Keyword Targeting: Title, H1 and Body Text

Keyword targeting — keywords in the title, H1 and body text — is usually laid out in a table of weights: title — maximum, H1 — very high, URL — high, the first 100 words — "proof of the topic". No Google guide contains such a table. What is documented is how Google reads each of these elements, and sensible placement rules follow from that. This lesson covers what is confirmed, where the practice comes from, and which familiar claims have to go.

It rests on the title links documentation and the SEO starter guide.

Step zero: the task first, the words second

Before placing words, make sure the page answers the task behind the query, in the format the results show. If only shops hold the top, an article will not get there however well it is optimised. How to read intent is in the lesson on search intent, and the intent detection tool does it automatically.

What is documented about each element

Note what the table does not contain: the words "weight" and "signal strength". The documentation says what is read and what for, not which element "weighs" more. Details on the title and description are in the lesson on titles and meta descriptions, on addresses in the lesson on URL structure, and on images in the next lesson.

So where does the "keyword in title, H1, address, opening" practice come from

It follows not from weights but from how the elements are read. The name of the topic goes in the title and in the visible main heading because those are what Google composes the title link from, and a mismatch between them is a reason for replacement. Readable words in the address serve people and the crawler, and the opening of the text serves a reader deciding whether to stay. That is sensible, but it is practice, not "signal strength".

Exact wording is not required

The most important consequence: the keyword does not have to be repeated in its exact form. The starter guide says outright that you need not worry if you do not anticipate every variation of phrasing: Google's language matching systems understand how a page relates to many queries without the exact terms. It also advises thinking about your audience's words: people who know the topic and newcomers search differently. More in the lesson on the keyword.

So the rule of "2–4 mentions per 1000 words" is backed by nothing: there is no density norm. How natural a text is and how fully it covers the topic can be assessed with entity coverage and page analysis.

Keyword stuffing

The definition is precise: filling a page with keywords or numbers in an attempt to manipulate rankings. The examples include blocks listing cities and repeating words so often it sounds unnatural. There is no target length either: among the warning signs of search-engine-first content is writing to a particular word count, and asked whether Google has a preferred word count the answer is "no". Density in your own copy can be measured with keyword density, as a guard against unnatural phrasing, not as a target.

One task, one page

When several pages answer one task, Google does not "get confused"; it does what the documentation describes: it clusters pages whose primary content is very similar and picks the one that, by the signals collected, is the most complete and useful. So words are placed within a keyword map: one task, one address. Conflicts in the data are what cannibalization finds. The fix is to merge the pages or to tell them apart by task, not by phrasing.

How to place words in practice

1. Task and format. What the person wants to do and which page the results expect.
2. Name the topic. In the title and in the visible main heading — consistently, so Google does not have to choose.
3. The address. Readable words in the audience's language, no identifiers.
4. The opening. The topic clear from the first sentences — for the reader.
5. Subheadings. The subtopics and questions the page answers. Sources of ideas: the related questions block in the results, search suggestions, the subtopics of top pages; these are working techniques, not Google requirements.
6. Images. Captions and alt text explaining the connection to the content.
7. Check. Read it aloud and compare topic coverage.

What is not in the documentation

These widespread claims do not appear in the documentation, so they cannot be presented as rules:

• a table of weights: title "maximum", H1 "very high", address and first paragraph "high", subheadings and alt "medium";
• "the keyword in the first 3–5 words of the title" and "the closer to the start, the higher the weight";
• "Google checks the first 100 words as proof of the topic";
• "2–4 times per 1000 words" and "LSI variants" (the term is not in the documentation);
• "several H1s are not forbidden but useless";
• a jump "from 18th to the top 5 in three weeks" as proof of placement: other things changed in that time.

That does not mean the opposite is true. It means tables and numbers are observations and habits, and the reliable basis is how the elements are read.

Checklist

1. The page format matches what the results show.
2. The topic is named in the title and the visible main heading consistently.
3. The address is made of readable words in the audience's language.
4. The topic is clear from the first sentences.
5. Subheadings answer real questions and subtopics.
6. No repetition for density; the text reads aloud.
7. One task, one page; conflicts found and merged.

Mistakes

• Building word placement on a table of weights that does not exist.
• Repeating the exact wording instead of answering the task.
• A title and a visible heading that disagree: Google will choose.
• Several pages for one task.
• Crediting a rise in position to word placement when many things changed at once.

What comes next

The next lesson is about images: filenames, alt text and captions — image SEO.