Are Two Target Keywords Enough? Yes and Here is Why
Here I go again. Trying to help you all to understand that the days of filling your content with your target keyword more than a couple of times, is a dead and buried out dated ranking technique. Who are you writing your content for? Your website readers or Google?
DEFINITELY NOT FOR GOOGLE
Put yourself in the place of the people searching Google for answers. If you wanted to know, is lavender oil good for stress, do you need to see that keyword more than twice to know the article you are reading will answer that question? Most likely not.
Here is another example. Let us say you have a niche website about first aid and care for dogs. You decide to write a post about how chocolate is toxic to dogs and why you should not feed it to them. You decide to use the target keyword, Can Dogs Eat Chocolate?
The image above I just snapped from a Google search using the keyword - can dogs eat chocolate - do you notice something missing? Out of the top 4 results, only the second result has the actual target keyword in the title. Yet all of those results can supply the answer.
How is this possible? Doesn't our target keyword need to be in the title and first paragraph of our content to get high rankings? No and Yes. Now I am sure some of you may be a bit confused by that answer, so let me explain.
NO - Your target keyword does not have to be in the title if your content is well written and fully answers the query - can dogs eat chocolate?
YES - You increase your chances of ranking higher for your target keyword if it appears in your title. It is also a good idea to have your target keyword near the beginning of your content to reinforce the subject matter of your content.
THIS IS WHY CONTENT IS KING
Remember that Google is not going to rank your content highly unless it thoroughly answers the keyword query. Your website readers do not need to see your target keyword more than once or twice to know what your post is about, especially if they searched that exact keyword.
And guess what? Google doesn't need to see your target keyword more than once or twice either. Google highly ranks content written for the human reader. Think of Google as just another human reader, which it basically is.
Of those four results in the image above, the keyword - Can Dogs Eat Chocolate - only appears ONCE within the content of the second result. It does not appear anywhere in the content of the results in positions 1, 3 and 4, yet these posts all answer the query.
So stop obsessing about how many times you need to use your target keyword. Google is going to rank you on how well your content answers your target keyword query. Remember to write your content for humans and not search engines.
If you are wondering how those other pieces of content without the target keyword listed anywhere in the title or content could rank on Page 1, it has to do with how well the CONTENT answers the question - Can Dogs Eat Chocolate.
Learn how you too can rank on page one without a target keyword.
Recent Comments
155
Excellent advice, as ever!
I've been doing this, but not through my SEO wisdom (I have to admit!), but through feeling uncomfortable repeating the same phrase/word over and over again.
However, I do always put the keyword/phrase I'm writing about in the title. That way, even if I don't repeat it in the article, it's been mentioned and I can get on with writing the post.
Best,
Alenka
You are doing great Alenka. That is the correct approach and feeling uncomfortable hearing a word/words repeated IS part of your SEO wisdom.
I too put my target keyword in the title, sometimes the entire title is my keyword. By doing this it increases my chances of ranking for that specific keyword.
Thank you for your encouragement.
Now I have it in writing - I am an SEOWiseWoman! A new action hero on the block ;)
No problem.
I'm an opera singer and used to a career in costumes! ;)
If I make it to Vegas next or the year after, I shall turn up in a SEO-Gal Costume ehhehehehe (and will blame you!)
Thank you for your article, it well explain the concept and now I understand better what to do, thanks again!
In essence what you are saying is if your query is answered then you can rank.
But, Include at least two keywords.
Bottom line quality content springs from a query.
Also, I much prefer to write for humans not search engines.
Thank you for another valuable approach, Boom.
All the best,
Maxine
Yes Maxine, that is what I am saying. As long as your content is providing a sufficient answer to your keyword query, you can rank for the keyword whether you use it or not.
However, to increase your chances of getting a higher ranking for your specific target keyword you should use it twice. First in the title and secondly in the beginning of your content.
The more content you have, the more Google can index, and the more natural keywords it will contain. This can lead to higher rankings for keywords we do not realize that we create through just writing naturally.
However, not all content has to be 1,000 words and up. If you can thoroughly answer a keyword query and all possible related queries in less than 1,000 words, then go right ahead. You never want to add words just for the sake of using more words.
That is what some people do and it is outrageous. They stretch and stretch until it is clear to see what they are doing. I have been reading a couple references and Google is getting a lot smarter about "the stretch". LOL
Maybe, I should blog about it.
Thank you Boom for your answer.
Maxine
Hi Rob,
I understand that a long tail keyword does not need to be repeated many times in the content, like the ones you explain in your post. But what about "general" keywords? like dogs, cats, dinosaurs, blueberries, etc. These keywords have many more searches and it would be very interesting to have a good ranking with Dad Google. What would your advice be in these cases? Thank you so much!!
You will always use general keywords when writing your content. I am sure you have heard Kyle and many others here say to place your keyword in the title, the first paragraph, and then just write your content naturally.
Well when you write naturally ALL of the words you use can be used as keywords by Google. So in the process of writing naturally you will more than likely use many general keywords as well as LSI keywords.
Thank you Sanders. Content is always the key because when written naturally it will contain synonyms and far more keywords than you realize.
Thanks Robert for another great post.
I hope that It's not too cold up there in the Garden State.
Blessings
You are welcome. Happy you liked it.
So far it has not become cold yet. Just a cool 48 degrees in the early morning. But I am sure it will be getting colder soon...but I am in no rush.
Robert, I will send you some palm trees, just make sure they don't freeze up like the ones a waterfront catering place in my old local village out on Long Island did. At $1000 or so each it must have burnt a big hole in their pockets. Real schmucks. We have mid 50s here in Bayou City.
Blessings
What a fantastic read, Robert! Following your guidance, I have stopped the way I was writing my posts, and target them purely for humans to read. Many thanks for a great post.
James
You are welcome James. I am just reiterating what Kyle has said many times in the past, to write your content for people and not the search engines.
Yes, you're right, but your posts remind us of this, as well as your providing real-life examples, which cements it all together.
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Scales are slowly falling from my eyes Robert! This helps me in so many ways.When focusing on using a lot of keywords segmented in key areas of your content; takes away your creativity as a writer.Your post reenforces why we should write to help people not chase after Google to get ranked by them! I just got indexed by Google on an article that had on tags,description of the article or other things that I am not familiar with and despite all of that; the article was indexed! You knew Robert!
One thing to remember is that all content gets "indexed" but not all content gets "ranked" because indexing and ranking are two different things.
That being said, when we write our content naturally and creatively, all of that content gets indexed. Google will then use this indexed content and rank us on the natural keywords that it contains.
Kyle explained this in a lesson on keywords that I remember from a few years ago. He said to not worry so much about keywords and just write your content if you cannot find a good enough keyword.