How Many Keywords Should My Page Target?

Let’s cut to the chase: when it comes to keywords, ideally, you should target one primary keyword and a handful of secondary keywords that support covering your topic in full.

This approach is part of a practice known as keyword clustering, where similar keywords are grouped into clusters or groups. This helps organize your target keywords based on their relevance so you can optimize each page for a particular group of related keywords, increasing the chances of that page ranking in search engine results and also the reach of your content.

Unfortunately, knowing exactly how many keywords to target isn’t an exact science. But doing your homework on factors such as the user’s search intent and how competitive the primary keyword is, as well as thinking through the type of content and your ideal word count, will help you.

In this guide, we’ll run you through why getting your keyword volume right matters and how to get it right, as well as what Google’s algorithm updates mean for finding your magic number of keywords.

The Difference Between Primary & Secondary Keywords

What is a primary keyword?

Your primary keyword is the main term or phrase you want your page to rank for. It’s usually the most relevant and high-traffic keyword related to the content of the page. Choosing the right primary keyword can significantly impact your website’s visibility and traffic.

For example, if you’re writing an article about dog training, “dog training” would be the primary keyword.

What are secondary keywords?

Secondary keywords are words or phrases connected to your main keyword, either in meaning or context. These can be synonyms, variations, or phrases that cover the same topic, often including long-tail variations or related concepts that add context and depth to your content.

 For the same dog training article, secondary keywords might include “puppy training tips,” “how to train a dog,” and “dog training techniques.”

Secondary keywords form the keyword cluster around your primary keyword, helping the page rank for additional related searches. They also enhance the depth and relevance of your content, making it more useful to readers and more likely to be seen as authoritative by search engines.

How to Find Primary & Secondary Keywords

When you start your keyword strategy, you might feel overwhelmed with choices for your main SEO keyword and closely related keywords. If you’re going to the effort of optimizing your site, you want to be sure you’re using the right keywords.

Follow these steps to make sure you’re choosing the right keywords:

1. Check keyword difficulty

Keyword difficulty measures how competitive a search term is, based on factors like how many other websites rank for the term,  the quality of their content, the number of backlinks and their authority.

Using Keyword Explorer tool, you can find the keyword difficulty scores for your primary and secondary keywords. This helps you evaluate and generate a keyword list with a good mix of popular search terms and those with less competition. 

2. Pay attention to your secondary keywords

Don’t underestimate the power of your secondary keywords. Choosing the right ones, especially niche keywords, helps you create detailed content that covers different parts of your topic. This not only adds more value for your readers but also makes it easier for search engines to understand and rank your content.

When you enter your primary keyword into Keyword Explorer, it gives you a list of related keywords. You can then filter this list by search volume and intent to pick the best secondary keywords.

3. Create keyword clusters

Aim to create keyword clusters, rather than looking for individual keywords to target, so you can target multiple terms with a single piece of content and increase your chances of ranking for various relevant searches.

As part of your research, select keywords with similar intent or topics, like “training for dogs near me” and “puppy dog training,”. By covering these terms in one thorough piece of content, you create a more valuable resource for users and potentially rank for multiple related searches.

How many SEO keywords can I get on a page?

We all know the Goldilocks and the Three Bears story. Well, getting the right amount of keywords is the SEO equivalent. If you don’t include enough keywords, search engines might not understand your content. If you include too many, it becomes unreadable. The goal is to find the “just right” balance, where target keywords are used naturally and effectively.

The number of SEO keywords you can include on a page can vary based on several factors, including the length of your content, the context, and the natural flow of your writing. However, if you’re really looking for a straight answer, here are some guidelines to help you determine an appropriate number of keywords:

Example by Content Length

Short Content (300-500 words)

• Primary Keyword: 1
• Secondary Keywords: 3-5

Medium Content (500-1000 words)

• Primary Keyword: 1
• Secondary Keywords: 5-10

Long Content (1000+ words)

• Primary Keyword: 1
• Secondary Keywords: from 10 keywords

Note that the key is to naturally incorporate topic-related keywords into your content.

When you write about a specific topic, it will inevitably rank for various keywords. However, with proper research and a solid keyword strategy, you can maximize your gains and perceived relevance.

With that in mind, there are two things you need to consider.

Keyword Density & Keyword Stuffing

Keyword density was once considered a golden metric for SEO success. The idea was to maintain an optimal percentage of keywords relative to the total word count on a page. As a result, users often pushed to repeat keywords as many times as possible, aiming to hit the “perfect” keyword density and improve their search rankings. This is a tactic known as keyword stuffing and was an attempt to manipulate search rankings and cheat their way to the top.

However, it hurt the user experience because the content was being written for search engines and not for humans. It became repetitive and hard to read. This backfired on the website owners as visitors would quickly leave the page, leading to high bounce rates and damaging the site’s credibility. 

Keyword density is still useful when creating content, as it can help you balance under and overusing keywords. But nowadays, Google’s algorithm focuses less on metrics like keyword density and more on contextually relevant terms, making keyword clustering a much better approach.

Google’s Take On Keywords Per Page

In the last few years, some big algorithm updates, such as BERT in 2019 and MUM in 2021, have helped Google understand natural language and context much better.

This means you can’t just throw keywords everywhere and hope for the best. Now, you need to use keywords naturally and make sure your content is high-quality and actually answers what people are searching for. Google’s updates are all about understanding what users really want, not just matching exact keywords.

Optimizing Content for Keywords: Best Practices

So once you have researched and selected your keywords, how do you naturally weave them into your content?

If you want to check the optimization of content you’ve already published, our free On-Page SEO Checker examines your page and offers suggestions on where you can improve your optimization. If you’re working on new content, we recommend coming back to the checker after you’ve hit publish to check your score!

When optimizing your content, use this checklist to make sure you’re including your keywords in these key areas: 

Title tag

Include your primary keyword near the beginning of your title tag, keeping it under 60 characters.

Slug

Use your primary keyword in the URL slug, keeping it short and descriptive. 

Headings

Include your primary keyword in your H1 heading, and use secondary keywords in subheadings (H2, H3, etc.) where appropriate.

Meta description

While not a direct ranking factor, include your primary keyword in the meta description to improve click-through rates from search results.

Body

Use your primary and secondary keywords naturally throughout the body of your content. Focus on creating valuable, informative content rather than hitting a specific keyword density.

Focus On Quality Over Quantity

There’s no magic number for how many keywords a page should target. Instead, focus on creating detailed content that seamlessly includes a few carefully chosen, relevant keywords. 

Consider the length and complexity of your topic and what people are actually searching for. It’s better to thoroughly cover a topic with a few key terms than to mention many keywords without depth briefly. The goal is to serve your audience’s needs while also signalling relevance to search engines.