target keyword

A workable target keyword clears three checks: it matches an intent your page can satisfy (informational, commercial, or transactional), it has enough search volume to be worth the effort, and its difficulty is within reach for your site’s authority. The convention is one primary target keyword per page, plus a few close variants, so two of your own URLs don’t compete for the same query. That self-competition is called keyword cannibalization.

The target keyword shapes the page: the <title>, the H1, the URL slug, and the opening lines of copy. But exact-match repetition is not the goal. Google’s own guidance states its language systems “can understand how your page relates to many queries, even if you don’t explicitly use the exact terms,” and keyword stuffing violates its spam policies. Treat the target keyword as a planning anchor, not a phrase to jam in.

Primary vs secondary

Say a page targets best running shoes for flat feet. That single term is the primary. Synonyms and subtopics (arch support, overpronation, plantar fasciitis) ride along as secondary keywords on the same page. Terms distinct enough to warrant their own intent get their own page instead.

In practice a strong page ranks for dozens or hundreds of queries. The target keyword is just the one you designed the page around, and the one you track to know whether the page is winning.