What are Meta Keywords?

What Are Meta Keywords?

These are the keywords that were used to provide additional information in search engines regarding a page. It defines different types of Metadata and their functions in an HTML document. You can find them on the website source page. Before Google, search engine optimizing was done by Meta keywords characters on HTML on every page. For example, HTML 4 was a Meta character responsible for providing readable information on HTML documents and other resources accessible through the network. The Meta keywords were relevant since they defined the content of your pages.

Were Meta keywords Important?

Yes, they were, however not all search engines have prioritized the use of meat keywords. For example, google stopped using Meta keywords about a decade ago. Though Yandex, a Russian search engine with a market share close to that of Google is still was still using Meta keywords.

In determining the relevance of pages with regards to search queries. But that does not mean Yandex uses Meta keywords to determine the ranking of their pages. Therefore, implying that Yandex only used Meta keywords, but did not heavily rely on them. So it is true that Meta keywords were still relevant in 2020.

Does Google Look at Meta Keywords now?

No, Google does not use Meta keywords for determining page and site relevance or ranking. Since, keywords were used to rank in Meta tag, therefore easily manipulating the algorithms in search engines, as a result, causing spamming. It was due to such factors that Google and other major search engine stopped using Meta keywords.

Though Meta keywords do not apply to some search engines like Google, there are still some Meta tags that apply to all search engines Google included. They comprise title tags, description tags and robots. Here is how these Meta tags impact SEO.

• Title tags- helps to ensure that the title of your page is different on every page you publish. They are located on the head of your web page are designed to indicate a comprehensive idea about page information. It is the first place a user interacts with to see if what they want is available. Therefore, a well-designed title tag might increase the click-through and traffic rates, hence contributing to the improvement of the rankings.

Best Practice

1. Provide each page with a unique title that explains the page content correctly.
2. Maintain the title at 50-60 characters long.
3. Place the significant keywords first.

Meta description – helps describe the page content. They are also placed in the page’s head and displayed on SERP snippet and page URL and title. It occupies most of the SERP part, thereby offering users an opportunity to click on your site for any solutions they might be searching for online.

The Meta description area also determines the number of click-throughs you get and might also reduce bounce rates if the pages and content apply best practices. As such, the description should be inviting and distinctively realistic to the content. Hence, Meta description is critical for enhancing brand SERPs and increasing click-through rates, improving your SEO.

Best Practice

1. Provide every page with a different meat description that distinctively describes the page content.
2. Include very important keywords to get highlighted on SERP; however, you should also avoid keyword stuffing.
3. Occasionally, you can use hints or a different preposition explaining to the user what they should expect.

• Robots – used to indicate required content. They are largely used to direct people towards useful resources or refer you to a relevant website. Also referred to as outbound/ eternal links are links within your site that redirect traffic to other sites. These links are crucial for your SEO since they can determine whether your content is genuine and linked from reliable sources or otherwise.

Therefore it is important to understand where you link to other sites and how you do it. Since by default mode, you might end up following all links, even those that might not be from reliable sources.

However, if you include a NOFOLLOW attribute in your link, it informs search engine robots not to continue with that link.

As such, improving your SEO by preventing you from following unreliable links could negatively impact the quality of your content.

Best Practice

1. You should avoid the following links being considered to be untrusted content.
2. Avoid any sponsored or paid links.
3. Links generated from comments should also be avoided since they might be spammed uncontrollably.
4. Registering and sign-in links should also be avoided since they are not that relevant.

What’s the Purpose of Meta Keyword Tags?

Yes, they are significant since they determine the number of people likely to click through your site and how the website appears in SERPs. Thereby influencing your engagements rates and traffic, which correspondingly impacts your SEO and site rankings. Additionally, the HTML Meta keywords also determine your website’s appearance in the digital space.

Are Meta Keywords Important for SEO?

In conclusion, meta keywords now do not play as much important role in SEO as they used to do some time back. This is actually considered as black hat SEO technique. Therefore, for Google Ranking Algorithm, meta keywords are no longer necessary.