I believe that many people know what is keyword meta tag and many people use it in their blog and site for better search engine optimization, I’m one of them who use keyword meta tag for my blog but I don’t rely on this to rank well in search engine. You know why? Because it doesn’t help in search engine ranking. Matt Cutts just explained in Google Webmaster Central that Google doesn’t put any weight on the keyword meta tag in judging the rank of a site.
“In a word, no. Google does sell a Google Search Appliance, and that product has the ability to match meta tags, which could include the keywords meta tag. But that’s an enterprise search appliance that is completely separate from our main web search.” says Matt. “Our web search (the well-known search at Google.com that hundreds of millions of people use each day) disregards keyword metatags completely. They simply don’t have any effect in our search ranking at present.”
In the past, Google search engine judged a site on the content, it didn’t take backlinks in consideration, it didn’t put much weight on the off-page optimization. In that period, many people used to stuff keyword in the keyword meta tag, they ranked very well in the search engine without any reason and the visitors ever see those keyword. In the end, it was several years ago, Google decided to ignore the keyword meta tag in judging the ranking.
Now, it doesn’t mean that Google ignores all the meta tags. Sometimes Google will still using those description meta tag for the snippets in the search result, it doesn’t affect the search engine ranking but it increases the click through rate if you write attractive description meta tag for the snippets.
“It’s possible that Google could use this information in the future, but it’s unlikely. Google has ignored the keywords meta tag for years and currently we see no need to change that policy.” adds Matt Cutts.
Needless to say, Google strictly doesn’t use the “keywords” meta tag in their web search ranking, but it doesn’t hurt your blog if you use keyword meta tag, at least it increases the click through rate if you use appropriate meta tag. However, Google doesn’t use it but perhaps other search engine like Bing may use it in judging the ranking.
Do you still insert massive keywords in your meta tag?
About Lee Ka Hoong
Great tip Lee. I had not seen that video yet and that is great information to know, as I have always put a lot of thought into my “meta keyword tags” in the past. It is awesome that Matt shares such great Google tips!
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@Doug,
You’re welcome Doug and thanks for reading! It doesn’t matter if you use relevant meta tags, as I said it could increase the click through rate when people see something interesting and different from others. Matt shared a lot of great tips in term of SEO, follow his blog and you’ll learn more thing about SEO. :)
Thanks for the video; I know that the keywords meta tag hasn’t helped in Google for a long time. I have heard that it can help when using Adwords and that Yahoo and Bing still use them.
@Dena,
I believe that Yahoo and Bing still put some weights on the keyword meta tag, so it’s not a big deal to use it since there is no harm for Google search engine, and you can rank well in Bing and Yahoo too.
cool.. i just know about this… thanks for sharing this great tips… honestly i focus with my title of every post i have on my blog + seo tools to boost my rank
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@EarningStep,
You can still focus the keyword on the title, it’s some sort like call to action, it doesn’t boost your rank, but it increases the click through rate in search result. :)
I guess if i am not mistaken, google has already explained on this in youtube for long time, which i accidently come across in youtube :)But then still it sure help in one way or another
@hema chan,
Yea, Google explained it years ago, but still many people don’t know about this, that’s why Matt mentioned it again in his blog and also Google Webmaster Central. Yea it helps in another but definitely not in ranking. :)
I focus more on creating backlinks. There are so many SEO myths which makes it more worrying if the things we do are even worth it.
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@nathan,
Yeap, building more quality backlinks would be better than focusing on the keyword meta tag. It takes you a lot of time in building backlinks, but it works and that’s what Google wants. :)
I think the key really is just to build your entire site around specifically chosen keywords and use the tag as a back up.
@Toni,
Keyword meta tag doesn’t help much in ranking, but it’s not a big deal to use it as a back up. We need more quality backlinks to rank well in search engine. :)
I have always thought that meta tags are not that important for Google and now it is confirmed, Very useful post.
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@Dan,
Thanks for reading Dan. Google had mentioned about it long time ago, just want to recall again and tell other people who don’t know this news yet. :)
I’ve learnt about on Frank Kern’s video. But thanks for sharing this information anyway.
.-= Benjamin Cip´s last blog ..Say Goodbye To The Bad Blogger =-.
@Benjamin,
Great! Seems that there are many people out there explain about this issue other than Matt Cutts. :)
i just use meta marketing but i still believe tag, category and meta-tag works in search engine ranking..
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Since other search engines like Bing may use mete tags to determine your rankings, would it not be a good idea to include them in your blog.
@marcus,
Yeap, I didn’t stop using meta tags whenever I published a post, I believe that Bing or other search engines do put some weight on meta tag when it comes to ranking. There is no harm for us to use meta tags too, so why not just using it? Who knows Google may change their algorithm one day later? ;)