When you have chosen which SEO keywords and phrases you want to rank for, the next step is to determine how to add them to your website.
If you have a lot of keywords, you may be tempted to cram them all onto one web page, cross your fingers and hope for the best.
However, this is not a good strategy for ranking highly in the search engines.
Optimising for lots of different keywords = a muddled page
When you optimise for many keywords on the same page, you may quickly find the content becomes messy and unstructured. This is especially true if your page length is on the shorter side.
Optimising for too many keywords can lead to a high bounce rate. This is because users visit your page, find it doesn’t match their needs and go back to the search engine results. This can lead to search engines like Google seeing your content as poor quality and something they don’t want to promote to users.
How many keywords should I use on a page?
The best strategy for SEO is to focus on two to four keywords per page. This means you can spread these keywords through your content, leading to natural-sounding copy that your customers will want to read.
Always choose one keyword to be your primary keyword and the main focus of your content. You can then use secondary keywords to shape your content and support your primary keyword.
If you are using very competitive keywords, we recommend focusing on only one or two keywords per page. That way, you can give each keyword the focus and attention needed to get one step ahead of the competition.
Is there any way I can optimise for lots of different keywords on one page?
It can be done, but you have to be selective with your keywords.
It’s vital that the keywords you choose have a similar intent. This means the likelihood of someone wanting to find these keywords in the same journey is high.
Let’s say you run a pet store. You may think of putting ‘dog collars’ and ‘cat collars’ on the same page as they are similar products. However, the chances of a customer wanting to purchase both of these items at the same time is unlikely. This approach will lead to low-quality content, a high bounce rate and frustrated shoppers.
SERP for \”dog collars\”
SERP for \”cat collars\”
A better option is to put ‘dog collars’ and ‘dog leads’ on the same page. Even though they are not technically the same product, a customer will probably want to purchase both of these items at once. Not only will this result in more organic visits and engagement, but it makes your page easier to market to prospective customers too.
Get help from local SEO experts for your keyword strategy
In conclusion: It’s better to focus on a few keywords for each page rather than multiple words and phrases. This not only makes your pages easier to manage, but means they will be more likely to rank in Google.
If you’d like to find out more about how we can carry out keyword research and SEO audits to optimise your web pages to their full potential, check out our SEO agency services in Surrey or get a free marketing plan.