Meta Keywords are a specific type of meta tag that appear in the HTML code of a Web page and help tell search engines what the topic of the page is. Meta keywords are distinguished from regular keywords because they appear “behind the scenes,” in the source code of your page, rather than on the live, visible page itself. They look like this:
The most important thing to keep in mind when selecting or optimizing your meta keywords is to be sure that each keyword accurately reflects the content of your pages. It’s no good hauling in traffic with keyword phrases like “Low-Rate Mortgage” and “Find a Divorce Lawyer” if your site sells cooking supplies. One thing we know for sure about searchers is that they tend to pay for the services they went looking for, but they don’t care at all for irrelevant results. “Spatula” and “Casserole Dish” may not appear, at first glance. to be as sexy, but the customers who google exactly those items are far more likely to click through to your site.
Find your best keywords with our Free Keyword Tool.
There’s no getting around the fact that meta keywords aren’t the big players they once were in SEO. Most search engines have realized that sites can easily “game” the meta keywords field with black-hat keyword stuffing, so meta keywords are no longer an important part of the Google ranking algorithm. (More attention ought to be paid to Title Tags and Meta Descriptions than to Meta Keywords.) But they can nonetheless still play a small but helpful part in communicating your message and attracting searchers to your site. In the competitive world of search engine marketing, every little bit helps.
Why Should I Use Meta Keywords?
Meta keywords were devalued by Google because they were being abused by site owners and marketers. Developers would “stuff” the code full of high-volume keywords and phrases, so that low-quality pages would rank for those search terms, considerably diluting the accuracy and value of the search results.
However, it remains unclear if keywords were removed from Google’s algorithm entirely. Search engines’ ranking algorithms are kept top secret in order to deter people from gaming the system, which explains why none have explicitly announced how thoroughly they examine meta keywords. In fact, there’s evidence that Bing and other search engines may continue to rely on them, and, of course, even if you’re actively running paid campaigns on those engines, you still want your website to display inorganic results.
Not long ago, SEM Prosurveyed search engine marketers to find out how often they use meta keywords. While not quite 70% said “always,” not one single respondent replied “seldom” or “never.” So the chances are that your competition is already using them. Not to mention the fact that the act of compiling a keyword list, though time-consuming, can be invaluable in helping you focus the content of your site more directly at exactly those potential customers who may be searching you out.
Incorporating Meta Keywords in Your Content
Whether you create and organize your meta keywords by hand or using software, the most important thing to be sure of is that the keywords you select are relevant to the page in question.
Another common question is, How many meta keywords should I use? As a general rule, don’t use more than about 10 meta keywords for a single page.
Aside from the obviously important questions of number and relevance, when selecting your keywords, it’s a good idea to bear in mind:
- Common Misspellings: A best practice, including misspellings in your meta tags may indicate to search engines that your page is relevant to the (misspelled) search query, without your having to include the misspellings in your webpage copy.
- Long-Tail Keywords:Keyword variations and plurals are both useful to keep in mind, as well as the more extensive and more specific phrases known as long-tailed keywords.
- Real Searches:The real search terms that brought users to your page in the past can be your best friend when creating lists of meta keywords. Check your analytics or log files to find those keywords, and use keyword tools to back up your data. What words do people tend naturally to use when describing your business? And what words are your competitors using?
How Can WordStream Help You Find Meta Keywords?
Compiling meta keywords to use on your website is easier with keyword toolslike ourFree Keyword Tool.Just enter a topic relevant to your business and website to get hundreds of relevant terms you can use as meta keywords and in your site content.
Need more help with content marketing and search engine optimization? Check out the WordStream blog.And if you want to learn how to sort yourkeywords into meaningful groups, check out our resource on keyword grouping.
FAQs
Meta keywords are meta tags that you can use to give search engines more information about a page's content. They're found in a webpage's HTML source code, and are not visible to visitors.
How do you fill meta keywords? ›
How to Optimize Your HTML Meta Tags for SEO
- Keep them under 120 characters.
- Use sentence case.
- Only include your target keyword where it makes sense; avoid keyword stuffing.
- Be accurate, descriptive, and concise.
- Match search intent.
- Avoid duplicate meta descriptions on your website.
Include Your Target Keyword
Each meta description should include the page's primary keyword—the main search query you want the page to rank for. This won't affect your SEO directly. But it can encourage users to click. Especially because Google often bolds words that appear in or are synonyms of the query.
What is a meta tag with an example? ›
Definition and Usage
The <meta> tag defines metadata about an HTML document. Metadata is data (information) about data. <meta> tags always go inside the <head> element, and are typically used to specify character set, page description, keywords, author of the document, and viewport settings.
How to find meta keywords? ›
If you want to find out whether a given page is using meta tags, just right-click anywhere on the page and select “View Page Source.” A new tab will open in Chrome (in Firefox, it'll be a pop-up window). The part at the top, or “head” of the page, is where the meta tags would be.
Do meta keywords work? ›
Meta keywords are an outdated and irrelevant meta tag that has no impact on your rankings in major search engines like Google or Bing. In fact, using them could even hurt your SEO efforts, as they could be seen as a spam signal by some search engines. And can reveal your keyword strategy to your competitors.
What is the difference between keywords and meta keywords? ›
A keyword is a word or phrase that is a topic of significance while Meta Keywords are a specific type of meta tag that appear in the HTML code of a Web page and help tell search engines what the topic of the page is. Keywords means, you have selected keywords for your particular webpage and website.
Why is the meta keyword so important? ›
Meta tags are important because they impact how your site appears in the SERPs and how many people will be inclined to click through to your website. They will therefore impact your traffic and engagement rates, which can impact your SEO and rankings. Meta tags are an important part of a solid SEO strategy.
How does Google use meta keywords? ›
<meta name="keywords" content="..."> The meta-keyword tag is not used by Google Search, and it has no effect on indexing and ranking at all. Google Search detects the language of a page based on the textual content of the page. It doesn't rely on code annotations such as the lang .
How many keywords are in meta keywords? ›
As a general rule, no more than ten meta keywords should be recorded. Less is more. The main keyword for a webpage should be the focus. Although synonyms and long tail keywords can be listed, it would be more advisable to use these in text visible to users and concentrate on the content.
Meta tags are elements within your HTML code that aren't visible to the user and yet play a crucial role in your SEO performance and the user experience you provide.
Should I have meta keywords? ›
Since Google stopped ranking websites based on meta keywords tags, 99.9% have rendered them useless and not worth investing time into adding keywords meta tags to your website as Google ignores them.
What are meta tags for dummies? ›
Definition: Meta tags are a form of metadata that describes the content of a web page to search engines within its source code. Important meta tags for ecommerce websites include the meta title and meta description, which are both visible on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) and impact organic rankings.
What are examples of meta? ›
Examples of meta
Multiple clinical trials of the drug will be run, each one of them producing slightly different results. A meta-analysis would combine all these results, weighing in all the available evidence to come to a conclusion about the drug's efficacy that is more robust than any one study's conclusion.
How many types of meta tags are there? ›
There are four types of meta tags, but some are less common or related to web marketing. Some of the most important are: Meta Keywords attribute - A series of key words that correspond to the query page of the query. Meta Keywords is an example of the meta tag that does not make much sense to use these days.
What are meta data keywords for SEO? ›
The meta keywords tag is used to specify a list of keywords that are relevant to the webpage's content. While this tag is not as important as the title and description tags, it can still help improve the ranking of a website. Metadata, on the other hand, is data that provides additional information about a webpage.
Are meta keywords still relevant in 2024? ›
Do Meta Tags matter for SEO in 2024? Yes, they do, but not all Meta tags can help you in 2024. In my experience, if you want to rank high in Google in 2024 then you also need to focus on high-quality content and user satisfaction.
