Like other meta tags, meta keywords provide search engines additional insight into the page’s content. However, marketers no longer prioritize this factor. What is the reason for this move? ROI experts answer these questions in this article!
What Are Meta Keywords In SEO?
Meta keywords are meta tags appearing in a webpage’s source code. They include a list of keywords describing the page’s content for search engines. Website owners and SEO pros choose these keywords based on extensive research to ensure alignment with user search queries.
Unlike regular keywords, meta keywords are not visible on the live page but appear in the page’s HTML head section. Here is what they look like:
<meta name=”keywords” content=”Keyword1, Keyword2, Keyword3″>
An example of meta keywords
In the 1990s, website owners started using meta keyword tags to help search engines organize the growing amount of online content. These tags were once critical in search engine optimization (SEO), as they allowed search engines to find and show relevant pages to users more easily.
As the internet expanded, so did attempts to manipulate search engine rankings. The once-simple meta keywords tag became a tool for abuse.
Some site owners stuffed it with countless keywords, even irrelevant ones, to trick search engines and get high rankings. This tactic, called meta keyword tag stuffing, harmed search quality by showing results that didn’t match what users wanted.
Meta keyword tag stuffing
Search engines saw these problems and stopped relying on meta keyword tags.
Learn more: Keyword Cannibalization: How to Find, Fix, and Prevent It
Does Keyword Meta Tag Still Matter In SEO?
In 2009, Google officially announced it no longer uses the meta keywords tag to rank pages. Other search engines followed suit and gradually reduced the importance of meta keywords in SEO.
Google announcement about keywords meta tag
In 2012, Matt Cutts claimed, “You shouldn’t spend any time on the keyword metatag. We don’t use it.” in this video:
How much time should I spend on meta tags, and which ones matter?
These statements confirm that the keywords meta tag doesn’t influence Google’s search rankings and isn’t expected to do so in the future.
With advanced algorithms, Google analyzes entire web pages for content, context, and user engagement instead of relying on keywords alone. This change signaled a move towards more genuine, user-focused SEO strategies emphasizing quality content and user experience.
Learn more: 15 Proven Strategies: How to Drive Traffic to Your Website
As a result, meta keywords are seen as outdated relics of early SEO tactics these days. Their decline highlights the importance of ethical, adaptable practices in content creation.
Then, should I use meta keywords? Despite their diminished importance in SEO, some webmasters still include meta keywords as part of their overall strategy.
A recent Twitter poll by Barry Schwartz revealed most SEO experts no longer use the meta keywords tag. However, 21% of respondents still said yes.
Barry Schwartz’s poll on usage of meta keyword tags
This result means your competitors might be using them, too. The explanation is that Yandex, Russia’s second-largest search engine, still uses meta keywords. Its support page explains that this tag “can be used when determining a page’s relevance to search queries.”
So, if you optimize sites for Yandex search, it’s likely that using meta keywords will still help your rankings.
Learn more: What Is Technical SEO? A Deep Dive Into SEO Factors
How To Use Meta Keywords?
Regarding how to use meta keywords, many content management systems (CMS) offer easy ways to include meta keywords on pages. It allows you to repurpose the tag for an internal keyword tagging system by setting it as your target keyword on each page.
Implementing this on every page will simplify keyword tracking in the future. You can quickly check whether you’ve targeted keywords by crawling your website with a testing tool like Ahrefs Site Audit. Then, use Page Explorer to locate pages that have your keywords in the meta keyword tag.
Using meta keywords as an internal tagging system
Learn more: 12 Best SEO Reporting Tools Worth User’s Consideration
Furthermore, many suggest using meta keywords for competitor research, believing you can uncover their optimization strategies. However, this approach is flawed.
Why? Most websites do not use meta keyword tags, making such analyses useless. Furthermore, meta keyword tag stuffing makes this method even more unreliable for understanding your competitors’ SEO tactics.
Whether you manually list or use tools to generate meta keywords, ensure they are relevant to the page’s content. Generally, you should use at most 10 keyword metatags per page.
Besides relevance and quantity considerations, here are a few more things to consider:
- Avoid Common Misspellings: Including misspellings in your meta tags can signal relevance to the mistyped search query to search engines, even if not present in your webpage copy.
- Include Long-Tail Keywords: Remember to include variations, plurals, and long-tail keywords. They are more specific to your content, making them highly relevant to user search queries.
- Use Real Searches: Analyze past user search behavior from your analytics or log files to find keywords. What terms do people naturally use to describe your business? What keywords do your competitors focus on?
But here’s a better approach. Contact ROI Digitally and our experts will help you analyze your competitors to build the most up-to-date SEO strategies.
Conclusion
For most users, the meta keywords tag serves little purpose and wastes effort. We recommend focusing your attention on optimizing other meta tags like title and meta description, which have a more significant impact.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What are G meta keywords?
G Meta Keywords (GMK) is a simple yet helpful WordPress plugin that reinstates the keyword insertion field, which has been removed from many SEO improvements for WordPress.
G Meta Keywords
With GMK, you can effortlessly add keywords to all your content once more.
- What is keyword in meta description?
Every meta description should include the main keyword. While this doesn’t directly impact your SEO, it can attract user clicks. Google often highlights words related to the search query, making your description more prominent and enticing to users.
