This one keeps popping up, so I'm taking a short blog post to address it as quickly and efficiently as possible (mostly because I have an SEOmoz board meeting tomorrow, so I need my zzzs).

Many SEOs ask themselves how many individual word and phrases are ideal to target together on a single URL. The tough part is - there's no hard and fast answer. The number can be as low as 1 and as high as 15 (maybe 20). Below, I'll share the process I like to use to find the right answer and include a real life example to help illustrate:

Choosing Keywords for the Page:

We're not playing long tail with targeted SEO like this, so you'll want to do your keyword research and assemble your list. Usually, it will look something like this (at least in the early stages):

Naturally, you'd want to refine this list and cross-compare with a few other services (I've used MSN AdCenter above, but I don't like relying on less than three independent sources when generating lists). From the list, you need to know which keywords have actual relevance to the page content. This can get a bit tricky, and our "Ted Baker" example above can be used to perfectly illustrate.

Let's say I've got a landing page for "Ted Baker" on an e-commerce website. I've also got specific categories for "Ted Baker Shoes," "Ted Baker Eyewear," and "Ted Baker Dress Shirts" - in fact, I probably have a dozen sub-categories or more. So which phrases do I target on the landing page vs. the interior pages? My answer is always to go with searcher intent. If the search intent is too broad to be classified as any of these obvious subcategories, try to target on the main category landing page (even if that gives you a lot of terms).

In our example, I'd have the following terms targeted on the "Ted Baker" category landing page:

• Ted Baker
• Ted Baker London
• Ted Baker Clothing
• Ted Baker Mens
• Ted Baker Mens Clothing
• Ted Baker Mens Collection

I'd reserve phrases like "Ted Baker Shoes" and "Ted Baker Eyewear" for those more specific pages. They're more likely to earn relevant anchor text links on their own and more targeted to searcher intent, so even if I get lower traffic (which can sometimes happen when you split things up, at least), I'm probably making up for it with increased conversion rates.

Targeting Multiple Terms & Phrases on a Single Page:

Here's how I'd incorporate those terms:

Title Tag:

Ted Baker London - Men's Clothing Collections 2005-2008 | Sartorialmoz.org

Meta Description:

A Complete Selection of Ted Baker London Men's Clothing with Apparel & Accessories from the past 3 Years of Collections. In Stock Now with Fast, Free Shipping.

H1 Header Tag:

Ted Baker London | Men's Clothing Collection

H2 Subheader:

The Ted Baker Men's Collection features classic British tailoring with fun, modern fabrics and designs.

With this formula (and probably a few uses of the keyword phrases above sprinkled in subeaders and bold text on the page), you've got a very good opportunity to rank for half a dozen unique phrases on a single page.

What NOT to Do:

The most common mistake I see with multiple phrase targeting is to use a strategy like this:

Title:

Ted Baker, Ted Baker London, Ted Baker Clothing, Ted Baker Men's Clothing, Ted Baker Clothing Collection - Buy Online Now at Manamialameseo.com

 Meta Description:

Ted Baker On Sale. Ted Baker Men's, Ted Baker Clothing, Ted Baker Collection, Ted Baker Online.

Honestly, searchers have gotten very savvy, and even if this strategy temporarily works to get you rankings (which is usually not the case at Google, though Yahoo! and MSN can be more forgiving), the expectation when you see a listing like this in the SERPs is to instantly distrust the website. Even if you get the click (this strategy can lower CTR, too), conversion rates will suffer, and 9 times out of 10, the site turns out to be a crappy, low quality affiliate site or a site whose design is so lost in the 90's that finding the checkout is like digging through the trash bin outside the Qwik-E-Mart for a lost retainer.

One last note - getting links to pages with titles/descriptions like these is pulling teeth, too. Linkers are even pickier than buyers, so make sure you run a top-of-the-line site and reflect it in your visible SERP listings or suffer the consequences - a competitor who starts to outearn you on the link graph.

So How Many Terms/Phrases on a Page?

As many as makes sense for a visitor, a potential buyer, and those who will link. Now it's off to bed - crossing my fingers all goes smoothly tomorrow. :-)