Are Meta-keywords coming back?
-
I'm currently doing some benchmarking for a big realtor site here in México, while looking at the biggest players in the US I noticed most if not all are using the Keywords meta tag in their detail listings.
I've been really open to my client about not using this tag at all given the current common knowledge but when sites like: Trulia.com, Realtor.com, appartments.com and the like, are using them I'm second guessing their utility.
Does anyone have any insights on this? Should or should not we use meta-keywords?
On a side note, there is some interesting microdata going on, in those sites.
-
The short answer is: No. They're not coming back, in the sense that anything has changed or that they carry any more weight than they did last year. All signs point to their continued decline. Google has publicly stated that it carries no positive ranking value.
Technically, Alan is correct - evidence suggest that Yahoo/Bing used Meta keywords as a ranking signal more recently than Google. Most of that evidence is 2+ years old, though, and I've seen no compelling reasons to think that it will tip the balance in any competitive situation on Bing. Even that 2009 article basically says: "Sure, use it, but don't expect much", IMO.
Here's the other problem - Meta keywords has been used as a negative ranking signal, and probably still is to some degree. In other words, you might not gain much or anything from using it, but if you spam it, you could get devalued. My gut feeling is that the negative signal is much, much stronger than the positive one, and even Google may still use it as a negative signal. I'm certain that Yahoo/Bing has used it as a negative signal (not sure if they still do).
I tend to agree that the competitive fears are overblown. Any decent site's keyword targets should be pretty clear - otherwise, it's not a very well SEO'd site.
Personally, if you want to use them, use them - but keep them short, sweet, and relevant. Once you do, get on with your life.
-
I agree, the competitor argument seems meaning less to me.
-
I feel like it could be useful in that it helps with Bing.
Competitors would typically already know what keywords you're targeting, especially if they're using SpyFu or just look at your page or anchor text profile on OSE to see what it's optimized for. I think it's a little silly for that to be the only reason not to use it.
Besides, you can always use it for less-searched keywords and throw your competitor's off
-
couldn't agree more with this ^^
-
From Matt Cutts (Google):
To this day, you still see courts mistakenly believe that meta tags occupy a pivotal role in search rankings. We wanted to debunk that misconception, at least as it regards to Google. Google uses over two hundred signals in our web search rankings, but the keywords meta tag is not currently one of them, and I don’t believe it will be
However, this is from 2009--so I have no idea if they are coming back.
From Bing:
The tag’s keyword attribute is not the page rank panacea it once was back in the prehistoric days of Internet search. It was abused far too much and lost most of its cachet.
KW: Cachet
Notice Alan had this link before me.
-
Bing does technically use it but I strongly recommend against it. If it is part of their algorithm there is no indication that it is a strong indicator. Besides, why would you want your competition knowing what your strategies are. If you think you need to use it I would consult your traffic through Google Analytics and Bing Webmaster tools to see how much of your traffic, if any, is coming from Bing. If it is a high number then maybe consider it. But again, I wouldn't worry about it. Bing says it uses it....doesn't mean it doesn't use it to indicate spammers.
-
You should definitely use them. Just don't be stupid with it and stuff 100s of keywords in there.
Here is a case study showing they still work:
And one of my favorite quotes of all time:
If you ever have the good fortune to create a great advertising campaign, you will soon see another agency steal it. This is irritating, but don't let it worry you; nobody has ever built a brand by imitating somebody else's advertising.
David Ogilvy -
Yes you should use the keywords tag, Bing uses it as a signal.
A good and recommended use is misspellings of keywords and alternative keywords
-
Yeah I totally understand using them to see their strategies, but the fact that all of them are doing it, made me second guess, thanx for the answer!
-
no they aren't coming back and I would suggest not using them. I would also suggest tracking your competitors and using that to your advantage. It might be something you already knew, but you might also find a keyword in there you weren't thinking to target that the Google Keyword Tool produces a surprising number of searches for.
That, by the way, is why you should avoid meta keyword tags.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Titles - Should they be short or long and descriptiive with keywords?
I just asked a question about ALT tags and then this got me to wondering....I have 300 products, so coming up with titles is not the easiest at times. Some have my keywords and some do not. Should they all have my keywords, despite making the title and the URL longer? It seems like you would want the keyword in the title, but then again the category itself it long. Here is an example: www.site.com/sea-glass-jewelry/by-the-sea (not too long) www.site.com/sea-glass-jewelry/blue-sea-glass-necklace (longer...I have some even longer than this) Thoughts?
On-Page Optimization | | tiffany11030 -
Moz shows page has no meta description but it does
Hi We recently worked on optimising one of our product pages, we created a new meta description, new unique content and a ensured it was optimised for our keyword. Despite all of this its ranking is still significantly lower than competitors eventhough the page authority is as good as theirs. I have just noticed that Moz crawl diagnostics is showing it up as having no meta description - but it does! when you check the source you see:http-equiv="description" content="Buy the robust and reliable Canon imageRUNNER 2525 from Copyfaxes. Learn more about the Canon 2525 before you buy." /> The page is: http://copyfaxes.com/product/2552/Canon-ImageRunner-2525-Digital-Copier I would appreciate any ideas.
On-Page Optimization | | copyfaxes10 -
Are Back Links King
We have worked as closely as possible to the guidelines and advice on this forum, if we compare our on page Analsis with other companies in the same field as ours we have a far better site as far as SEO is concerned, our DA authority is higher and most of our page authority is higher but we just cannot seem to get up to their level in the search engines, one site that is in competiton with us do not use Facebook and also they do not use Twitter very much, I looked at some of their backlinks and their top one which was a blog had not been updated since 2011, over the years we have amassed far more what I would call worthless links as this was the done thing then, how can I get on the right track, are there any companies who could assess our site for a reasonable cost to point us in the right direction, we are doing our own blog, Facebook, Twitter, Onlywire?
On-Page Optimization | | Palmbourne0 -
Duplicate Page Titles and Keywords
Still new to this SEO world, so please bear with me. I have an eCommerce site so one of the issues is duplicate content and page titles. So what I was thinking was this...for each product that I sell I have 4 or 5 keywords that I have targeted. For example for personalized iPhone cases I have decided on: iphone 4 case personalized, monogrammed iphone 4 case, personalized and monogrammed iphone case, preppy phone case, personalized iPhone case, monogrammed iPhone case For each of my products I was going to a product description (ie: trendy color block diagonal stripes) and a targeted keyword. But I was going to rotate the keywords through so as to try to avoid the duplicate page title issue. Will that help? Thanks much, Shara
On-Page Optimization | | Confections0 -
Does keyword at the very front of meta description have impact?
I know that it is important to have your primary keyword target as the first word or two words of your title tag. But what about your meta description tag? does it matter where they keyword is in the description tag? I see a lot of other sites stuffing their keywords right at the front of the description tag and it looks somewhat unnatural. What's your take? do you put the primary keyword as the first word or two words of your description tag?
On-Page Optimization | | adriandg0 -
Alt attributes same as jpg name and keywords?
Hi everyone, Quick question: Is it better to have your jpg name and alt text slightly different to your keywords for that particular page, or is it better to have them slightly differently? At the minute I'm doing them all with a variation on the keyphrase I want to optimize for (long tail and all that...). Any input much appreciated!
On-Page Optimization | | CMoore850 -
Meta Description Template
For a blog that already has thousands of posts, what is a good template for meta descriptions? I guess I assume that the best way to do it would be to do a custom one for each post, but given the amount of time that would take, I'd like to hear some alternatives. Thanks!
On-Page Optimization | | kylesuss0 -
Keyword Cannibalization
How harmful can be a keyword cannibalization? And what is the solution to this problem?
On-Page Optimization | | Alexsmenaru0