What are secondary keywords?

Secondary keywords are the supporting search terms around the main keyword of a page, and they cover related topics or questions your visitors may also have. They are often called secondary search terms. Unlike primary keywords, which represent the central focus of a piece of content, secondary keywords widen the topic with more nuanced or specific aspects. They raise the relevance of your content for a broader range of search queries, without pulling it away from its main subject.

How should I handle secondary keywords on my website?

Work secondary keywords into your content deliberately, so that you improve visibility and rankings without hurting the reading experience. A few proven practices:

• Context: use secondary keywords to support and round out your main content by weaving them in naturally. That can happen in paragraphs, in subheadings or in the meta description.
• Understand user intent: pick secondary keywords that match what your audience is actually looking for. It makes it far more likely that visitors will find your content relevant and helpful.
• Variety: use the range of your secondary keywords to cover different facets of your topic, including close semantic variants such as LSI keywords, and give a fuller answer to the queries your visitors bring.
• Quality before quantity: it can be tempting to work in as many keywords as possible, but keep the focus on high quality, natural content that puts the reader first. Piling terms up turns into keyword stuffing.

Are secondary keywords important for SEO?

Yes, secondary keywords matter for SEO for several reasons:

• Topical relevance: they help search engines understand the context your main keyword sits in, which raises the topical relevance of your website.
• Search rankings: by covering a broader range of queries, secondary keywords can widen the visibility of your content in the search results.
• User experience: because they cover a topic more completely, secondary keywords improve the experience on your website, and that is a ranking factor in itself.
• Competitive edge: using secondary keywords deliberately can put you ahead of competitors who do not cover a topic at the same depth.

Secondary keywords are therefore an essential part of an effective SEO strategy: they let site owners optimize content for a wider spectrum of search queries and offer a better experience at the same time. One caveat: if several pages target the same secondary terms, you run into keyword cannibalization. Working out that keyword map is part of ongoing SEO support, and our full SEO glossary explains the related terms.