The Best Number of Keywords for SEO – 10, 15 or 20? How Many Should You Choose?
The question placed in the title of today’s entry can be frequently seen on various forums where finding the right answer is almost impossible. Many of us wonder whether a greater number of phrases really has an impact on website visibility. What are the best keywords for SEO and how many of them should you choose? Today, we’ll try to dive into details and explore the subject.
Table of contents:
- Keywords should equal users’ words
- What is the best number of keywords for SEO?
- What is a good number of organic keywords to have per page?
- The best number of keywords for SEO – the takeaway
What is a good number of organic keywords to have? Well, this question is frequently found on the net and many people find it hard to debunk existing myths.
Keywords should equal users’ words
It’s impossible to do SEO without keyword research. Phrases that are properly chosen, accurate and tailored to the business profile are an absolute necessity, an essential element that allows your website to appear in the search results. The best keywords are those entered by potential customers looking for specific products or services. The more industry-specific phrases, the better. To find out how to attract customers straight to your website, check out our entry: Long tail SEO strategy. What is it and how does it work?
To make sure that selected phrases have a positive impact on the SEO process, you need to optimize them properly. In practice, it means that content, code and graphics on the page should be in line with Google requirements. A proper SEO strategy helps to refine both the homepage and all the subpages. In this case, it’s crucial to implement relevant meta tags that describe page content and include thoroughly chosen keywords. Phrases shouldn’t be abstract. They should be somehow related to your content and images.
SEO done in accordance with Google standards pays off as it increases the positions of keywords.
What is the best number of keywords for SEO?
Apart from the keyword research, it’s also crucial to select an appropriate number of phrases. Many people wonder what is the maximum or minimum amount they can choose. It’s hard to provide one right answer because everything depends on the situation. It’s affected by: your business profile, the range of offered services or products, the degree of the development of the company website.
Despite many factors determining the best number of keywords for seo, there are a few universal guidelines:
- Using only three or four keywords is bad for SEO – In this situation, Google robots quickly notice manipulation and are likely to penalize the site. Very few companies offer only one product or service and even if it happens, potential customers may still look for these goods in a number of ways. Therefore, when doing SEO, you should take into account all possible variants and forms of keywords.
- Websites with numerous subpages and online stores should have as many keywords as possible – this is particularly true for phrases tailored to the homepage and individual subpages. Try to assign relevant phrases to specific product categories in your store.
- SEO specialists are perfectly aware that a quality SEO process involves more than 10 keywords. Then, all the activities that aim at improving page positions in the search results are more natural and improve brand visibility.
- Although it’s pretty easy to estimate the minimum number of keywords needed for SEO, it’s much harder to assess the maximum. This is when a simple rule of thumb comes in handy: the more, the better (as long as the chosen keywords are optimally distributed on the website). Why? Because a greater number of properly optimized phrases increases your chances that potential customers will find you, enter your page and buy what they’ve been looking for.
What is a good number of organic keywords to have per page?
If you want to get a specific number of keywords per page, it can be assumed that approximately five keywords per page (with search volume that is 100 or more) should be the right fit for smaller websites. Although the number may not seem impressive, it’s worth remembering that creating content with these five keywords means that your page will be displayed for a significantly higher number of phrases.
It’s all due to the fact that various combinations and phrases with different stop words count as one keyword. So, if “Christmas gift” is one of your keywords, your website will also be displayed for queries like “gift Christmas”, or “gift for Christmas”, etc.
Although extremely specific long-tail phrases don’t appear frequently in analytical tools and may not be as popular as generic keywords, it’s worth focusing on them because even 40% of all queries are made of at least four words.
Selecting relevant long-tails will allow you to reach recipients who are likely to convert as they look for specific products or services.
It’s worth remembering that model keyword density amounts to 1-2%. This means that a 100-word text should have only one or two keywords. Ideally, keyword density should be lower when talking about longer articles and posts.
The exact number of organic keywords per page that are beneficial for the SEO process depends on your industry, website condition, budget, product/service range and available time.
When should you select more keywords?
Even if you offer only one type of product or service, you should target more than one keyword. Why? The answer to this question is pretty simple – one word or phrase won’t attract as many visitors as the same word complemented with its synonyms and more specific phrases. Remember that users type in various search queries and frequently aren’t familiar with the exact names or specifications of the goods they’re looking for. Put yourself in the shoes of an average member of your target group and try to think of people who aren’t familiar with your offer yet.
Keep your content natural and make sure that it inspires trust and reads well.
Less is more – when is it true?
Although it’s significantly better to focus on more keywords, it’s also vital to stay moderate. If you target a thousand keywords or more, you should keep in mind that you’ll have fewer resources to refine all of them. This, in turn, might mean that a greater number of keywords won’t actually bring you higher positions or any other tangible benefits. Be realistic and think about your budget and time.
It’s better to select ten keywords and fully optimize them than to choose two hundred key phrases and place them randomly on the site.
Moreover, it’s crucial to remember that there is something called keyword stuffing. It happens when keywords are unnaturally placed in the content and keyword density is much higher than 2 or 3%. You should avoid keyword stuffing as Google penalizes websites that try to manipulate the ranking.
The best number of keywords for SEO – the takeaway
So, what exactly is a good number of organic keywords to have? Remember that there are no limits when it comes to the selection of keywords you do SEO for. Usability is the only requirement here. Doing SEO for numerous accurate and quality phrases brings various benefits to the website and helps to reach a wider range of potential customers. Make sure that applied keywords look natural and bring value to users.
So, if you need one simple answer to the question “How many phrases to choose for SEO – 10, 15 or 20?” – the right option is 20 or more. Keep an eye on your keyword density and take your company to the next level!
