If you are an affiliate marketer or a regular blogger, you are more than likely very familiar with the term keyword research. You should already be in the habit of doing research for keywords to target before you get started on writing your blog post.
Keyword research is integral to your Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) campaigns, which is the rankings in search engines like Google, Bing or Yahoo.
Despite this, many people still ask the same old question:
How Many Keywords Should I Target for My Blog Post for Better SEO?
There are many reasons why people have the wrong conception about keywords. Through this post, we are going to reveal to you the 3 most common misconceptions people have and then give you some essential knowledge that you need to know regarding how to target keywords. By the end of this article, you should have a better understanding of how search engines see keywords and how you can rank your blog posts better.
Let’s first get into those misconceptions around targeting keywords…
3 Misconceptions of Target Keywords
These three misconceptions are something that you need to lose, when it comes to keyword research…
#1 There is a Finite Number of Keywords
There is a competitive mindset with regards the internet and it leads some of us to think that there is only a limited number of keywords available, we think there is only a finite supply of keywords. This then leads us to think that we need to compete for these finite number of keywords.
In order to rank better, we need to compete against other websites within those limited keywords and if we fail that competition, our efforts must be in vain.
It wrongly leads many to think that they should target multiple keywords in one post to get a higher chance of “winning” or getting ranked number 1 in the search engines.
However, the exact opposite is true…
There is no such thing as a finite number of keywords. There are infinite possibilities in relation to keywords. Every day, millions of new “first time searches” appear in Google.
Everyone has their own unique question to ask, therefore new keywords appear every day.
If you think there are already billions of keywords out there and then millions are being added every day, I think it is safe to assume that the possibilities of keywords running out is very low.
Every keyword has potential…
#2 The More Keywords I Target, The More Traffic I Can Get
When doing our keyword research, we get to find out the number of searches each keyword has per month, how much traffic you can expect and a couple of other metrics.
So, common sense will tell you that if you target more than one keyword, it will increase the number of searches and traffic you can expect. Using this same argument, you could say you have a higher chance of getting ranked and therefore more traffic if you target multiple keywords in the same blog post.
In theory, that argument might stand. But there is also a big problem with targeting multiple keywords in one blog post and that is to do with relevancy. It is very easy for your blog post to not fit either bracket very well and being completely “non relevant” to the keywords you are targeting.
When this happens, it can really harm your search engine rankings.
Fundamentally, if Google feels your blog post is not relevant to any of the keywords you are trying to target, then your blog post will rank nowhere near the top. If it is not at the top, you can expect to get little or no traffic at all.
Remember, the search engines are looking for the best relevant content to provide to its users. You need to provide that to them from both a relevancy and user-friendly experience if you want to find success.
#3 The Search Engines Will Only Rank My Blog Post Under My Target Keywords
This is probably the biggest misconception people have these days about targeting multiple keywords for better rankings. In order to help you understand this misconception a little more, it is first important that you understand how Google analyses your content to consider where to rank it in their results.
As time goes by, Google is getting better and better at reading your content and comparing it to the keywords that Google’s users are searching for.
Google can understand what your content is and which keyword it should rank under.
You have to also remember that whilst you may have one target keyword you are trying to target within your post title. Google will analyse your entire post and you might actually find you rank better for another keyword pulled from your content.
When you type in a search into Google, you want to find the best result that provides you the help or answer your immediate question.
They will try their best to provide the blog post or article that provides that.
In truth, your target keyword is much less important than the quality of your blog post.
You can and will rank for many words or phrases within your content and not just the target keywords you chose in the beginning of deciding the topic of your blog post. We will show you this a little more in the next section.
A Title Can Have Many Different Keyword Variations
When you decide on the title for your blog post, you should only focus on ONE target keyword. Yes, just ONE target keyword. We will explain this properly throughout the rest of the article. But it is important that you follow that advice.
(We will be providing you with some valuable information and tips to help you with your site ranking, so it is important that you pay attention!)
Besides the fact that you should only be targeting one keyword in your blog post title. It is also a good idea to make your title captivating and interesting. The way you do this is to integrate your keyword with some captivating content.
(Remember, your aim is to get your blog post ranking at the top, but you still require people to click on your blog post over the others)
Let’s use an example to show you what we mean:
Example 1 (Keyword Only):
“Best Affiliate Marketing Training”
Example 2 (Keyword + Captivating Content):
“What is the Best Affiliate Marketing Training? – My Ultimate Guide”
Which title do you think is better? Hopefully, it is obvious that the second title will get a much higher Click Through Rate (CTR) as more people will tend to click on it over the first example.
CTR is an indicator to Google that the content is better and therefore deserves to be ranking better.
(CTR is also an indicator to Google’s algorithm that determines ranking)
But there is also another interesting thing that is happening with that keyword we chose, despite that we only targeted one keyword, there are others that we could also rank for too.
For example, here are all the different terms that we could be ranking for with that initial keyword:
- What is the best affiliate marketing program
- What is affiliate marketing
- Affiliate marketing program
- Affiliate marketing program
- Affiliate marketing guide
- Best affiliate marketing
That is how Google works, that is how they help decide on what to rank at the top and what not to rank within its search results.
The ultimate tip for choosing a title for your blog post is to:
- 1. Do Keyword Research and Focus on ONE keyword
- 2. Make the Title Captivating and Interesting
Proof Via Google Search Console
To show you that we are telling you the truth and this is exactly how Google works, you can head over to your Google Search Console. It used to be called Google Webmaster Tools, but today it is Google Search Console and it is a powerful tool to help you understand where your website sites and what keywords you are ranking for.
Google Search Console is much simpler to work and understand than GWT was. Once set up with your website, you will find the performance tool full of information. It will also detail all the different keywords your website is currently ranking for, along with a few other metrics.
I wrote a review called Easy Laptop Life and it is currently ranking for 103 different keywords…
Use it to see how many keywords you are ranking for; you will be surprised at how many different keywords and forms of keywords your site is actually ranking for. That review only targeted one keyword, yet like I said it is ranking for 103 different and unique keywords.
If you haven’t got your website all set up with Google Search Console, you should definitely do it now. It will not only give you insights into opportunities within your website but also help you get indexed a lot faster. Just follow the video guide below.
Final Advice for Targeting Keywords
In the past, Google would just look at your keyword and its density within your post. This means the number of times it appeared in your blog post. But things have drastically changed since then.
The actual keyword is no longer as important as the actual content within your blog post. Targeting more keywords will not benefit you if your content is not good enough.
You need to target one keyword and then ensure your article is focused on that particular keyword and offering high-quality content that will help whomever clicks on it.
The quality of your content will determine how well it ranks within the search results.
It is also important that you forget anything about keyword density and any guidelines surrounding that topic. If you mention the keyword too many times, it could be considered “keyword stuffing” and it can really harm your rankings.
Common practice would be to mention the keyword in the title, once in the first paragraph and once in the last paragraph.
Having said that, if your blog post is good enough, it is not necessary to even do that.
Provide Google with a great blog post to help their users against a particular keyword and you will be rewarded with high rankings.
Thanks for reading our blog post and we hope we have been able to help you get a better understanding of why you should target one keyword per blog post. If you still have any questions or comments to add, then please write them in the comments below. We would love to hear from you and answer any questions you may have.
I strongly recommend to you Jaaxy, the All-in-One Keyword Research Tool. We use it for all our websites, and you can check it out here.
Thank you
That is a really interesting post especially as I try to write good content so using Jaaxy has really helped me. However, since reading this article I will concentrate more on just one word especially in my title as I was trying to find the best words for the whole thing. Hopefully, this will now make my headers a bit more interesting.
Is it worthwhile me going back over my content regularly to check the keywords?
This article is well laid out and people will get so much from it.
Thank you
Hey Imelda,
thanks for checking out our post. You have to factor in a keyword makes it sound like it is just a word. But i can also be a keyword phrase. So it doesn’t have to be one word. But a phrase will be good too.
Some will try to focus on two different topics and try and make one post cover both. So, in a sense it is picking one topic or one focus for your post, with a keyword that covers off what you are trying to cover off.
So, we would write a post on a topic like – what is affiliate marketing and make sure we answer that. But if we tried to cover off keyword research in the same post, it wouldn’t fit and be relevant if that makes sense.
Hopefully, that clears it up a little for you, but you can always come back and reach out to us if you need any more help.
It might be better to go to Google Search Console to see what your content is ranking for and you might be surprised at the opportunities that arise.
You may have written an article targeting a keyword, but realise it is also ranking for another keyword, although it isn’t ranking as well as your post doesn’t cover it off well enough. But you could then write a new blog post that targets that other keyword really well and then you will have multiple rankings for the same keyword.
Hope that makes sense
John
There’s no shame in having one of these
misconceptions. They’re some of the most common that we see for a
reason. Almost all of these misconceptions are brought about by
insufficient up-to-date information about the state of SEO. SEO is
always changing, and keeping on top of the most recent changes
(particularly in a post-update world) can be challenging. Keep yourself
informed and focus on user experience, and your SEO will improve.
Hey Lucas,
thanks for checking out our guide, they are very common misconceptions people have and often it is from not getting the right advice or training that is out of date.
I agree with you, keeping yourself informed is really important. That means keeping yourself up-to-date with all the changes that happen and they happen more often than you think.
And the user experience and focusing on your readers is more important than anything you do with regards Keywords or SEO.
All the best
John