Everything you need to know about Meta Keywords in SEO

Meta keywords have long been a key component of search engine optimization (SEO). While their importance has evolved over the years, it is essential to understand what meta keywords are, their current role in SEO, and the best practices to follow.

What are meta keywords?

Meta keywords are HTML tags that list relevant keywords for a web page. They were originally used by search engines to better understand the content of a page and determine its ranking.

These tags were supposed to give search engines additional clues to index and rank the page more relevantly. However, as search algorithms have evolved, their relevance has significantly decreased.

Why are meta keywords no longer used in SEO?

There are several reasons why meta keywords have become less important:

1. Abuse and manipulation: meta keywords were easily manipulated by webmasters to rank pages undeservedly. Keyword spamming was common, and search engines had to adapt their algorithms to prevent this abuse.

2. Algorithm improvements: Google and other search engines improved their ability to understand the actual content of pages, thanks to semantic analysis, rich content, and artificial intelligence. This made meta keywords obsolete.

3. Google disinterest: Since 2009, Google has officially announced that it no longer considers meta keywords in its ranking algorithm. This means that including them or not does not affect your site's positioning on Google.

Are meta keywords completely useless?

Even though Google no longer uses them, there are still some exceptions:

• Other search engines: Some smaller search engines (like Baidu in China) may still consider meta keywords. If you are targeting an international market, it might be relevant to add them.
• Organization: For content teams and developers, meta keywords can be used as a guide to organize or structure the content of a page, even if it has no direct SEO weight.

Best practices for optimizing without meta keywords

Although meta keywords are no longer a key ranking factor, there are other crucial aspects of SEO optimization that you need to master:

1. Write quality content: Focus on creating relevant, informative, and engaging content for your visitors. Google favors pages that provide real added value.
2. Use meta description tags: Although the meta keywords tag is obsolete, the meta description is still important. It doesn’t directly affect ranking, but it does influence your page’s click-through rate (CTR) in search results.
3. Optimize your title and H1 tags: Make sure your target keywords appear naturally in your page’s title tags and headings.
4. Semantic structuring: Use appropriate HTML tags to structure your content, such as H2 and H3 tags, to indicate the importance of the information.

Meta keywords: what to do today?

For those wondering whether to still include meta keywords on their site, here’s a simple answer: you can safely ignore them for Google SEO. Instead, focus on techniques that have a measurable impact on your visibility. However, for some specific industries or markets, it may make sense to include them for other search engines.

Conclusion

While meta keywords are now part of SEO history, understanding their past role and declining influence gives you valuable insight into current SEO practices. Focus on the strategies that matter: quality content, technical optimization, and user experience. SEO is evolving, and it’s very important to adapt your techniques accordingly.