how many keywords

You probably know how essential keywords are to your website traffic. Keywords help search engines crawl your website and rank it highly, letting your website appear on the first page for search queries related to your website content. Considering this, it only sounds logical to stuff your content with as many keywords as possible.  However, this goes against SEO best practices and may lead to your website being punished and ranking lower. This might sound counterintuitive, but there is a method to the madness. In this article, we help you understand the intricacies of keywords and how to avoid ending up on the second page or, worse, being removed from the search engine’s index.  Understanding Keywords: What Are They? There is little to take away from the literal meaning behind the word “keyword.” It might be misleading to some. As the name suggests, a keyword is essential to website content. However, keywords can sometimes be “key phrases.” By definition, a keyword is a word or phrase that defines the topic of your content.  In other words, a keyword is a word or phrase that users would use to find information in your content. For example, the keyword that might have brought you to this article would be “How many keywords should I use for SEO?”  How Many Keywords Should You Use in SEO? When it comes to search engine optimization with keywords, how many are too many? There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution to how many keywords should be in any content. As a general rule of thumb, it is largely accepted that SEO keyword density should amount to between 1-2 percent of the total content word count. This translates to around five keywords for every 500 words.  However, it is essential to remember that content quality trumps keyword density. Search engines prioritize the human experience, so keyword stuffing should be avoided.  For highly technical articles, it may be impossible to try to avoid heavy keyword usage throughout the length of your content. This is because they may often be descriptive or integral in conveying the critical intent of your chosen topic.  In such cases, as a marketer or website owner, you should focus on writing high-quality and engaging content that effectively answers the user’s search query. This will indicate to search engines that your content is relevant and consequently avoid hurting your ranking and visibility.  How Many Keywords for SEO Count as Keyword Stuffing?  Keyword stuffing is a practice that manipulates search engines into ranking content highly simply because it is chock-full of keywords. This black hat technique could lead to your website being punished.  You might have encountered content that barely sounds logical while attempting to find an answer to your search query. “Are you looking for a home in NY that is more than a house in NY? Then this home in NY is just what you need.” The previous statements target the keyword “home in NY,” but they make no sense to the reader and are an excellent example of keyword stuffing.  Consequently, keyword stuffing is less of a numbers game and more of a technique that prioritizes keywords over the user experience. The consequences of keyword stuffing are explored further in this article.  Keyword Diversity: Exact Match vs. Variations Keywords funnel users to your website through search engine rankings. However, several keywords exist depending on their relationship to the search query. Exact match keywords match the search query verbatim. Exact match keywords appeal to search engines by signaling high relevance for a specific search query.  One downside of exact-match keywords is that the user’s search query must match your keyword’s meaning, translating to a narrow reach (the very high relevance may offset this).  On the other hand, variation keywords may retain the SEO keyword’s meaning with slight changes in article usage, contain similar phrases, or be closely related to the keyword. Variation keywords have the advantage of having a broader reach with a slight compromise on relevance.  Keyword Diversity: Best Practices Exact-match and variation keywords have their shortcomings. Pairing both keyword types ensures your website content ranks highly without over-optimizing, which may contribute to keyword stuffing. Additionally, your content reads naturally, which helps with SEO and prevents your content from sounding generic, which may be off-putting to users.  Keyword Semantics vs. Keyword Synonyms As you might have noticed, an SEO strategy is the safest way to ensure you stay on the right side of search engine rankings. Understanding the differences between keyword semantics and synonyms is crucial to drafting a winning strategy. So, what is the difference between the two? Keyword Semantics  Keyword semantics are variations of the keyword that meet the user’s search query. Taking this article as an example, the keyword “how many words for SEO” can be replaced with keyword semantics such as “keyword density,” “keyword optimization,” or “keyword count.” In simple terms, keyword semantics target the same idea with different languages.  Google and other search engines have extremely advanced algorithms that can identify keyword synonyms and semantics with pinpoint accuracy. These algorithms allow you to create high-ranking content for your website without risking keyword stuffing.  Keyword Synonyms Keyword synonyms are SEO keywords with the same or nearly the same meaning as the search query or the target keyword. For this article, the keyword synonym of “SEO keywords” could be “SEO terms.” Keyword synonyms allow you to diversify your content and rank for multiple search queries without overusing a single keyword.  Why Over-Optimizing Can Lead to Penalties Search engines crawl websites to determine their relevance to users when answering a search query. Consequently, they tend to prioritize user-friendly content while punishing any attempts at keyword stuffing. Google and other search engines use complex algorithms to determine keyword density and can pick out keyword stuffing by referencing keyword usage with other high-ranking content.  Additionally, keyword stuffing tends to increase a website’s bounce rate and engagement, indicators that are picked up by search engines for low-quality content. Ultimately, this causes … Read more