Whether you’re a business striving to boost engagement or an independent blogger who simply wants a few more views on your articles, understanding the basics of search engine optimization (SEO) is crucial for your business, eCommerce, website, or organization.
Regardless of your goals, knowing how many keywords per page to include, how many keywords for SEO are optimal, and more can be a game-changer.
No matter what kind of operation you’re managing, these tips are guaranteed to help you upgrade your SEO performance and improve your rankings.
What Types of SEO Keywords Should I Use?
Before we get into the specifics, you first need to know what your SEO keywords will be. This may very well be the most critical step, as they will define what search terms you appear under and — most importantly — how high you rank.
Fortunately, we can nail these down to three simple categories:
Short-tail Keywords
No longer than three words, short-tail keywords should be based on your web page’s theme. For instance, a retail store might use “winter jackets.” Unfortunately, these are usually quite competitive, so don’t plan on solely relying on short-tail keywords.
Long-tail Keywords
No shorter than three words, long-tail keywords should be as specific as possible to what a user might search on the internet. Using our previous example, the retail store might choose “best winter jackets to wear in 2021” as their long-tail keyword. As a result, they are often less competitive and lead to high conversion rates.
Mid-tail Keywords
Finally, these “in-between” keywords can help you round out your SEO optimization with improved accuracy. Though they shouldn’t be as brief as short-tail keywords, be sure to keep them from being too lengthy. For example, our retail store might simply use “stylish winter jackets” as their mid-tail keyword.
So, start brainstorming a few potential choices for each of these categories.
How Many SEO Keywords Should I Use?
Now that you have these nailed down and come up with a few options, you’re probably wondering: “But how many keywords should I use?”
Well, it’s best to keep yourself limited to around five keywords (no less than three, no more than eight), as this will help keep you from adding unnecessary/irrelevant search terms while still remaining specific. So, use a mixture of short-, mid-, and long-term keywords to diversify your rankings and target your desired demographic.
And, as a final note, double-check that your chosen keywords aren’t just repeating the same term in different ways. Though they can be similar, repeating keywords (i.e., “keyword stuffing) could actually do more harm than good for your rankings.
How Many Keywords Per Page?
So, you have your perfect set of keywords and are ready to start incorporating them into your webpage. As we mentioned, you want to avoid “keyword stuffing” the text with terms, which is why the general keyword density rule is about once per every 200 words.
In conclusion, as long as you include your keywords appropriately and within the context of your content, you’ll be on your way to earning high search rankings.
Remember: You’re writing to and for humans, not search engines!