SEO Tycoon

**TWD** · 07-12-2009, 08:26 AM

Its basic knowledge SEO 101 that the major
search engines ignore the "Keywords" META tag.

So WHY do so many website designers persist in loading
up the keywords tag with a huge string of words?

I have a theory that its the equivalent of the web designers
"LUCKY RABBIT FOOT".

"We know it probably doesnt do any good
but it doesnt hurt either so lets just put it in there"

Fair assessment?

**John LA** · 07-12-2009, 08:36 AM

Meta tags are still being used by other search engines such as Yahoo and MSN so it doesn't hurt just to put those little words on your site's META descriptions and tags.

In google, I think they are using metas to supply the ads if you are publishing adsense.

**TWD** · 07-12-2009, 08:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John LA

Meta tags are still being used by other search engines such as Yahoo and MSN so it doesn't hurt just to put those little words on your site's META descriptions and tags.

In google, I think they are using metas to supply the ads if you are publishing adsense.

Do you have any article or proof that Yahoo and MSN pay attention to
"keywords" META tag?

The adsense idea makes more sense but I havent seen any information
on that from Google either.

**John LA** · 07-12-2009, 09:05 AM

That's based on experience. Yahoo and MSN gives weight on "some" of this but they give lots of attention on the quantity of backlinks your page has. Nofollow or dofollow, they don't care. As long as you got lots of it, they will rank you well.

**seo_marketing** · 07-12-2009, 09:53 AM

Meta Keywords are less important these days. If you go through Google SEO guidelines, you wont find mention of Meta Keywords anywhere.

However, Meta Description is important and should be added on every page. If you dont add Meta description you will get errors in Google webmaster tool ( if you are using Google webmaster account)

**TWD** · 07-12-2009, 10:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by seo_marketing

Meta Keywords are less important these days. If you go through Google SEO guidelines, you wont find mention of Meta Keywords anywhere.

However, Meta Description is important and should be added on every page. If you dont add Meta description you will get errors in Google webmaster tool ( if you are using Google webmaster account)

"Less important"?
How about zero importance - for Google at least.
I am still skeptical about Yahoo and MSN until I see some hard evidence.

("Description" meta tag is not relevant to this discussion)

**chrishirst** · 07-12-2009, 11:00 AM

Don't rely on somebody else's speculation or guesses! Just test it for yourself!

It is not difficult. Add a made up word into the Meta KW element of a page that is crawled by all SEs. Wait until all crawlers has been past and search each of the SEs for the word. If you find it that SE uses the KW element, if you don't find it ... guess what.
It won't tell you if there is any real significance in the element but at least you have one more little piece of information.

**TWD** · 07-12-2009, 11:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrishirst

Don't rely on somebody else's speculation or guesses! Just test it for yourself!

It is not difficult. Add a made up word into the Meta KW element of a page that is crawled by all SEs. Wait until all crawlers has been past and search each of the SEs for the word. If you find it that SE uses the KW element, if you don't find it ... guess what.
It won't tell you if there is any real significance in the element but at least you have one more little piece of information.

I just found the best article on Keywords Meta tag I have ever read!
Here it is by Danny Sullivan, Editor in Chief of Search Engine Land.
He's been writing about search engines since 1996.
http://searchengineland.com/meta-key...-engines-12099

He did exactly the test Chris described.

The bottom line is that of the search engines that count, Yahoo and
Ask index that tag but don't really put any weight on it. So effectively
the only point of using it might be for mis-spellings and rare words.

He gives this last piece of advice.

Quote:

Overall, here’s the best advice I can offer anyone dealing with this tag. If you begin to feel confused, concern, tired or uncertain when pondering it, SKIP THE TAG ENTIRELY. It’s not going to hurt you to not have it, and it’s not worth the time fretting about it.

**willcode4beer** · 07-12-2009, 03:29 PM

... and that post was back in 2007. I'd expect even less relevance now

**mrandrei** · 07-12-2009, 10:28 PM

Google's algorithm keeps on changing. Who knows, maybe Google will give weight to keyword tags once again? We'll never know.

**ahmi** · 07-13-2009, 08:42 AM

It helps to identify the keywords to search engines that your website is targeting.The Meta title tag plays a very important role and the meta description and meta keywords are considered to be least important but dont ignore.

**TWD** · 07-13-2009, 11:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ahmi

It helps to identify the keywords to search engines that your website is targeting.The Meta title tag plays a very important role and the meta description and meta keywords are considered to be least important but dont ignore.

Did you even bother to read this thread?

**Pink Mingos** · 07-13-2009, 01:15 PM

I did a similar test last year, well sorta.

I was playing with "flash" (yeah, I know) and wanted a way to use flash on my main page, but still have it show up in the SE (since they don't have a way to "read" images, which is what flash is made up of ... though I've heard google has been working around this lately).

Anyway, I made a table on my main page, within the two <td >s of that table, I built another table in each. I put flash in one, and the second I used basic html.

I placed the keyword phrase "Gator Fan" in my meta keyword tag, and in the begining of the <body > (before the main <table > tag, I wrote "Pink Pony Pub" making it the same color as the background so that a viewer wouldn't see it, but still have the SEs find it. (for anyone fairly new to this, you don't want to do this, it can be considered a no no, especially if the camoflauged words are spam, I just did it temporarily for the test).

No matter how many times I typed "Gator Fan" into the search engine (even with my website's name beside it), it never brought my home page up in the results.

"Pink Pony Pub" how ever did. Since Pink Pony Pub was not in the title or meta or anywhere else on the entire website, I felt the value of keywords in your content was more valuable than meta tag keywords.

It was just one test, but an interesting one to me.

**shakir** · 07-13-2009, 01:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TWD

Its basic knowledge SEO 101 that the major
search engines ignore the "Keywords" META tag.

So WHY do so many website designers persist in loading
up the keywords tag with a huge string of words?

I have a theory that its the equivalent of the web designers
"LUCKY RABBIT FOOT".

"We know it probably doesnt do any good
but it doesnt hurt either so lets just put it in there"

Fair assessment?

Meta tag except description is ignoring almost SE.. But found many are adding bcz its the standerd.. before some yrs its counted ....

**Pink Mingos** · 07-13-2009, 01:24 PM

oh yeah, that google adsense theory about meta tag keywords is an interesting one and I think it would depend on whether the advertisers bidding on that placement uses meta tags, your page's content, or simply the information that you place in the channel as to which ad they put there. Not really sure though.

**Pink Mingos** · 07-13-2009, 03:16 PM

Just for the record, if you are using google adsense ads, you will probably want to have keywords in your meta keyword tag.

I just built a blank page. Basic html with NO CONTENT what so ever. I placed 4 adsense ads, 2 txt, 1 img, & 1 links.

There is no text/content.

In the meta tag, I placed about 10-15 variations of the word/phrase "elephant". (elephant jewelry,elephants,live elephants, etc ...)

No where else is there a reference to elephants.

The file name is pink_pony_pub.html

The title is Florida Gators

There is one image that I gave an alt attribute of "wolf"

Then uploaded.

The ads showing right now? All pertaining to elephants with the exception for one, and it is showing ads with "wolf" in them.

The bottom line is that google adsense can only be getting the keyword "elephant" from the meta tag so in answer to the OPs question: "Whats the use of the "keywords" META tags?" ... I would say that they have a good use in regards to adsense.

(This is in no way suggesting that it is all adsense goes by, if I were to add content to the page ~something I plan to experiment with~ it might skip meta keywords entirely)

**TWD** · 07-13-2009, 09:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pink Mingos

Just for the record, if you are using google adsense ads, you will probably want to have keywords in your meta keyword tag.

I just built a blank page. Basic html with NO CONTENT what so ever. I placed 4 adsense ads, 2 txt, 1 img, & 1 links.

There is no text/content.

In the meta tag, I placed about 10-15 variations of the word/phrase "elephant". (elephant jewelry,elephants,live elephants, etc ...)

No where else is there a reference to elephants.

The file name is pink_pony_pub.html

The title is Florida Gators

There is one image that I gave an alt attribute of "wolf"

Then uploaded.

The ads showing right now? All pertaining to elephants with the exception for one, and it is showing ads with "wolf" in them.

The bottom line is that google adsense can only be getting the keyword "elephant" from the meta tag so in answer to the OPs question: "Whats the use of the "keywords" META tags?" ... I would say that they have a good use in regards to adsense.

(This is in no way suggesting that it is all adsense goes by, if I were to add content to the page ~something I plan to experiment with~ it might skip meta keywords entirely)

Interesting result. Thanks for sharing Pink Mingos