Did you know that you don’t have to stick to just one keyword in your blog post? While it can be a good idea to have a primary keyword (although it’s not always necessary for blog posts) you can—and should—be using more than one keyword or keyphrase in your article.
Benefits to Using Multiple Keywords
Using multiple keywords can be helpful because doing so:
- Makes it easier for people to find you
- Helps search engines figure out the intent behind your article so they can direct the right readers to it
- Prevents keyword stuffing, which can make your writing feel spammy and hurt your SEO (not to mention reader trust)
- Conveys information in a variety of ways
Yeah, But…How Many?
I know you’re looking for a magic number, but there isn’t one. Really, there’s no hard and fast rule for how many keywords you should use in a blog post. This depends too much on a variety of factors, including the length of the article, the subject matter, and your purpose in writing.
In order to make sure you’re using the ideal number of keywords in your blog post, you’ll be better served if you put away the calculator and focus on your audience instead.
How to Know if You’re Using the Right Number of Keywords in Your Blog
This is actually quite simple. If you’re staying on topic and writing with your readers in mind, it’s almost a given that you’ll be using a good balance of keywords. Sure, there are some things you can do to make it a little easier for search engines (like seeing if you can work your primary keyword into your article headings or the first paragraph of your blog post) but if that isn’t working for you, don’t worry about it.
If:
- Your blog reads smoothly
- Your keywords relate to your content
- Your keywords sound natural rather than awkward or out of place
- And your keywords further your purpose of giving readers helpful information
Then you’re using the right number of keywords for your blog post.
A Note: My SEO Plugin Disagrees
If you have some kind of SEO plugin on your site, you may be thinking I’ve got it all wrong, because you’ve done exactly what I said and your plugin is coming back with, “Not good enough.”
You can go deeper into the topic of when it’s safe to ignore your SEO plugin here, but basically, this is probably happening because your plugin is only recognizing one of your keywords. Most free versions of SEO plugins will only allow you to type in one keyword per post. If you want to have it check additional keywords, you have to buy the pro version.
Here’s the good news: You do not have to buy the pro version. A plugin is just a way of measuring, and if you have a free version, it’s measuring with partial information (i.e. it thinks you’ve used one keyword when you’ve actually used nine).
If you’re on a free version of your SEO plugin, you can probably safely ignore its hissy fit about how you haven’t used your keyword enough. You used all those related keywords and synonyms, remember?
If you’re on a pro version of your SEO plugin, you can find where it gives you the option to add additional keywords and put in some of your synonyms or related words and phrases. That way the plugin can measure your article with all the keywords, not just the primary one. Chances are, if you add even just two or three of the synonyms you used, it will suddenly go from, “Not good enough” to “You’re golden!”
