What it looks like
<meta name="keywords" content="seo, seo agency, local seo">
Does it still matter?
- Google: doesn’t use it at all for web ranking.
- Bing: doesn’t use it as a ranking signal, and has said that stuffing it can be treated as a sign of spam.
- Competitors: can read it to see which keywords you target.
Some internal site search tools and a few smaller search engines may still read it, but for SEO you can leave it out. Put the effort into the title tag, meta description, headings and content instead.
Meta keywords example
An old site has this in the head of every page: a meta keywords tag listing “seo, seo agency, seo services, cheap seo, best seo, seo company”. Google ignores it, Bing does not reward it, and competitors can read it to see what the site targets. Removing the tag changes nothing in the rankings, and the time is better spent on titles and content.
How to check and clean your site
- View the page source and search for name=”keywords”.
- Check your SEO plugin or theme settings for an option that adds the tag.
- Turn the option off, or delete the tags if they are added by hand.
- Spend the time on the title tag, meta description and headings instead.
Meta keywords mistakes
- Believing that adding more keywords improves rankings.
- Paying for an SEO service that sells “meta keyword optimisation”.
- Copying competitors’ keyword lists into your tag.
Meta keywords FAQs
Is it harmful to keep the tag?
It is not a penalty risk in itself, but it gives nothing and can reveal your strategy. See meta tags and keyword stuffing.
Which meta tags should I use instead?
Title, description, robots and viewport, and social sharing tags. See on-page SEO.
Where keywords belong instead
The words you want to rank for belong where people and search engines actually read them: the title tag, the main heading, the first paragraph, subheadings and image alt text, written naturally. Check the pages that rank on page two for a term and see whether the term appears in these places in a way that reads well.