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
-
Best Keyword Strategy for Lower-Authority-Ranked Domain
Hi, What should a lower-authority-ranked blog (DA - 21) who is trying to increase general traffic focus on above all when selecting keywords: difficulty, monthly volume, opportunity, or priority? I know that all are important factors to consider, but I fear that without an already consistent following our new content will just get hidden behind more established domains if we select too difficult of keywords. I'd love to hear from someone who's built up a blog audience as to what strategy they used here. Thanks!
Moz Pro | | ascott7770 -
How to rank for multiple keyword phrases
Hello everyone! My website is smartyprogrammer.com. How do you go about ranking for multiple keyword phrases? Using the Site Grade Tool, I rank really well for one keyword phrase, like "Smarty Programmer", but then rank really poorly for another phrase like "Smarty Tuner". However, if I change my titles and all my wording towards "tuner" instead of "programmer", it seems like it will make my content either be spammy sounding, or I'll starting lacking in the "programmer" department. Is it best to just create a separate page to rank for "Smarty Tuner"? Or what is the best way to go about ranking for multiple important keyword phrases? Thanks everyone for your help!
Moz Pro | | dieselprogrammers0 -
Identify business pain points using SEO
Hi, can I use SEO research techniques to identify what kind of services businesses are searching for? Is it possible to find out pain points? I have been using tool like MicroNicheFinder to do such a research but I am not getting any where. Is SEO only used to outrank my competition? Do I need to first know what business I need to be in and then use SEO techniques to research the demand? Do I make sense? You can tell that I am very new at the internet marketing thing. Please let me know. Thanks.
Moz Pro | | zsyed0 -
On Page Report - To Much Alt. Text Keyword Usage
I ran a Moz on page report for our Roho Cushions page using the keyword Roho Cushions. I found "keyword stuffing" within the page, mainly from alternate text on images. The report told me I have 45 IMG ALT keywords & 28 Body Keywords. I cannot find the keywords I've used in the body, and if I inspect any image element, the keyword is not used as alternate text. I've ran this report multiple times in the past 2 weeks and have come up with the same results. Does anyone have any solutions? Thanks!
Moz Pro | | Mike.Bean0 -
Best way to analyze keyword difficulty for 10,000+ keywords?
I've done quite a bit of searching, but can't seem to find a time efficient way to accurately analyze keyword difficulty for large sets of keywords. All of the keyword difficulty tools out there that I've tried are either 1) not accurate 2) slow (like seomoz's kw difficulty tool only allows 5 entries at a time). Can anyone recommend any shortcuts / tools / processes to analyze kw difficulty for large sets of keywords?
Moz Pro | | nicole.healthline1 -
Is there a way to manually update the keyword rankings tool in SEOmoz?
It appears that our keyword rankings update weekly on Thursdays. Is this the same across the board or is there a way to manually run an update?
Moz Pro | | Motivators0 -
Still Getting Keyword Self-Cannibalization
I used the onsite optimization and made some changes to my post, but am still getting the Self-Cannibalization mention in my results. It lists this: "Real Estate Careers | Keller Williams | Career In Real Estate" as the link that is not supposed to be there. This is not a link, but the title of the post. What am I missing?
Moz Pro | | brentmitchell0 -
How many keywords can I look at at once in keyword difficulty tool?
Can I do like 15 at once? I'm also looking at a way to export all the data from multiple keywords in one view, it seems I can only export individual keywords. Is there a better seomoz tool to accomplish this?
Moz Pro | | insitegoogle0