How Many Keywords SEO Per Page: A Modern Guide

Let’s get one thing straight right away. If you're still chasing a magic number for how many keywords to cram onto a page, you're playing an outdated game. The real sweet spot? One primary keyword and a tight cluster of three to five highly relevant secondary keywords. This isn't about counting; it's about building topical relevance.

Why Quality Over Quantity Is the Only Rule That Matters

Trust me, the days of keyword stuffing are dead and buried. Thank goodness for that. Google's algorithm has gotten incredibly sophisticated, and its main job now is to figure out the intent behind a search and the overall topic of a page. Your content strategy has to match that intelligence.

So, instead of asking "how many keywords?" a much smarter question is, "how comprehensively does my page cover this topic?" The goal is to become the go-to, authoritative resource for one core subject. That's where a focused primary and secondary keyword strategy becomes your best friend.

What's a Primary Keyword, Really?

Think of your primary keyword as the North Star for your page. It's the main search phrase you're aiming to rank for, and it should perfectly match the core problem or question your audience is trying to solve.

Every single thing on that page—from the H1 tag down to the final call to action—needs to support this one term. It’s what keeps your content focused and prevents you from wandering off-topic.

The Supporting Role of Secondary Keywords

If your primary keyword is the star of the show, secondary keywords are the brilliant supporting cast. They aren't meant to steal the spotlight, but their presence adds crucial depth, context, and nuance.

These are your synonyms, long-tail variations, and closely related sub-topics. They help paint a complete picture for Google, showing that you've covered the subject from all the important angles.

To make this crystal clear, let's break down how these two keyword types work together on a single page.

Primary vs Secondary Keyword Roles

Keyword Type	Primary Goal	How Many Per Page	Example
Primary	To be the main ranking target and define the page's core topic.	One	"how to train a puppy"
Secondary	To add context, depth, and cover related sub-topics.	3-5	"puppy potty training schedule", "positive reinforcement for puppies", "best puppy training treats"

See how that works? The secondary keywords don't compete; they support the main topic, making the entire piece more valuable and comprehensive.

Here's the bottom line: By zeroing in on one primary keyword and a handful of secondaries, you send a powerful signal to search engines that your page is an expert resource. This is how you build real topical authority, something that targeting dozens of random terms could never achieve.

This whole approach just makes sense. You end up with content that's not only optimized for search but is also genuinely helpful and easy for a human to read. The latest SEO best practices all point to this reality: there is no fixed or ideal number of keywords. Success is all about matching user intent and using natural language. Modern tools and strategies have all shifted to prioritize semantic relationships and long-tail queries over old-school metrics like keyword density. You can find more data on modern keyword research that backs up this fundamental shift in thinking.

Finding Your Core and Supporting Keywords

Alright, let's get down to the fun part—moving from theory to actually finding the keywords that will bring the right people to your page. This isn't just about grabbing terms with big search numbers. The real goal is to find a core keyword that nails the user's intent and, just as importantly, is a term you can realistically rank for.

Think of it like casting a movie. You need a star of the show (your primary keyword) and a strong cast of supporting actors (your secondary keywords) to make it a blockbuster.

Nailing Down Your Primary Keyword

Your primary keyword is the North Star for your page. It’s the single most critical phrase that sets the entire tone and direction for your content. Let's walk through a real-world example. Say you're creating a page to sell "sustainable coffee beans." That phrase feels right, but we can't just go on a gut feeling. We need data.

This is where a tool like Google Keyword Planner comes in handy for the initial brainstorming. You can drop in your starting idea and immediately get a sense of its search volume and how tough the competition is.

Here’s a glimpse of what you might see inside the tool.

The trick is finding that sweet spot. A keyword with 10,000 monthly searches looks great on paper, but if the competition is packed with industry giants, you’ll have a hard time even getting on the map. On the other hand, a term with 500 searches and low competition is often a much savvier play, giving you a real shot at the top spot.

If you want to go deeper on this, our complete guide on how to do keyword research breaks down exactly how to uncover these golden opportunities.

Uncovering Powerful Secondary Keywords

Once you've locked in your primary keyword, it's time to find its backup singers. This step is what gives your content depth and context, both for search engines and for the people reading it. It helps you answer all the little questions they have in their minds. At this stage, don't get hung up on exactly how many SEO keywords per page you're aiming for; just let relevance be your guide.

Honestly, my favorite way to find these is almost laughably simple: I just use Google. Type your primary keyword into the search bar and scroll down to the "People Also Ask" (PAA) section.

For our "sustainable coffee beans" example, you’ll likely find gems like these:

What is the most environmentally friendly coffee?
Is fair trade coffee the same as sustainable?
Benefits of shade-grown coffee
Ethical coffee brands 2024

This is pure gold. These are the exact questions your audience is typing into Google, which makes them perfect candidates for secondary keywords and even subheadings within your article.

Another pro move is to scope out the competition. Look at the pages that are already ranking at the top for your primary keyword. What related terms are they using in their H2s, H3s, and body paragraphs? Tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush can even show you all the other keywords a specific URL ranks for, basically handing you a proven list of secondary terms to consider.

Key Takeaway: A winning keyword strategy isn't about hitting some magic number. It's about choosing one powerful primary keyword and backing it up with a family of related secondary keywords that, together, completely satisfy what the user came to find.

Placing Keywords Without Sounding Like a Robot

Alright, you’ve done the heavy lifting and have your list of keywords. Now for the tricky part: actually getting them into your content without making it sound like a robot wrote it. Let’s be honest, nothing makes a reader click away faster than content stuffed with awkward, forced keywords. It’s a huge turn-off for people and for Google.

The secret is knowing that certain spots on your page have more SEO clout than others. These are the prime locations where your main keyword needs to live. Your secondary keywords, on the other hand, are your supporting cast—they can be scattered throughout to build a richer, more complete picture for search engines.

Prime Real Estate for Your Primary Keyword

Think of these as the high-visibility, beachfront properties of your webpage. Nailing your primary keyword placement here sends a crystal-clear signal to Google about what your page is all about.

You absolutely want to get your main keyword into these spots:

The Title Tag: This is the big one. It's the headline everyone sees on the Google results page and in their browser tab. It’s your first, and best, shot at grabbing attention.
The Meta Description: While Google says it’s not a direct ranking factor, a great meta description with the keyword practically begs people to click on your link over someone else's.
The H1 Heading: This is your on-page title. You only get one H1, so make it count. It should feature your primary keyword and match the user's intent.
The Opening Paragraph: Try to work your keyword into the first 100-150 words. This immediately confirms to readers and search engine crawlers that they've landed in the right place.

My Two Cents: Don't contort your sentences just to cram in the exact-match keyword. It's totally fine—and often better—to use a natural-sounding variation. If your target is "how many keywords seo per page," a title like "How Many SEO Keywords Should You Use Per Page?" is perfect. It reads better and still hits the mark.

Strategic Placement for Secondary Keywords

Your secondary keywords are what give your content its depth and authority. They show Google you’re not just hitting one specific phrase but covering the topic inside and out. The good news? You have a lot more freedom with where these go.

Sprinkle your secondary keywords and their variations throughout these areas:

Subheadings (H2s, H3s): Using related terms in your subheadings breaks up the text and signals to Google that you’re covering all the important sub-topics.
Body Paragraphs: This is where you can really let your writing flow. Weave these terms in naturally where they make sense. Their job is to support the main idea, not steal the show.
Image Alt Text: Writing descriptive alt text is fantastic for accessibility, and it’s another easy win for including relevant keywords.
Internal Link Anchor Text: When you link to this page from other articles on your site, use a relevant keyword in the link text. It’s a powerful internal signal.

The whole conversation about how many keywords SEO per page has changed. We used to obsess over keyword density, with old SEO guides preaching a strict 1-5% rule. Thankfully, those days are over. Today’s search engines are way smarter and understand context.

A much healthier approach is to aim for a natural frequency, which usually ends up being around 1-2% when you count your primary keyword and all its variations. If you want to dive deeper into this shift, there’s a great breakdown of the evolution of keyword density on SearchAtlas.com.

At the end of the day, just write for your audience. If you create something that’s genuinely helpful, clear, and easy to read, you'll find that the keywords almost always fall into place naturally.

Why Keyword Density Is an Outdated Metric

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Let's talk about an old SEO habit that’s surprisingly tough to break: the obsession with keyword density. If you've been in the SEO game for a while, you definitely remember the endless debates about hitting the perfect percentage. Was it 2%? 3%? Everyone had a theory.

This whole idea came from a much simpler era of search. Back then, search engines heavily relied on how many times you repeated a keyword to figure out what your page was about. The logic was simple: more mentions meant more relevance. Of course, this led to some truly terrible, unreadable content that was stuffed to the gills with keywords—great for primitive bots, but awful for actual people.

Thankfully, Google got a lot smarter. Today, its algorithms are incredibly sophisticated, focusing on understanding the real meaning and context of your content. That makes the old practice of just counting keywords a relic of a bygone era.

The Shift to Topical Coverage

So, instead of asking, "How many times did I use my keyword?" the question you should be asking now is, "How well did I actually cover this topic?"

Modern search engines want to see comprehensive, authoritative content that genuinely solves a user's problem. This is where the concepts of topical coverage and semantic relevance have taken center stage.

Think of it this way: if you're writing a guide on "how to bake sourdough bread," Google's not just looking for that exact phrase over and over. It expects to see a whole cluster of related terms and concepts, like:

Starter or levain
Proofing and fermentation
Banneton basket
Scoring techniques
Dutch oven baking

When Google sees these related ideas woven naturally into your content, it signals that your page is a legitimate, expert-level resource. That’s a level of confidence a simple keyword density score could never provide. The goal has shifted from repetition to creating content rich with context.

Expert Insight: Stop focusing on a rigid keyword count and start focusing on the richness of your content. When you make it your mission to thoroughly answer the user's question with helpful, detailed information, you'll naturally use the language and concepts that tell search engines you're an authority.

What the Data Shows Today

Need more proof that keyword density is no longer a major factor? Just look at the search results themselves. Time and again, studies show that the pages ranking at the top often have a surprisingly low density for their main keyword.

The table below, based on industry analysis, shows just how little top-ranking pages rely on keyword repetition.

Keyword Density by Google Ranking Position

This table shows the average keyword density for pages based on their ranking position, highlighting the trend for top-ranking pages.

Ranking Group	Average Keyword Density (%)
Top 10	0.04%
11-20	0.06%
21-30	0.07%

Notice a pattern? The pages ranking highest have the lowest keyword density. In fact, a full analysis of keyword density trends found that pages ranking from positions 11-30 often had a higher density. This strongly suggests that overdoing it and focusing too much on repetition can actually hurt your ability to rank.

This all points to one clear conclusion: the real answer to how many keywords SEO per page you should use is to write naturally and comprehensively for your reader. When you do that, the right keywords and related phrases will find their way into your content organically, creating the exact kind of high-quality page Google loves.

Common Keyword Mistakes to Avoid

Knowing the theory is one thing, but avoiding the common traps is what really separates the pros from the beginners. It’s surprisingly easy to make simple mistakes that can torpedo all your hard work. Let's walk through some of the biggest blunders I see people make all the time and, more importantly, how you can steer clear of them.

One of the most frequent (and frustrating) problems is keyword cannibalization. It sounds dramatic, I know, but it’s a very real issue. This happens when you have multiple pages on your own website all trying to rank for the same primary keyword. When you do this, you’re basically telling Google you don't know which page is the most important, so it gets confused and often ranks none of them well.

Think of it like having two of your own articles fighting for the top spot for "best budget espresso machine." Instead of one powerful page, you end up with two weaker ones that both struggle to get traction.

Fixing Keyword Cannibalization

Once you spot it, fixing cannibalization is usually pretty straightforward. A quick Google search using site:yourdomain.com "your keyword" is a great way to find pages that are competing with each other.

Once you find the culprits, you’ve got a couple of solid options:

Merge and Redirect: This is my go-to move. Take the content from the weaker pages and merge it into your best, most comprehensive article. Then, set up a 301 redirect from the old URLs to the new powerhouse page. This passes all the link juice and traffic to one spot.
De-optimize: If the pages truly need to exist separately because they serve different user needs, you can simply de-optimize the less important one. This means removing the target keyword from its title tag, H1, and meta description to signal to Google which page is the main event.

Key Takeaway: Every page needs its own unique primary keyword. This laser focus is how you build authority and avoid shooting yourself in the foot. Consolidating your efforts is almost always the right call.

Ignoring Search Intent

This is a big one. I see people fall into this trap constantly. They pick a keyword based purely on high search volume and completely ignore the why behind the search. This is what we call ignoring search intent.

For instance, you might write an amazing blog post trying to rank for "buy running shoes." The problem? Google knows that people searching that phrase want to buy something right now. The search results will be packed with e-commerce product pages, not blog posts.

Your informational content simply doesn't match what the searcher wants, so it's never going to rank, no matter how great it is. Before you ever commit to a keyword, do yourself a favor and Google it first. See what’s already ranking. Are they blog posts? Product pages? Videos? Matching the intent is absolutely non-negotiable.

Targeting Overly Competitive Keywords

Finally, a classic rookie mistake is going after keywords that are just way out of your league. Trying to rank for a massive term like "life insurance" as a new or small site is a recipe for disappointment. You're up against huge corporations that have been building authority for decades.

A much smarter play is to dominate a smaller, more focused niche first. You can do this by digging deep for specific, long-tail keywords where you can actually win. This approach helps you gain real traction instead of just shouting into the void. We cover exactly how to do this in our guide to keyword research best practices.

Got Questions About Keyword Strategy? We've Got Answers.

Even the most seasoned pros run into tricky situations with keywords. You've got a plan, but then a specific question pops up that makes you second-guess everything. Let's clear the air and tackle some of the most common questions I hear all the time.

Can a Page Rank for a Keyword That Isn't Even on the Page?

You bet it can. This surprises a lot of people, but Google got way smarter than just matching exact words a long time ago. It's all about semantic understanding now.

If your page is the absolute best, most comprehensive resource on a topic, Google can figure out it's relevant for related search terms you never even wrote down. For example, say you write a killer guide on "plant-based diets for athletes," covering everything from lentils and tofu to athletic recovery. You could easily start ranking for "best vegan protein sources for training." Google connects the dots. This is exactly why focusing on covering a topic inside and out is so much more powerful than just stuffing one keyword everywhere.

How Often Should I Refresh Keywords on My Pages?

This is a great question. You can't just set it and forget it. I recommend taking a hard look at the keyword performance for your most important pages every 6 to 12 months. Things change fast—searcher intent shifts, new keywords pop up, and you can be sure your competitors are tweaking their own content.

A fantastic, and free, way to do this is to dive into your Google Search Console data. Check out the "Queries" report for a specific page. You’ll probably find you're already getting clicks for terms you didn't even know you were ranking for! When you spot these "happy accidents," go back and update your content to better match that searcher's intent. It’s a simple way to solidify your relevance and give your rankings a nice little bump.

Does Putting the Keyword in the URL Still Matter?

Yes, but don't obsess over it. It's a minor ranking signal, but it's still good practice. Having your main keyword in the URL gives a tiny hint to Google and, maybe more importantly, shows users what the page is about at a glance.

My two cents: Always choose a short, clean, human-readable URL over one that's crammed with keywords. If your topic is “how to bake sourdough bread,” a URL like yoursite.com/how-to-bake-sourdough-bread is perfect. Don't try to force it if it makes the URL long and ugly.

What's the Real Difference Between Secondary and LSI Keywords?

This one trips people up because the terms get thrown around interchangeably. They're similar, but there's a key distinction. Here’s how I think about it:

Secondary Keywords: These are direct variations of your main topic. If your primary keyword is "best running shoes," a secondary keyword would be something like "best running shoes for flat feet" or "affordable running shoes." They’re still about running shoes, just more specific.
LSI Keywords: Think of these as "context" keywords. LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) keywords are terms that are conceptually related and tend to show up together. For our "best running shoes" example, LSI keywords could be things like "marathon training," "pronation," "heel-to-toe drop," or "5k race." They prove to Google that you really know the topic.

Using both is how you build true topical authority. If you’re struggling to find good ideas, our guide on how to find profitable keywords is a great place to start digging for both types.

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