Like they say, don't worry so much about keywords. Title and description are far more valuable, as far as embedding header keywords and phrases are concerned.

How many, you ask?

As few as possible. For instance, unless your website is already doing well and showing up for a number of keywords and phrases, you want to be as specific as possible. However, these keywords should be those that you're confident you can compete in.

Another point is that whichever keywords you use, make sure that your backlink anchor text match them. Backlinks are valued higher than keywords in your title and description. With enough quality backlinks, you don't even need a meta section (hard fact). However, if you're like the rest of us, you'll want to take every advantage you can. So here goes:

1) Use no more than three keywords/keyword phrases in your title (drop your company name, if it's in there).

2) Repeat the keywords in your description, and keep your description around 60 to 90 characters.

3) Still use meta keywords by simply repeating your title, but in a different order. And if you only have phrases in your title, break up the phrase in your meta keyword section. When read, meta keywords are not read the same as titles and descriptions.

4) Vary your keyword/keyword phrase sets for every page of your website, including thank you pages. Every page has an opportunity to show up in search engines. So that means every page has an opportunity to sell your products and/or services. Just make sure that your heavy-hitter keywords and phrases are on your best pages.

5) You'll also want to repeat your keywords and phrases in the first line of your first paragraph and the last robot-readable line of content.

6) Repeat your keywords in the alternative text of your images and your link titles.

7) And once again, repeat your keywords and phrases in the anchor text of your backlinks. And make sure that these backlinks point back to pages where the titles and descriptions coincide with the anchor text (this is key when relying on both keywords and backlinks to support your individual pages).

These are the basics...

All the best,
The Lion.

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