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  4. Meta keywords no longer in use

Moz Q&A is closed.

After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.

Meta keywords no longer in use

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  • coremediadesign
    coremediadesign last edited by Mar 6, 2012, 7:28 AM

    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.

    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
    • vforvinnie
      vforvinnie @coremediadesign last edited by Mar 6, 2012, 2:07 PM Mar 6, 2012, 2:05 PM

      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.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
      • coremediadesign
        coremediadesign @DougRoberts last edited by Mar 6, 2012, 8:02 AM Mar 6, 2012, 8:02 AM

        I think you're right - if we can't find a reason for using them, best to ignore / remove it altogether.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
        • coremediadesign
          coremediadesign @Gustav-Northclick last edited by Mar 6, 2012, 8:00 AM Mar 6, 2012, 8:00 AM

          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?

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • DougRoberts
            DougRoberts @coremediadesign last edited by Mar 6, 2012, 7:57 AM Mar 6, 2012, 7:57 AM

            I really wouldn't worry about meta-keywords. Much better to spend the time on the content!

            coremediadesign 1 Reply Last reply Mar 6, 2012, 8:02 AM Reply Quote 0
            • Gustav-Northclick
              Gustav-Northclick last edited by Mar 6, 2012, 7:55 AM Mar 6, 2012, 7:55 AM

              Search engines may still use it for discovery. Meaning simply answering the question: what should the page potentially rank for?

              best, G

              coremediadesign 1 Reply Last reply Mar 6, 2012, 8:00 AM Reply Quote 0
              • coremediadesign
                coremediadesign last edited by Mar 6, 2012, 7:51 AM Mar 6, 2012, 7:51 AM

                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?

                DougRoberts vforvinnie 2 Replies Last reply Mar 6, 2012, 2:05 PM Reply Quote 0
                • Gustav-Northclick
                  Gustav-Northclick last edited by Mar 6, 2012, 7:47 AM Mar 6, 2012, 7:47 AM

                  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

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • DougRoberts
                    DougRoberts last edited by Mar 6, 2012, 8:04 AM Mar 6, 2012, 7:46 AM

                    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.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                    • coremediadesign
                      coremediadesign @Gustav-Northclick last edited by Mar 6, 2012, 7:33 AM Mar 6, 2012, 7:33 AM

                      Thanks Gustav,

                      Is it only Google that this applies to or other search engines followed the same rule?

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • Gustav-Northclick
                        Gustav-Northclick last edited by Mar 6, 2012, 7:30 AM Mar 6, 2012, 7:30 AM

                        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

                        coremediadesign 1 Reply Last reply Mar 6, 2012, 7:33 AM Reply Quote 1
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