16 replies to this topic

[abc1234]

This question has proberly been asked before, but I was wondering if it is best to keep the same meta keyword tag with the same keywords through out the whole of a website or is it best to use unique keywords through out each page.

This question proberly seems stupid to all those SEO wizes out there but I'm just starting to learn about the techniques...so sorry.

Thanks.

[rmccarley]

It's a good question that has some debate behind it. My advice is to use a few words as posible while being as complete about the content of the page as you can including the broader context the page may fall within. For example, an article about links would fit under SEO. So if your site is about SEO then including "SEO" in the meta tag would probably be a good idea. However! Don't repeat words accross pages just hoping to rank for them. It has to *make sense*.

[Halfdeck]

if it is best to keep the same meta keyword tag with the same keywords through out the whole of a website or is it best to use unique keywords through out each page.

Unless every page is about the same topic, use different keywords IF you choose to use them. They won't help you rank higher in Google from what I've seen. If you do spend time researching keywords though, its not a bad idea to include them if not for higher rankings, then for reminding yourself what you intend the page to rank for.

Personally, I haven't done any keyword research for a while so I usually don't use them.

[abc1234]

Ok thanks haldfeck and mccarely for your input so far, much appreciated.

Using mccarely's example, I run a SEO firm and I had a contact page on my website, is there anypoint putting keyword tags on that page because all the page has is a contact form and my contact details?

[rmccarley]

SEO often comes down to the "all things being equal" principle. What will put your site that 1 millionth of a point above the next guy in the SERPs? Good site structure only has to be implemented once, the rest is promotion and backlinks.

[abc1234]

So don't Google or other search engines use keyword tags anymore? How do you know this? I read a few different articles today saying use keyword tags, as the search engines still use these.

Thanks.

[rmccarley]

IF they use them they don't count for much because they were too easy to abuse. I know the MSN team said they don't use meta info at all. It seems to help a very little bit with Google but there are more powerful things that can be done.

Like get one good link.

[abc1234]

So, really the only important things these days when it comes to good SEO is quality link building and good copy.

Thanks.

[Adrian]

Meta keywords have had minimal effect for some time now(i.e. years), doesn't stop someone who's spent 30 secs researching SEO writing an article saying you should include them.

Meta description has some use, and you can include keywords for token effect, just don't expect it to suddenly catapult you to the first page, especially for searches in the SEO area.

[abc1234]

Don't worry, I know that they won't "catapult" a website to the first page, and where I have read this is from well-known and established forums - I guess we all have our own opinions on this topic.

Edited by abc1234, 04 January 2007 - 07:45 AM.

[rmccarley]

So, really the only important things these days when it comes to good SEO is quality link building and good copy.

I'd say those are among the most important but site structure is also important, including meta tags, especially the description tag that often appears in the SERPs.

Search engines originally used the keywords tag to index web pages along with words from the title and document body. Due to spamming this has been radically devalued. It is still a good idea to use synonyms and alternates for your main keywords as well as common misspellings. Make sure the keywords you use are actually relevant to the content in the page. And keep this as brief as possible.

Source: Meta Tag Tips. I use them, but I don't spend much time on it.

[Adrian]

read this is from well-known and established forums

That doesn't stop it being outdated, regurgitated nonsense.
As rmccarley says, any effect is pretty minimal, it's a nice extra bit to have.

But anyone who suggests it's anything like an important aspect of SEO is living in the 90's. When Google say they use over 100 criteria to rank web pages, expect meta keywords to be in the bottom half of that list.

Good links, good content (which could take the form of 'linkbait' in cases) and good page/site structure (including things like headers being marked up as headings and ease of crawling) are the main things I would focus on.
And there are other things I'd be thinking about as a higher priority than meta keywords, unless it was just something that was quick and simple to insert when building a site.

[Ron Carnell]

The benefits of the meta-keywords tag aren't minimal. They're essentially non-existent. Which is fairly easy to test by just putting up a couple of pages and waiting for them to get indexed.

Google utterly, completely, totally ignores the meta-keyword tag. Put a made-up word in the meta-keyword tag and you will never find the page with Google. Never. On the other hand, Yahoo will index the contents of the meta-keyword tag, but will rank it absolutely dead last. If any other pages use the targeted meta-keyword, no matter how minimally, they'll rank first. This makes the meta-keyword very marginally of use in Yahoo for nonsense words, incredibly rare words, or very unusual misspellings. That's about it.

[tambre]

The benefits of the meta-keywords tag aren't minimal. They're essentially non-existent. Which is fairly easy to test by just putting up a couple of pages and waiting for them to get indexed.

yeah, but if you put up a couple of random pages just to test, of course they won't show up. you still need content and good design and structure. granted, it still might not produce a result, and sure meta keywords might not be important at all and sure maybe non-existent. unless you were referring to actually making a legit website with good content, design and structure and then testing it out and waiting to see what happens. if it's the later case, i'm sorry, i misunderstood.

i'm still a noob, just a year in, so i might not be as well learned, but i still think that until it starts hurting me, i'm ok. i am all about being white-hat, or maybe a shade into grey (like #F1F1F1 because as i read on SEOmoz, it's hard to be a pure white-hat) i'm all right. if i don't spam my keywords, but use them appropriately and i don't do anything optimization wise that seems fishy, i could see everything helping each other.

why couldn't good website design, site structure, content, correct linking and meta data help each other out? so MSN flat out says that they don't use meta data at all? does that mean we shouldn't still put in a meta description just in case it hurts us because MSN doesn't read it? we, or at least i, still have a meta description. Google doesn't read keyword tags, what about other search engines? don't they all feed of each other anyway?

i hope i don't sound confrontational... that is in no way my intention.

thank you!
tambre

[abc1234]

Thanks to everyone for there input so far, I can't believe a question out of my curiosity has got so many responses.

Thanks

[rmccarley]

It's a good question that has some debate behind it.

Who said that? Oh yeah!

[abc1234]

HaHaHa ... Well done rmccarley ... great prediction! :thumbs: :rofl: