Meta Keywords Tag Usage in the Top 4 Search Engines: Google, Yahoo, Bing, and Ask
Posted on: May 11, 2010 by Jordan Hardy Comments Off
The meta keywords tag became favored for use in Website header source code in the mid 1990s. The intent of the meta keywords tag was originally established to provide relevant information to assist search engines as they ranked Website pages.
Some Websites misused the meta keywords tag, often trying to deceive search engines. As a result, today only some search engines utilize the meta keywords tag. Most search engines that still do use the meta keywords tag have modified their algorithms so that dishonest Website coders cannot gain an edge by using improper keyword lists.
Meta Keywords Tag Usage in the Top 4 Search Engines
- Google.com does not use the meta keywords tag. I did my own Google tests to verify and you can read about this as well on the Google Webmaster Blog.
- Yahoo.com does use the meta keywords tag. I did my own Yahoo tests to verify and you can read more here in the Yahoo help pages.
- Bing.com does use the meta keywords tag. I did my own Bing tests to verify and you can read more here on this Bing Community post.
- Ask.com does use the meta keywords tag. I did my own Ask tests to verify this.
Of the remaining hundreds of useful search engines that exist, I have tested many that do and others that do not use the keywords meta tag.
On search engines that do use it, the keywords meta tag will not help elevate a Website significantly in rankings. The objective in using the keywords meta tag is to aid these search engines so they can more effectively absorb and deliver relevant content on your Website to their users.
My Recommendations
I would recommend prioritizing dozens of other surpassingly invaluable marketing strategies for your Website first. Subsequent to completion of these, the keywords meta tag is advantageous when used with accordant, strategic keywords for a given page. The same keywords meta tag should not be duplicated from one page to the next. The keywords meta tag on a particular page should amalgamate closely with the comprehensive keyword strategy on that page as well as properly with the entire Website. To code a search engine friendly keywords meta tag, use commas between keywords / keyword phrases (Yahoo particularly appreciates this) and use spaces between words. Here is an example of a properly coded Meta Keywords tag: <meta name=”keywords” content=”keyword, keywords, keyword phrase” />
Tags: meta keywords tag, top search engines Filed Under: Meta Tags