Updated January 2026
Quick summary
There’s no fixed number of keywords you “must” use for SEO; focus on choosing a primary target keyword and a few relevant variations or related terms that match user intent, then include them naturally in your content so it reads well for people while helping search engines understand what your page is about.
How Many SEO Keywords Should you have on your website?
If you’re new to the blogging world and have built your own website, you will have – no doubt – thought about using keywords. Trust me, I know it can be confusing, but don’t worry, I’ll break it down for you.
When talking about keywords, they often use the word search or key phrase. Essentially, they all mean the same thing.
Keywords - or key phrases - are the words and phrases that people enter in Google or another search engine when searching for information online.
If you want to rank for a certain keyword, you need to have a page or blog post on your website that focusses on this keyword.
How do I know which keywords to use on your website?
The best keywords are the ones your ideal customer would actually type into Google when they’re looking for your help.
You simply start by thinking about the real words and phrases they might use – not marketing jargon, but everyday language.
For example, if you’re a massage therapist in York, someone might search for back pain massage York or pregnancy massage near me.
You want to use these kinds of keywords across your website.
Here’s how to choose relevant keywords:
- Think like your customer – what are they struggling with? What would they search for?
- Use location words if your service is local – town, city or area names help Google show your website to nearby people
- Be specific – it’s easier to rank for longer, more detailed phrases (like online anxiety coach for mums) than one-word keywords (like coach) (more details about that below)
- Keep a list – note down the keywords that feel relevant for each page or blog post
You don’t need fancy tools to get started. Just try typing ideas into Google and look at the suggestions that pop up. These can show you what people are really searching for.
What is a keyword?
Basically, an SEO keyword is a combination of words that people use to search for information online. By including them in your website’s content and meta tags, you increase your chances of appearing in search engine results.
There are two types of keywords: long-tail and short-tail.
What are long-tail keywords?
Long-tail keywords consist of multiple keywords and are more specific. A long-tail keyword is usually a keyword phrase that is less commonly searched for but has a substantially higher conversion rate.
What are short-tail keywords?
Short-tail keywords are more general and commonly searched for but tend to have lower conversion rates.
By including both types of keywords on your website, you can appeal to a broad range of search queries and hopefully your website will be found in Google.
However, you need to remember that keywords are just one piece of the SEO puzzle. But they are a crucial one, and they can help you get your website in front of the right audience.
Short tail keyword and Long tail keyword examples
When someone enters a short-tail keyword into Google, they’re usually exploring different options and aren’t quite ready to make a purchase yet. For example, if someone searches for “shoes,” they’re probably just looking to see what’s out there and haven’t decided on anything specific yet.
On the other hand, when someone enters a long-tail keyword into Google, they’re usually much closer to making a buying decision. Let’s say someone searches for “best running shoes for women with flat feet” they’ve likely done some research and have a specific need in mind.
Here are some more examples:
- Short-tail: “bookkeeper”
- Long-tail: “best small business bookkeeper in Manchester”
- Short-tail: “holiday pay”
- Long-tail: “how to calculate holiday pay for part-time workers”
By including both short-tail and long-tail keywords on your website, you can appeal to both types of searchers. You’ll have the general keywords to attract those who are just starting their research and the specific keywords to attract those who are ready to make a purchase.
A search engine such as Google wants to provide the searcher with a relevant search result that matches the search intent of the user. Google tries to figure out “what is the person actually searching for”?
Don’t forget LSI keywords (sorry, geek alert!)
LSI stands for Latent Semantic Indexing. Sounds very technical, but don’t worry, you don’t need to understand the science bit.
In plain English, LSI keywords are just words and phrases that are related to your main keyword.
For example, if your main keyword is wedding cake, a related keyword could be things like:
- buttercream
- sponge tiers
- cake tasting
- wedding venues
- bride and groom
These words help search engines understand what your page is really about. They add context and make your writing feel more natural instead of repeating the same phrase over and over.
Using LSI keywords means:
- You avoid keyword stuffing
- Your content sounds better to real people
- Search engines are more likely to show your page to the right people
You don’t need to overthink it. Just write naturally and include words that make sense around your topic.
How to do keyword research for SEO?
Alright, so you’re probably wondering how professional agencies conduct keyword research. Well, it’s actually not as complicated as you might think.
First things first, agencies start by identifying the main topics that are relevant to your business. Then, they’ll use professional (paid) SEO tools and create a long list of keywords that are related to your business, your products and services and the industry you work in.
These tools also provide information about how often people search for certain keywords per month and how much competition there is for those keywords.
Once they have a list of keywords, they’ll begin to refine and filter it. This is where they’ll look at things like search volume, competition, and relevance to your business. They’ll also consider the intent behind each keyword – are people searching for it because they’re in the research phase or because they’re ready to buy?
After they’ve narrowed down the list of keywords, they’ll create a prioritised list of keywords that they think will be most effective for your business. They’ll also come up with a plan for how to incorporate these keywords into your website and content. This could include writing a content plan for a number of months or even a full year.
Keyword research is about identifying the keywords that are most relevant to your business and will help you reach your target audience.
How many keywords should a website have?
Great question – but the short answer is that it depends on the topic you’re discussing or explaining on a particular page and the length of your content on that particular page.
Google doesn't rank websites, but instead it ranks web pages. Therefore every page (i.e. post or page) needs to focus on one key phrase!
Once you start adding blog posts to your website, you will see – when checking your Google Analytics – that your homepage is just another page that gets visited. However – most likely – it’s not the most visited page on your website.
Google looks at your website pages. You determine what a certain page or blog post is about. It’s important not to water down a page and include key phrases that cover many different areas as Google won’t know what specifically this page or post is about.
That’s also the reason why service overview pages, product category pages or your homepage won’t rank as highly as they show many different topics.
So how many keywords should you use on a page?
Unfortunately, there’s no magic number of keywords that you should be aiming for. However, a good rule of thumb is to have ONE primary keyword (also know as the focus keyword or target keyword) for each page (or blog post) of your website and then a few secondary keywords. These secondary keywords could be a variation of your main key phrase, or the could be other keywords that support your main key phrase and are relevant to the subject.
How do I decide on my target keyword?
You can use the free Google Trends tool that allows you to see how often a particular keyword or phrase has been searched for over a certain period of time. It can help you understand the popularity of different keywords.
Here’s how to use Google Trends to find out which keyword is better:
- Go to the Google Trends website (https://trends.google.com/)
- In the search bar, type in the first keyword you want to compare.
- Click on the “Search” button to see the trend data for that keyword.
- Repeat steps 2 and 3 for the second keyword you want to compare.
- Compare the trend data for both keywords. Look at the overall trend, the regional interest, and the related topics.
- The keyword that has higher search volume, less fluctuations and stable interest over time is considered a better keyword.
- Google Trends also gives you the option to compare up to five keywords at a time and you can also filter the data by location and time.
Keep in mind that the search volume only gives you a rough idea of how popular a specific keyword is. This doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the best keyword for your content or your business. Other factors such as relevance, competition, and intent should also be considered when choosing your keywords.
What does Keyword Variation mean?
Keyword variation means using different words or phrases that have the same meaning as your main keyword. It helps to make your content sound more natural and avoid repetition.
Here are a few keyword variation examples for the long-tail keyword “how to calculate holiday pay for part-time workers”:
- Part-time holiday pay calculation
- Determining holiday pay for part-time employees
- Calculating holiday entitlement for part-time staff
- Part-time worker holiday pay formula
- Calculating part-time worker holiday benefits
What does Keyword Density mean?
In the same context of how many keywords you should use on your website, you may have come across the term keyword density. This refers to the percentage a keyword appears in your content compared to the total number of words in your text.
A higher keyword density indicates that you have used the targeted keyword more frequently and can also be an indicator of your webpage’s relevance for that keyword.
However, if your keyword density is too high, Google might considert this as “keyword stuffing”.
Avoid keyword stuffing on your website
Another thing to keep in mind is that you must avoid “keyword stuffing” – that’s when you repeat the same keyword in your content in an unnatural way.
I often see that people use the same keyword across many different pages on their website. This is also a bad idea as the pages on your website are now competing with each other!
Keyword stuffing can really hurt your SEO rather than help it. It might be hard to do so, but try to find a balance between having enough keywords to optimise your website’s pages and not having too many that it appears spammy.
A great way to check if you’re using too many keywords is by reading the text out loud. If it sounds strange, change it!
Keyword stuffing is the excessive and unnatural use a particular keyword or phrase on a web page with the aim of manipulating search engine rankings.
Keyword Quality over Keyword Quantity
It’s better to focus on fewer, high-quality keywords that are relevant to a specific topic and most importantly your audience, rather than trying to cram in as many as possible on one particular page.
A good rule of thumb is to have a primary keyword for each page (or post) and a few secondary keywords, but don’t stuff them in unnaturally. Always keep an eye on relevance and quality of the keywords.
What does Keyword Placement mean?
Keyword placement explaines where you put your keywords on your website.
Important: Look at each page / post on its own!
There are a few key places where you’ll want to include them:
- Include your keyword / key phrase in the page title (if you can at the start of the title): The page title (this is also called the title tag) is the text that appears at the top of your browser window. It’s one of the most important elements examined by search engines.
- In your page URL: Include your focus keyword (i.e. the main keyword) in the URL of your page or blog post. Look at the URL of this blog post and you will see how I have structured it.
- In the meta description: The meta description is a short text summary of your web page that also appears in search engine results. Keep your summary short. Use the main key phrase at the start of the meta description. use words that cause curiosity so people want to click on your page in Google. But bear in mind – Google may not use your own meta description but create their own one.
- In your headlines (H1, H2, H3, etc.): These headline tags are used to structure your content and make it easy for search engines to understand the main topics of your page.
- In the main content of your page or blog post: This is where you’ll include your keywords in a natural way, making sure that they flow well with the rest of your content and don’t sound out of place. Read the text out loud to make sure it reads OK.
- In your image ALT tags: Use your image ALT tags properly. They can include keywords and this increases your chances that your images are displayed in the Google Images tab. (Also check out the Ultimate Guide to Website Images and learn about the correct use of ALT tags).
It’s important to keep in mind that keyword placement should be done in a natural way. The primary goal should always be your reader. Make it easy for them to read and understand. The secondary goal is to optimise your content for search engines to they have a chance to understand what your page or post is about.
What is a meta tag?
A meta tag is a piece of code that you can add to the HTML of a webpage. It provides information about the webpage to search engines and other programs that might be looking at the page.
For example, a meta tag might include the title of your page or blog post, a short description of the page, as well as target keywords that are relevant to your content. These tags help search engines understand what the page is about.
Thankfully you don’t need any coding experience. Most website builders provide simple fields that allow you to enter the meta information easily.
What about meta keywords?
Meta keywords used to be part of the meta tags on your website but are no longer used due to many people abusing this feature. It’s nothing something you need to worry about.
Free Software to help with your keywords
Thankfully there is some amazing free software available. The software is called Marketmuse. If you only use this very infrequently, it’s free to use.
Watch this video I recorded and learn how the software can quickly help you if your blog post has the correct amount of keywords.
Are you looking for a free keyword research tool?
You don’t need to spend money to start finding good keywords. Here’s a list with free keyword research tools that are simple to use and give you great ideas:
- Google Search Suggestions: Start typing a phrase into Google and see what it suggests. These are real things people are searching for!
- Google’s ‘People Also Ask’ Box: When you search something in Google, scroll down below the first couple of search results to see the questions people ask – great for blog post ideas and LSI keywords.
- Google Trends: See what’s getting popular and compare two keyword phrases.
- Ubersuggest (free version): Shows keyword ideas, traffic estimates, and competition levels
- Answer the Public (free version): A great SEO tool! Type in a keyword and see loads of questions people are asking about it
- Keyword Generator by Ahrefs (free): Pop in a word and get hundreds of keyword suggestions
- Keyword Surfer (Chrome Extension): Adds keyword ideas and search volume right into your Google search page.
- AlsoAsked: Like ‘People Also Ask’, but lets you explore follow-up questions in a branching structure
- Google Search Console: See which keywords people are already using to find your website – perfect for spotting what’s working and where to improve
Keywords, keywords, keywords
Well, there you have it! You’ve learnt a lot today:
- from the importance of keywords in SEO,
- to the different types of keywords (short-tail and long-tail),
- keyword research,
- and keyword placement.
We’ve also touched on the fact that it’s important to find a balance between having enough keywords to optimise your website and not having too many that it appears spammy. Also, you should use the keywords in different variations and always keep the relevance and quality of the keywords in mind. Google is clever enough to understand that the variations convey the same meaning.
Remember that keywords are just one part of your website’s search engine optimisation, but theyare quite a crucial element. By including the right keywords in the right places on your website, you can increase your chances of appearing in search engine results and reaching your target audience. And even though keyword research and placement can be a bit of a confusing subject, it’s definitely worth taking the time to get it right.
2026 Update: How many keywords should you use for SEO?
There is no perfect number of keywords you should use on a page. In 2026, SEO is far less about repeating exact phrases and far more about making your page clearly relevant and genuinely useful for the person searching.
Choose one main topic for each page, then write in a natural way using the words your customer would expect to see. If your page answers the query properly, it will usually include the right keywords without you forcing them in.
Use one main keyword focus per page
Each page should have one clear focus. For example, a page about “kitchen fitter in Edinburgh” should stay centred on that service and location, rather than trying to rank for ten different services at once.
Add supporting phrases instead of repeating the same keyword
Search engines understand meaning. You can use related phrases, variations, and common wording people use around the topic. This helps your content feel natural and helps search engines confirm what the page is about.
Match search intent, not keyword quotas
Instead of aiming for a certain keyword count, aim to answer the question or solve the problem behind the search. Clear explanations, pricing context, what happens next, and common questions often matter more than exact keyword placement.
Place keywords where they help clarity
- Page title: Make it clear and descriptive.
- Main headline: Align it with what the page is about.
- First few lines: Confirm quickly that the visitor is in the right place.
- Subheadings: Use headings to cover key subtopics people care about.
- Image alt text: Describe the image properly, only adding keywords if they genuinely fit.
Avoid keyword stuffing
Repeating keywords unnaturally can make your writing awkward and can harm performance. If a sentence sounds strange out loud, it usually needs rewriting.
Use real data to refine your content
Google Search Console can show you the actual search terms people use to find your page. This helps you improve your wording, add missing sections, and expand the page based on real queries rather than guesses.
If you focus on one topic per page, write naturally, and cover what the visitor needs, you will use the right keywords without obsessing over a number.
