and the way they would express themselves second.
The best way to handle this is by directly interacting with customers on community groups and forums. You should also do thorough keyword research.
How many keywords per page?
In order to figure out how many keywords per page your website needs, you should first ask yourself one important question: What is the main topic of this page?
Step 1: Your page’s subject
Let’s say you run an e-commerce store that sells a wide range of hats. The subject of your webpage, in this case, is clearly hats, but what should you call them exactly?
Some keyword research using tools such as Google Keyword Planner will give you a good idea. It will show you an approximation of the popularity of phrases such as “baseball hats”, “bucket hats”, and more.
For the purpose of this example, let’s say you went with “bucket hats”.
Step 2: The different varieties of that subject
After you’ve picked the keyword you want to go with, do consider the different variations of it.
In this case, you would go with “men’s bucket hats”, “women’s bucket hats”, “fisherman’s hat”, “Boonie hats”, and more.
You could run all of these products on a single big page, but you could also have a main page that revolves around regular bucket hats and links that website visitor to other specific variations of the product.
Step 3: Organising those varieties
Finally, it’s crucial that you organise the different varieties on your website in a way that makes sense to both visitors and search engines alike.
This means that you need to provide additional info for every sub-type of keyword you need to target.
So, from a page titled “bucket hats”, users should be able to choose or be led to a page that only includes “women’s bucket hats”.
They should also be able to access a page about “discount bucket hats” or “brand name bucket hats” more easily.
All of those pages should include information containing the subject keyword. Try to be as specific as possible in order to get the most traffic.
Now, back to our original question.
How many keywords per page do you need?
You should target a single keyword for each individual page on your website. If the keyword has clear-cut variations, make sure to create further pages that focus on those variations in detail.
Like we have just said, be as specific as you can. But also make sure to include each work in a natural, sensical manner. This way, you will definitely reach the audience that you seek, especially through Google.
Additionally, you would get a chance to show both Google and your site visitors that you’re knowledgeable about things related to your industry. This will quickly make you an authority amongst competitors, driving more potential customers as a result.
So, if you wish to be impactful on your customers, make sure to only rely on one specific keyword per page. Even if the page we are talking about is a general page that leads to other related sub-pages.
For these top-level pages, such as categories, you must remember to link to lower-level posts contextually, a process that’s known as internal linking. That way, Google will better understand how pages are related to each other, thus increasing your chances of dominating the SERPs by showing that you’re actually an expert in your field.
Once you have done that, the content on your site will be targeted to keywords that will continue to generate traffic in the long term without any issue. This means that you will have great potential for growth, which in itself allows you to better refine your content.
How many times should the primary keyword appear on the same page?
Now that you know that you should pick one primary keyword per page, you must be wondering, “how many times should I use that keyword?”
Well, most SEO experts believe that the best keyword density is around 1-2%. In other words, your primary keyword should appear once or twice per 100 words. With that density, search engines will understand what the page is about without you having to deal with keyword stuffing (more on that in the FAQ section).
How many meta keywords for SEO?
Meta keywords are keywords that are usually found in the section of the web page’s HTML code. It’s a section of code that contains the title, the meta description tag, and the meta keywords tag.
Simply insert one or more of your keywords in all three of these tags, and you could achieve a significant boost in traffic. Still, obtaining a high ranking in the eyes of Google requires you to also focus on the quality and relevancy of your content.
Back in the day, people would add keywords to the HTML code of a page and hide them there. In other words, they would not actually be visible when the page’s content was viewed. The only way to check these keywords was through viewing the page’s HTML code which can be accessed by clicking Ctrl + U.
However, mainstream search engines like Google now ignore keywords that are hidden in the HTML code. Still, you should include keywords in both the page’s content and its HTML code. In the eyes of search engines, as long as the keywords located in the HTML code also appear in the content, you’re good.
We also have the meta description, which is basically a brief synopsis of the content of your page in the search engine results. This is currently limited to around 160 characters, spaces included.
Then we have the title tag, which only displays 60 characters, including spaces and the title bar. In other words, if you want to include anything in these two sections of HTML code, be very careful and precise.
How many keywords per page: Tips for selecting the right keywords
Keywords are assigned to pages – Not sites
You need to determine how many keywords per page you need assigned and not per site. In other words, there isn’t really a minimum nor a maximum number of keywords that are ideal for a website as a whole. Instead, you should focus on having different pages with unique topics and the right number of keywords in each.
Focus on high search volume and low competition
Before figuring out how many keywords per page do you need, you should first try to determine which keywords need to be assigned to each page. The answer to this is keywords that have low competition and a high search volume.
High search volume is specific to you and your industry. It could be anything from 50 searches a month to 20,000. Don’t worry about the exact numbers; you are supposed to use them as comparative metrics and nothing else.
Use them to compare keywords and pick one or more to focus on. However, more often than not, keywords with high search volumes tend to be very competitive. You should try to figure out something in the middle, something that ranks good but isn’t a source of a lot of competition.
Choose one primary keyword
Make sure to target one primary keyword for each page. Yes, it is totally fine to target three to five keywords per page but choose one to be primary, nevertheless.
The others will be considered secondary keywords and can help to shape your content together. For instance, you can rely on them in the different sections that you can have within a page. Still, the article as a whole should be optimised around a single, primary keyword.
You will rank for more than you target
Most of your pages will end up ranking for a lot of other keywords besides the one you are targeting. That’s a good thing; it helps to bring in more traffic.
Usually, the keyword that you choose to focus on is a broader term. It could be something such as “hats”. Concentrating on it, you will find that not only will you rank for that term but also for hundreds of other related terms. The majority of these terms are usually long-tail ones such as “best bucket hats”, “where to buy Nike baseball hats”, and more.
These terms usually have a lower search volume than the broader term but are still beneficial. All you have to do is to focus on a broad term, and the rest will simply follow.
So, don’t see the idea of having to choose one keyword for your page as limiting. It merely helps to determine your focus. In other words, you won’t really be missing out on all the other variations.
Don’t worry about rank tracking
You mustn’t worry much about tracking the ranking for your keywords. Just use the primary keyword as a guide when creating your content, and always make sure to focus on topics that people are continuously looking for.
Yes, it’s great to see if a keyword you chose is ranking high on the first page of SERPs, but it’s nearly useless to track it. Search rankings vary greatly depending on aspects such as personalisation and location.
So, your focus shouldn’t but on the keyword rankings but rather on the traffic you are receiving through your ads. In order to get a good idea of this, head to Google Analytics and then click on the Behaviour section. If you notice that your content is getting the right amount of views and people are spending significant amounts of time on your landing page and clicking the CTAs, then you’re good.
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Great article on the importance of keyword optimization for your website! Here are some actionable tips to help you get the most out of your keyword strategy:
Conduct thorough keyword research to identify the keywords and phrases that are most relevant to your business and target audience.
Aim to use a targeted primary keyword on each page of your website.
Include the primary keyword in the page title, URL, and meta description to give search engines a clear understanding of what the page is about.
Use secondary keywords throughout the content to provide additional context and information for search engines and users.
Avoid keyword stuffing or using irrelevant keywords that don’t add value to the content.
Regularly review and adjust your keyword strategy to ensure that it remains relevant and effective.
By following these tips, you’ll be able to optimize your website effectively for search engines and drive more traffic to your website. Keep up the great work!