Why Meta Keyword Tags Don’t Matter

As a digital marketer, I’m regularly pushing the mantra that new content, whether on your blog or your website, helps assist with boosted search rankings when done properly. Our team works to create content strategies for clients that build their SEO (search engine optimization) efforts, helping their websites reach the top of the search results for Google. A question I’m regularly asked is about HOW our content works to boost search ranking results and why we aren’t utilizing meta keyword tags in that strategy.

Let’s begin with focusing on what the search engines do consider for their algorithm when it comes to determining content rankings:

Title Tags

Title tags, also typically the title of the page or your blog post, display in browser tabs and in the clickable SERP (search engine results page). Your title tag should clearly encompass what your page or post is about, and should ideally include long-tail keywords, more on those below.

H1 Tags and other Headings

H1 tags and other headings not only break up your content to make it more digestible to the reader and help stylize your page, but these headings also include code to let search engines know that this content should be regarded at a stronger weight than body copy. These headings should be thoughtfully considered to not only pull readers in, but to clearly communicate your message on the page.

Content/Context

Your body copy, what your page is about, and how many pages you have written on similar content is also impactful to the search engines. The more often you write on a topic, and write on it intelligibly, the more authority you’ll have on the topic.

Long-Tail Keywords

Not only does the use of long-tail keywords typically result in pageviews from prospects further along in the buying cycle, helping you qualify your visitors, but writing content with a strategy focused on long-tail keywords allows your site the opportunity for higher rankings in the SERP. The longer, more specific a search term, the less competition in search rankings and the better chance you have of ranking high.

Now let’s take a moment to talk about what the search engines no longer find relevant:

Meta Keyword Tags

Google is constantly making updates to their algorithm to determine what areas of a site page hold weight and which do not. For the past few years, Google has determined that meta keyword tags are not relevant to search rankings. Some SEO experts have even suggested that continuing to use these tags, no matter how relevant to the content, will actually negatively impact your ranking, simply for not following the rules. Further, meta keywords are easily detectable on the front end (or user side) of your website, which allows your competition insight into your SEO keyword strategy - a tactic you’ll want to avoid.

Whatever your content strategy includes, from topics, cadence, to persona; make sure you’re considering the proper SEO initiatives to boost your pageview results and to ensure your content is found by those searching for a solution that you offer.