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How much do exact match primary keywords still matter in blog posts now?

I’m trying to sanity check how people are handling on page SEO today.

For years, a lot of SEO guidance pushed exact or near exact primary keywords into places like:

  • title
  • H1
  • first paragraph
  • excerpt
  • SEO title
  • meta description
  • at least one H2
  • repeated naturally throughout the body

But I’m seeing a tradeoff. When the keyword is a little awkward, forcing it into all of those spots can make the post read like SEO bait instead of something a human would naturally write.

For example, a keyword like “interview questions behavioral” technically fits the search intent, but using that exact phrase in the title, H1, first sentence, and excerpt makes the writing feel weird.

For people doing SEO now, how strict are you with exact match primary keyword placement?

Do you still try to include the exact keyword in all of those fields, or do you mostly optimize for intent, natural language, topical coverage, internal links, and useful structure?

I’m especially curious how you handle awkward keywords where the exact phrase does not read naturally.

submitted by /u/chuck78702
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from Search Engine Optimization: The Latest SEO News https://ift.tt/fmROkL4
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