How Many Keywords Should One Page Target?

This is one of the most common SEO questions I’ve been asked over the years, and honestly, it’s also one of the most misunderstood.

Early in my SEO career, I thought the answer was simple: one page, one keyword.

So I did exactly that. I created pages tightly focused on single keywords, avoided mentioning variations, and split content into dozens of near-duplicate pages just to “target more keywords.”

It worked—for a while.

Then rankings stalled. Pages competed with each other. Some never ranked at all. Others ranked briefly and disappeared. That’s when I realized the question itself needed reframing.

The real question isn’t how many keywords a page should target. It’s how many keyword intents a page can satisfy well.

The Short Answer (From Experience)

Based on years of testing, auditing, and ranking pages:

One page should target:

• 1 primary keyword

• 3–10 closely related secondary keywords

• Multiple natural variations and semantic terms

But that only works if all of them share the same search intent.

Anything beyond that usually causes dilution, confusion, or cannibalization.

Why “One Keyword Per Page” Is Outdated

The “one keyword per page” rule made sense years ago when search engines were far more literal. Back then, exact-match optimization mattered more than context.

Today, search engines understand:

• Synonyms

• Variations

• Context

• Relationships between terms

I’ve ranked pages for dozens—and sometimes hundreds—of keyword variations without explicitly targeting each one.

Why?

Because the page fully answered the core intent, not just the phrase.

Search engines don’t rank pages because you used a keyword. They rank pages because the content satisfies the search.

How I Decide What a Page Should Target

When I create or optimize a page now, I follow a simple process.

Step 1: Choose One Clear Primary Keyword

Every page still needs a primary focus.

This is usually:

• The main query

• The highest-value term

• The clearest representation of intent

This keyword:

• Goes in the title

• Influences the H1

• Sets the overall direction of the page

Without a primary keyword, the page has no anchor.

Step 2: Identify Secondary Keywords With the Same Intent

This is where most people get it wrong.

Secondary keywords should:

• Mean roughly the same thing

• Be alternative ways of searching

• Fit naturally into the content

For example, if my primary keyword is:

“how many keywords should one page target”

Secondary keywords might include:

• keywords per page

• how many keywords per page

• number of keywords per page

• SEO keywords per page

All of these reflect the same intent: guidance on keyword targeting per page.

That’s safe. That’s natural. That’s effective.

What I Never Do: Mix Different Intents

This is the biggest mistake I see.

People try to target keywords like:

• informational + transactional

• beginner + advanced

• how-to + tool comparisons

…on the same page.

That almost always fails.

If a keyword expects:

• a guide and another expects:

• a product page

They do not belong together.

Search engines don’t get confused easily—but users do. And when users are confused, rankings suffer.

Why Pages Rank for More Keywords Than You Target

One of the biggest “aha” moments in my SEO career was realizing this:

You don’t rank only for the keywords you target. You rank for the keywords your content earns.

When a page is well-structured and thorough, it naturally ranks for:

• Long-tail variations

• Question-based queries

• Semantic phrases

I’ve seen single pages rank for:

• 50+

• 100+

• even 300+ keywords

…without explicitly targeting most of them.

That’s not over-optimization. That’s relevance.

How Keyword Count Changes by Page Type

Not all pages are equal. The number of keywords a page can handle depends heavily on what kind of page it is.

Blog Posts & Guides

These can handle the most keywords because they’re exploratory.

Typical range:

• 1 primary

• 5–15 secondary

• Many natural variations

As long as the topic is cohesive, this works very well.

Service Pages

These need tighter focus.

Typical range:

• 1 primary

• 3–7 secondary

Too many keywords here dilutes conversion clarity.

Service pages should feel confident and focused, not bloated.

Product Pages

These should be very focused.

Typical range:

• 1 primary

• 2–5 supporting terms

Product pages rank best when they’re clear, specific, and intent-driven.

Category Pages

These are a mix.

They can target:

• A broader head term

• Several closely related variations

But they still need a clear theme. Overloading them causes weak rankings.

The Real Danger: Keyword Cannibalization

When people ask how many keywords to target per page, what they’re really afraid of is cannibalization—and for good reason.

I’ve seen sites sabotage themselves by:

• Creating multiple pages for the same keyword

• Splitting authority unnecessarily

• Confusing search engines about which page to rank

If two pages target the same intent, one of them will lose—or both will underperform.

My rule:

One intent, one page.

If two keywords have the same intent, they belong on the same page.

How I Know I’ve Targeted Too Many Keywords

Here are the warning signs I watch for:

• Rankings bounce unpredictably

• Page ranks for many keywords but none well

• Search Console shows impressions but no clicks

• Content feels unfocused when read

When this happens, the fix is usually consolidation, not expansion.

Fewer pages. Clearer intent. Stronger focus.

What I Do Instead of Counting Keywords

I stopped counting keywords years ago.

Now I focus on:

• Topic clarity

• Search intent satisfaction

• Content structure

• Internal linking support

If the page:

• Fully answers the main question

• Covers related sub-questions

• Flows logically

…search engines do the rest.

Keywords become signals—not constraints.

My Rule of Thumb (After Years of SEO)

If I had to simplify everything into one rule, it would be this:

One page should target one main idea—and every keyword should support that idea.

If a keyword supports the idea, include it. If it pulls the page in a different direction, it needs its own page.

Final Thought

The obsession with keyword counts is a leftover from an older version of SEO.

Modern SEO isn’t about fitting keywords into pages. It’s about fitting pages to how people actually search.

When you stop asking “How many keywords should I target?” and start asking “What does the user want from this page?”

Your rankings—and your content—get much better.

And in my experience, that shift alone solves most keyword problems before they even start.