Genuine SEO professionals, (such as myself *cough*), have been trying to tell people [read: clients] that Google does not pay attention to keyword meta tags. And now that Google has finally put an end to this argument once and for all, hopefully we can all move on…. Or can we? Even though Google does not use Meta-Tags, there are still some very good reasons to use them (“But you just said…!?!?”).
The Hard Truth:
A meta-tag is a behind-the-scenes description of a website or its content.
Google’s blog article on meta-tags can be read here: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2009/09/google-does-not-use-keywords-meta-tag.html
Putting meta keywords in the header of your webpages does NOT help you on Google… at all… period… end of story. HOWEVER, many of the other search engines (as small as they may be) DO still use meta-tag keywords.. So while Google is the big goal for us SEO guys, putting meta-tag keywords on your pages takes little effort and does help with the other 10% of search traffic out there.
Meta-Tags Are Still Worth Implementing
Despite this news here are several big reasons why meta-tags are still worth implementing:
- Google still uses (mostly) the “description” meta-tag when showing information about your site to prospective visitors. This means you have a level of control over the first-impression your site makes in search results.
- Even though using keyword meta-tags may only help with non-Google search traffic, it is still good practice for keeping your content focused around a limited and targeted few ideal keywords. Forcing your web-masters to put meta-tag keywords on your pages will help your team keep those keywords in front of their minds as they work on your content.
- Meta-tag keywords are used for handicap reading tools, categorizing features of web catalogs and directories will reference them, and other unknown “Web 2.0″ apps are still probably using keywords to guide themselves through your site.
So while Google’s “Holy Grail” search ranking algorithm remains a mystery, at least this mystery is solved. And if another SEO “expert” talks about how important your meta-tag keywords are… you know to show him the door.
Thanks for the article. I am still coming to grips with just what, exactly, meta tags are and how they differ from normal tags at the end of a post, but your rationale seems logical.
Cheers!
John Zimmer
http://mannerofspeaking.wordpress.com/
PS – There is a significant word missing in your third paragraph )”Putting meta keywords . . .”. I believe that in the first line, the word “not” should appear between “does” and “help”.
Your headline is kinda misleading, Google doesn’t say it doesn’t use meta tags, just the keywords tag.
@John @Phil – Thanks guys, I feel silly being proof-read by my readers, let that be a lesson not to blog in a hurry! At least you know I listened
I definitely agree that keywords metas should still be implemented simply because of the minimal effort that it takes to do so. Title tags and meta descriptions will always be the most important. I dont know how Google will displace that.