Meta keywords no longer in use
-
Can someone point me to the official article explaining why meta keywords are no longer taken into account by search engines please?
I know Moz has indicated that search engines ignore them, but I would like to read a bit more about it - what was the reason behind it and since when.
-
One of the main reasons they stopped looking at them is because it was easy to spam and stuff the tags. Any site can easily stuff the meta tags, so it's an unreliable ranking factor.
A few years back it was beneficial for when directories/info sites would scrape your site. When they list your site they would use those keywords for categories, and possibly even anchor text. You don't see it as much anymore, especially since that scraped information is just junk content.
The way I see it, it can hurt your site to have the KWs. Your competitors can easily see what keywords you are going after (which they probably can anyway by looking at a given page). Giving them one spot to check on every page though will make it much easier for them to benefit from your keyword research.
Some people like to use meta tags as product tags on their site. So if you search for "black cats" on a cat website, anything with the meta tag black cats would come up first. It also works for when you want to make a black cat page that features every single black cat related item on your site. Of course, you can just do internal tagging for this, and don't need to use the meta tags.
Moral of the story: not much use for them.
-
I think you're right - if we can't find a reason for using them, best to ignore / remove it altogether.
-
From what I understand algorithm would figure this out from the title, description and content.
I thought more of any other potential use such as advanced search where you can select specific tags to look within - did anyone hear of any place they can be used except for SEO purposes?
-
I really wouldn't worry about meta-keywords. Much better to spend the time on the content!
-
Search engines may still use it for discovery. Meaning simply answering the question: what should the page potentially rank for?
best, G
-
Is there any other area that meta keywords could be used - for any other purpose perhaps?
From what I understand it is only ignored, but not penalised unless stuffed with keywords?
-
I usually say that if Google does it the others are doing it as well.
So:
The meta keywords tag is not in use for SEO with regard to Google and Yahoo.
I'm pretty sure Bing doesn't either.
Best, G
-
Here's a post about how Bing views keywords:
The Meta Keywords Tag Lives At Bing & Why Only Spammers Should Use It
So, over-stuffing your keywords isn't totally ignored and can cause a penalty on Bing.
Meta keywords were so abused in the past that they could no longer be used to accurately tell what the page was about. As a relevance/ranking signal it became worthless.
-
Thanks Gustav,
Is it only Google that this applies to or other search engines followed the same rule?
-
Here's Googles post about it:
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2009/09/google-does-not-use-keywords-meta-tag.html
Hope this was what you were looking for.
Best, G
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
What does Mozcape actually do and what types of businesses use it?
I'm making an effort to use more of the Moz tools, but some I really don't understand...Mozcape would be chief on that list. What does it do exactly and for what purpose? I read the API Wiki, but it sounds to me a lot like Open Site Explorer...but complicated...so I assume I must be missing something or why build the thing? Also, do local businesses even use this or is this more for national e-commerce sites? Thanks, Ruben
Moz Pro | | KempRugeLawGroup0 -
Any Other PAID Keyword Difficulty Tool?
Why is The Keyword Difficulty Tool so unreliable? Anyone know of another PAID Keyword Difficulty Tool? Right now I feel like I am getting ripped off for $99 a month for a tool that I have no confidence in...PLEASE HELP ANYONE
Moz Pro | | Local-Interactive0 -
Major Keyword Ranking Drops INCORRECT
For multiple clients I have seen a drop of more than 10 ranking spots for keywords we previously placed well for and made no changes to those pages. We decided to manually check where the pages are and majority of these keywords showing crazy declines are really sitting in position #2 without SPYW, with the rest still being in on 1st page. Now we have to personally check these dropping rankings and manually change them for reports. Any reason for this? Anyone else experiencing the same problem?
Moz Pro | | ThnkAgency0 -
Why does the Keyword Difficulty Tool shows no Search Volume?
I've run a full report in many keywords on the Keyword Difficulty Tool, but in the Search Volume field all of them have the message "not enough data". Screenshot attached. Why is that? I have keywords like "magnesium" that popular and have quite some traffic. Any help is appreciated, thanks! semoz-keywords-analytics.jpg
Moz Pro | | bernardovailati0 -
SEOmoz campaign - keyword rankings...
Hi there, I have a quick question: Does it make a difference if I add keywords to a campaign with the '[' and ']' brackets included? I just realized that I had copy/pasted many of my keywords from the exported CSV from the Google AdWords Keyword Tool and I fear that the keyword rankings on SEOmoz might factor the brackets as part of the keywords themselves. Thanks in advance! Ben
Moz Pro | | BenHammer0 -
How do you use SEOmoz
I'm a newbie here. I've got a week left on my free trail. I really like SEOmoz, I might even love it a bit. 🙂 I'm trying to justify the cost. I usually don't spend money on my Internet Marketing. I've done it through finally buying some tools to help me get there. Massive change in the last year. I'm a long ways from getting rich YET though. 🙂 I've gone from $30 a month to $1000 a month in a year. So I think I'm on my way now. I'm trying to figure out why I should continue my subscription and actually start paying for it. If I were a developer I can certainly see why but the cost would so go way up. 🙂 I'm in the lowest level package with only five websites. I have 10 I'm working on. I know that's probably five to many at one time. I'm having a little trouble justifying the cost at this time. At my income level $100 a month is significant. I can see the value of seeing where my competition has backlinks. Sometimes my competition is Cnet. haha Well, I can beat them on a specific page at times. Hmm, can I search the URL list for links? Perhaps i can if I export it. That didn't occur to me. Now that could be of use if I can find my keywords. If their link is on Amazon though, I'm going to have trouble getting a link there. 🙂 Maybe I should work on less competitive links but I made good money last month with one page that was beating them. WAS beating them. How do you use SEOmoz? How do you justify the cost, that is offset the expense. If its not making me money i don't see the value. I can get a lot of this information for free but it sure is easier to get it here. Which saves me time. And the other tool i use isn't that good and not always reliable and slow. I've got a week left on my free trail. I had decided to let it go but now I'm reconsidering. $100 is a lot for me and I need to spend more on SEO outsourcing. I wonder if I wouldn't be better off dropping it for a while and then coming back. This certainly isn't mean to be a critical post at all. I'm looking for reasons to stay and make better use of it. Thanks for the thoughts, Rusty
Moz Pro | | RustyF0 -
I am looking to create keyword reports filtered by labels
We have roughly 800 keywords and I have created labels for the different groups of keywords. What I would like to do is have weekly or monthly reports sent to me based on the labels associated with the individual keywords. Any ideas on how I can do this? Thanks David
Moz Pro | | DavidRFrank0 -
What kind of keyword difficulty should I be aiming for when launching an new site?
I know that words in their 20's or 30's would be ideal, but it's proving hard for me to find relevant keywords with such scores (just a couple with scores in the 30's). Is going for words between 40-50 a waste of time? Thanks.
Moz Pro | | ZakGottlieb711