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How Many Keywords Should I Use for SEO? (2024 Update)

ByNina Clapperton Updated on

Keywords are the most basic and most important part of an SEO strategy.

But how many keywords per page for SEO should you be using?

The answer isn’t as straightforward as you might think. It depends on a number of factors, including your business goals, the competition for your keywords, and the overall quality of your content.

And once you decide on the number of keywords to focus on, you also need to figure out how often/when to use them.

In this guide, we’ll cover all of that and more.

But I can tell you now, the answer is going to be WAY more than you expect!

👩‍💻 Find the best keywords with Keysearch

Keysearch homepage

Why are keywords important to SEO?

Before we answer the question How Many Keywords Per Page for SEO, let’s briefly cover why keywords are so important.

Keywords are how people find your website.

They type in a word or phrase (or sometimes just a single letter) into Google and other search engines, and your website comes up in the results.

The more relevant your website is to the keyword, the higher you’ll rank in the search results.

And the higher you rank, the more traffic you’ll get to your website.

It really is that simple.

Keywords are also important for helping Google and other search engines understand what your website is about.

When you use relevant keywords throughout your website, it tells Google what your website is about and how it should be categorized.

This helps Google match your website with relevant searches, and also helps you show up in more specific searches.

For example, if you sell shoes, you might want to target the keyword “shoes.” But if you also use other related keywords like “sneakers,” “running shoes,” and “tennis shoes,” you’ll be more likely to show up in those specific searches as well.

How Many Keywords Per Page for SEO?

When I first got started with SEO, I read posts telling me to write blog posts with one keyword in mind.

So I did.

But I was frustrated that I still wasn’t seeing significant growth or traffic on my site.

The reason: I was only optimizing for 1 keyword!

I quickly learned that if I wanted to see real results, I needed to be using a lot more keywords.

In fact, most SEO experts agree that you should be aiming for a MINIMUM of 3-5 keywords per page.

And some even say you can (and should) use even more than that!

(Psst…. I’m one of them!).

Now when I write posts, I typically aim for 10+ keywords.

That sounds like a lot right?

Well, it’s really not.

Let’s think of a basic “things to do in New York” post.

If I searched this post on Keysearch, I’d find this main keyword.

But it would immediately suggest other keywords, such as “fun things to do in New York”, “things to do in New York at night”.

(These long tail keywords include the base keyword “things to do in New York”, so technically by optimizing for one of these alone I’d still be optimizing for two keywords.)

And variations like “New York attractions”, “New York sightseeing”.

All of these keywords should be in the same post, and can easily be added together.

Once I gather keywords like this, I also look for featured snippet keywords – typically questions that I can optimize for in my FAQ section.

So you can see that these keywords quickly add up.

BUT I don’t stop there.

Because after I publish a post, I wait a few months and then go into Google Search Console to check my rankings.

Here, I can see all of the keywords an individual post is ranking for.

You’ll be shocked to find keywords you never expected or targetted.

Then, I edit my post to add in these keywords at least once (you’re already ranking for it partially, so it’s easy to add a bit of content to move to the #1 spot!).

By the end of that process, it’s easy to end up with over 50 keywords in a single post!

Don’t let that overwhelm you!

You can easily start off with 5-10 keywords and watch it grow.

In many cases, a keyword only needs to be used once in a single header to be considered “optimized”.

I teach the best strategies to create an SEO optimized blog post that will rank for all of your keywords here.

👩‍💻 Learn how to use keywords the right way in the Profitable Part-Time Blogger

Keysearch showing the difficulty scores for a keyword

How Many Keywords Can a Page Rank for?

Google will never come out and say how many keywords a single page can rank for.

But we do have data from studies to show us that it’s possible to rank for a LOT of keywords with just one page.

One study found that the average number of organic keywords a first-page result on Google has is 1,890!

That’s a lot of keywords for one page!

But it’s also worth noting that this is an average.

Some pages will rank for fewer keywords, and some will rank for more.

And in most cases, keywords will be considered unique even if they are essentially the same keyword (i.e. “things to do in New York” is the same as “New York things to do” in intent but would be considered two separate keywords in this study).

It all depends on how well you optimize your page and how relevant it is to the search query.

The important thing is to focus on quality over quantity.

It’s better to rank for 10 relevant, high-traffic keywords than 1,000 low-traffic keywords.

To do this, you need to make sure you’re using the right keywords.

The best way to find these is by using a keyword research tool like Keysearch.

🤩 Find the best keywords with Keysearch

How Many Keywords Should You Focus On?

There is no magic number when it comes to the number of keywords you should focus on.

I typically recommend starting with 3-5 main keywords and then adding in a few long tail keywords as well.

From there, you can always come back and add more later.

The important thing is to get started!

🤩 Find the best keywords with Keysearch

Benefits of Fewer Keywords

So many blogging experts say to pick 1-3 keywords and optimize for those.

There are so benefits to this strategy, like:

  • More Focused: You will be focused on the individual keyword and it’s search intent. This is helpful for new bloggers who are still getting used to SEO.
  • Reduces Keyword Dillution (Allegedly): This isn’t actually proven to exist, and I don’t believe in it. But it’s a benefit that some bloggers claim. If you have more than one keyword you’ve optimized for, you reduce the power of the individual keyword. (I’ve NEVER found this to be true, and in fact found the opposite to be true).
  • Fewer Keywords to Monitor: If you’re just starting out, you might want to focus on fewer keywords so that you can keep track of them more easily. You can always add more later.

Cons of Fewer Keywords

Using fewer keywords, even when you’re starting out is a bad practice overall.

You’re just making more work for yourself – like people who don’t bother with SEO until they can easily rank (you’ll never easily rank if you don’t work on SEO and you’ll have SO much to update!).

These are the reasons I don’t focus on fewer keywords in every post:

  • Less Traffic Potential: By focusing on fewer keywords, you’re missing out on traffic potential from all of the variations that could easily be added in.
  • Fewer Featured Snippet Opportunities: Featured snippets require their own keyword and special optimization. If you aren’t including these keywords, these high traffic spots will never go to you.
  • More Work Later: Do the work today, not in a year or two. Otherwise you’ll waste soooo much time having to edit (and potentially even fully rewrite) pieces. Take it from a girl who had to edit 100 posts and delete 50!
  • You’re Not Listening to Google: Google tells us it’s ok to rank for multiple keywords because it naturally ranks us for them! Why are you missing out on traffic Google wants to give you??
  • Not Answering the Full Question: Most times, including multiple keywords ensures that you’re providing the entire answer to your users on a subject. Skipping sections like nighttime activities in New York on a things to do post would actually harm your content’s ranking for the primary keyword.
  • Focusing on Multiple Keywords Doesn’t Take Away From a Primary Keyword: Focus on 1 keyword. That’s going to be your title and URL keyword. But adding in supplementary keywords (even 50 of them), will not take away from that at all. In fact, it can support the primary keyword and show your knowledge on the subject.
Related keywords on Keysearch

Picking the Best SEO Keywords

Now that you know how many keywords to focus on, it’s time to pick the right ones! How do you do this?

I use Keysearch.

It’s the most affordable and most functional SEO keyword research tool on the market.

There are a few ways to find quality keywords:

  • Competitor Analysis of blogs in your niche that already rank to mine their valuable keywords for yourself
  • Zero Search Volume keywords by mining Quora’s database of keywords to write short, easy posts that rank quickly for keywords Google hasn’t realized bring in a lot of traffic
  • Keyword Research and evaluating individual keywords manually to see if you can rank. I recommend ignoring Keysearch’s colour difficulty score to determine for yourself whether the DA, niche, and backlinks of the top 10 posts are competitive or not.

Should I Use the Same Keywords On Every Page?

No!

You shouldn’t use the same keywords on every page.

This is one of those cases where more is better.

The reason for this is that you want to show Google that your website is an authority on a variety of topics related to your niche.

And you risk multiple posts keyword cannibalizing – aka. fighting against each other for page 1 of Google. This will lower your rankings overall.

How Many Keywords Should Be On a Homepage?

I don’t recommend putting any keywords on your homepage.

Your homepage should be a broad overview of what your website is about and what visitors can expect to find when they click through to your website.

If you want to put keywords on your homepage, I would limit it to 3-5. But I wouldn’t worry about it too much.

Typically, your homepage won’t rank for keywords like “[niche] travel blog”. It’ll rank for your blog’s name.

So you should focus your keywords on blog posts.

What About Image Alt Tags and Keywords?

You should include keywords in your image alt tags!

Google can’t see images, so they rely on the text around the image and the image’s alt tag to understand what an image is about.

If you’re using WordPress, you can easily add keywords to your image alt tags with a plugin like RankMath.

You don’t want to stuff it with keywords. Try to work them in naturally when describing images.

For example “Time Square, New York at night. People walking past to the many things to do, like visit Broadway”.

Remember, this is an area for visually impaired people, NOT just an opportunity to throw in keywords randomly.

Google may penalize you for that.

Can You Have Too Many Keywords?

Yes!

You can have too many keywords on a page.

If you use one keyword too many times, this is keyword stuffing.

Similarly, if you use different keywords too often (i.e. just listing them in a post with no actual information or value), this is an issue.

For example, if this 2,500 word post included 2,000 different keywords, it’d be impossible to make sense of or read.

That would be too many keywords on a page.

🤩 Find the best keywords with Keysearch

Google Keyword Planner SEO Search

How Often to Use Keywords in Blog Posts?

This is a question of keyword density.

And to be honest, it depends.

Some keywords only need to be used once per post, such as a “People Also Ask” drop down snippet.

Others, like a primary keyword, will need to be used more often.

I don’t typically look at keyword density in my SEO tool. And I often break from the mold on this, as most SEO experts tell you to shove that keyword in there ever 250 words.

I actually recommend only using your primary keyword in its exact for 1x ever 500-1000 words.

BUT then you want to use variations of the term, such as secondary keywords that involve the primary keyword or are the same search intent (like the above example of “things to do in New York” and “New York things to do”).

What Is the Ideal Keyword Density?

From my experience, the ideal keyword density is around .5%.

This means that if you have a 500 word blog post, your primary keyword should be used 2.5 times (500 * .005 = 2.5).

But like I said before, I don’t obsess over this number. If it’s a little higher or lower, that’s ok.

And since you’ll be adding in a bunch of keywords overall, you may need ot thin that out even.

I’ve had posts where I only use the featured keyword 2x in 4,000 words and I rank #1.

It’s all about individual keyword and what naturally makes sense in the post.

But, when in doubt, add it 1x every 500 words.

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Wrap Up: How Many Keywords Should You Use Per Page for SEO?

This really depends on the keyword and what you’re trying to rank for.

A long tail keyword is likely to pick up on other keywords naturally, so you won’t even need to think about it and you’re technically optimizing for 3-5 keywords already.

But I recommend 1 primary keyword and 5-9 secondary keywords to start.

Your primary keyword should be used the most in a post. And you should use variations of that keyword throughout the post as well.

Including keywords in image alt tags is also important!

And finally, don’t forget to check back into GSC to optimize for other keywords later!

🤩 Find the best keywords with Keysearch

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Nina Clapperton is the founder of She Knows SEO.

She started blogging in 2018 and spent years doing everything “right” while earning $0. Then she stopped guessing and learned how search actually works. She rebuilt her travel site around audience intent and structure and grew to 50,000 sessions in 6 months. Within a year, the blog was bringing in $30,000 months and later crossed 243,000 pageviews.

She took the same audience first SEO approach and built her education business into multiple $100,000 months.

Now Nina teaches bloggers and online business owners how to build search powered businesses grounded in strong positioning, clear structure, and monetisation that actually supports their audience. She covers traditional SEO and AI driven search without the tech bro noise, and she’s known for explaining complex strategy with analogies you won’t forget.

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