it is true that meta keywords are not weighted in google. you can test this yourself by placing a made up unique word just in the meta keyword tag of a page, when that version is indexed, do a search for the made up word. Your page wont show. Thats a crude test but it sends the right message.
I can't bring myself to drop them
You are right that you shouldnt spend too much time on them, pick 3 phrases relevant to the page and move on.
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You shouldn't spend ANY time thinking of keywords. Spend your time researching them with tools like wordtracker. You might also find this article on long tail keyword research of some use.
d
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H
Heist
Its still worth putting them on of course (they can't hurt if done properly, relevant to content), and different keywords ones for each page, but Google will pay very little attention to them.
You are better off creating good informative titles and having search engine friendly links, and of course good quality unique page content.
You are better off creating good informative titles and having search engine friendly links, and of course good quality unique page content.
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Is this a misinformation page for the SEO industry or what.?
Quote from Miss Fox.
Looking at your site in the search results, it appears that your pages
would be well served by meta description tags. For most queries, the
generated snippet is based on where the query terms are found on the
page, and in those cases, your results are fine. But for some more
generic queries, where a logical snippet isn't found in the text, the
generated snippet seems to be coming from the first bits of text from
the page -- in this case, boilerplate navigation that is the same for
every page.
Quote from Miss Fox.
Looking at your site in the search results, it appears that your pages
would be well served by meta description tags. For most queries, the
generated snippet is based on where the query terms are found on the
page, and in those cases, your results are fine. But for some more
generic queries, where a logical snippet isn't found in the text, the
generated snippet seems to be coming from the first bits of text from
the page -- in this case, boilerplate navigation that is the same for
every page.
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Oh great dave its only 6 years old
I think I will stick with the quotes from Google Central.
Earl
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H
Heist
You're clearly missinformed and taking what 'Miss Fox' said out of context.
The article I posted is still relevant, here is alother link (5 months old for you)
http://www.ppcblog.co.uk/seo/who-still-gives-weight-to-meta-keywords-tag/
Dave
The article I posted is still relevant, here is alother link (5 months old for you)
http://www.ppcblog.co.uk/seo/who-still-gives-weight-to-meta-keywords-tag/
Dave
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Is this a misinformation page for the SEO industry or what.?
Quote from Miss Fox.
Looking at your site in the search results, it appears that your pages
would be well served by meta description tags. For most queries, the
generated snippet is based on where the query terms are found on the
page, and in those cases, your results are fine. But for some more
generic queries, where a logical snippet isn't found in the text, the
generated snippet seems to be coming from the first bits of text from
the page -- in this case, boilerplate navigation that is the same for
every page.
Hey Sirearl,
You quoted Miss Fox talking about 'meta description' tags.
The question posted is about 'meta keywords'.
Meta description, as Miss Fox is saying is used as the snippet under the title of the page in the SERPs. If the description is not relevant then google may use a snippet from elsewhere.
However, meta keywords has been ignored by google for a long time now
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sorry did not say keyword tags said keywords in meta tags see below
I've been told that Google don't actually pay any attention to keywords in your meta tags - only smaller search engines do.
As I have been around SEO since before google was a speck in the cosmos.
I always defer to the supreme authority.
Earl
I've been told that Google don't actually pay any attention to keywords in your meta tags - only smaller search engines do.
As I have been around SEO since before google was a speck in the cosmos.
I always defer to the supreme authority.
Earl
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There's a lot more to the web than Google, and a lot more uses for keywords.
I'm not saying spend an age researching meta-keywords, but certainly add keywords so that other sites and services can pick them up for use.
While Google has the power to pick out keywords from the page, the rest of the industry likes a simple regex of the meta fields.
I'm not saying spend an age researching meta-keywords, but certainly add keywords so that other sites and services can pick them up for use.
While Google has the power to pick out keywords from the page, the rest of the industry likes a simple regex of the meta fields.
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The meta keywords tag is pretty much useless for all search engines now and it has been that way for some years. google doesn't use it to determine your position in the search results.
There is some speculation that google is using bayesian filtering to help rid its SERPS of spam. If that is the case then there is a possibility that having the meta keywords tag in your pages could be deteremental to your position in the SERPS.
The reason for this is embedded in the way that bayesian filtering works.A lot of spammy sites still use meta keywords tags extensively. If your site does too, then there is a possibility that your site's "spaminess rating" will be increased due to the apparent association and therefore given a lower ranking in the SERPS.
It is just speculation though. There's no hard evidence. However, I'd remove them to be on the same side.
There is some speculation that google is using bayesian filtering to help rid its SERPS of spam. If that is the case then there is a possibility that having the meta keywords tag in your pages could be deteremental to your position in the SERPS.
The reason for this is embedded in the way that bayesian filtering works.A lot of spammy sites still use meta keywords tags extensively. If your site does too, then there is a possibility that your site's "spaminess rating" will be increased due to the apparent association and therefore given a lower ranking in the SERPS.
It is just speculation though. There's no hard evidence. However, I'd remove them to be on the same side.
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The meta keywords tag is a very, very useful tag!!! As many a SEO will know, keywords don't factor into Google and very minimally factor into the Yahoo! and MSN algo. This doesn't however stop them from being very, very useful!
People still use meta keyword tags a lot - in fact pretty much any website you view will likely have them (if they've got a description meta, they'll likely have a keyword meta). Obviously in the 'old days' meta keywords were completely over used (hence why they no longer factor in). The reason for this tag being so very, very useful is not for the purposes of the search engines but for the advantage it gives your competition (or more specifically the advantage it gives you)!
When you include the meta keyword tag you're essentially telling the whole world (especially people who want to compete against you) what keywords and search terms you are targetting your website towards. By examine your competitors website and its keyword meta (as well as various other attributes) you can more accurate determine which keywords or phrases you should potential chase.
People still use meta keyword tags a lot - in fact pretty much any website you view will likely have them (if they've got a description meta, they'll likely have a keyword meta). Obviously in the 'old days' meta keywords were completely over used (hence why they no longer factor in). The reason for this tag being so very, very useful is not for the purposes of the search engines but for the advantage it gives your competition (or more specifically the advantage it gives you)!
When you include the meta keyword tag you're essentially telling the whole world (especially people who want to compete against you) what keywords and search terms you are targetting your website towards. By examine your competitors website and its keyword meta (as well as various other attributes) you can more accurate determine which keywords or phrases you should potential chase.
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B
Bradford-web-Design
On a balanced view yes they will bear some weight but it also depends on a pleathora of other factors in terms of backlinks, the Google sandbox effect in terms of age of site and many other pre-determinate factors that make up your ranking in google. When I listed my business I might add, PHPO. a word that did not exist. I placed an ad in gumtree with a hyperlink to my site all free I ad. A day later there was a brief synopsis on Google with my site from the word PHPO I typed into google.
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