How to fix your keyphrase length

Why your keyphrase shouldn’t be too long

You may have heard that longer keyphrases have a better chance of ranking. But, can a keyphrase be too long? Yes! We believe that your keyphrase should not be longer than four content words. For instance, the keyphrase [murano glass in different colors] contains four content words and one function word – “in”. So, we don’t count the function word in the analysis. Ok, but why do we want you to stick to four content words?

Because if you use a keyphrase that’s very long, you’ll need to repeat it a few times in your writing. Quickly, you can end up with a page that is difficult to read. Sure, you can move the words around in a different order, but it will be challenging to write good content.

Not happy with your score? Here’s how to fix it!

The obvious thing is to try reducing the focus keyphrase to the most important words. But, there is a way to keep all the words you want to use and still write good content! Just use the related keyphrase and synonyms functionality in Yoast SEO Premium or Yoast SEO for Shopify.

For example, if you want to rank for the keyphrase [imitation leather flip case phone cover], you could optimize your page for [imitation leather phone cover] and use the related keyphrase field for [flip case phone cover]. With Yoast SEO, you can add up to five related keyphrases. The advantage of optimizing for additional keyphrases is that you’ll include all the long keywords in your content while ensuring that your copy is easy to read! And, you can sprinkle in some synonyms for an even more engaging and varying content!

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