Meta keyword tags are out, good content is in. Imagine!
Try this sometime. Go to your website and right-click (Ctrl-click on a Mac) anywhere on the page that doesn’t have a picture. Select “View Source” from the context menu.
You’ll see the code that makes your page viewable in web browsers. If you scroll to the very top, you may see something like this:
Example of meta tags in a web page
The text highlighted in yellow includes the keyword meta tags. They’re invisible to viewers, but search engines can see them. Once upon a time, this was one of the ways that search engines found your website; that made them useful for SEO (search engine optimization).
But here’s something very, very important to know: Google doesn’t search meta keyword tags anymore.
You don’t have to take my word for it. You can check out this Google video blog and get the facts right from the horse’s mouth.
At C3 Advertising, we still include meta tag keywords in websites we develop for our clients. They don’t hurt, and they may be helpful for some other search engines. But the real trick to optimizing your website for search engines is to fill it with well-written, relevant content.
Good content gets Google’s attention, and gets the attention of others in your market, which causes some of them to link back to your site, which gets Google’s attention, which raises your ranking in searches by qualified prospects, which increases your sales.
Some people think that your content should include popular search terms that have nothing to do with your product or target market. That’s nonsense. The truth is that you still need relevant keywords in your text, but they can’t be stuffed into your copy like candy in a piñata.
Here’s the right way to include keywords in your copy:
“We offer the largest selection of fine patio furniture in Southern California. The next time you’re in Redondo Beach, visit us for designer patio sets, wood, aluminum, and wicker patio tables and chairs, wrought-iron bistro sets, market umbrellas, and beautiful outdoor lighting. Try our handy Outdoor Living Room Resource Guide to help you plan.”
You get good Google results and are talking to people ready to buy in terms they understand; in addition, the resource guide is a reason for people in your target audience to link back to you and to share your site with others.
Here’s the wrong way to include keywords in your copy:
“We offer the largest selection of patio furniture Justin Bieber, Charlie Sheen, Prince William and Kate Middleton would love. Our patio furniture, outdoor furniture, market umbrella, outdoor lighting, patio tables, patio chair store is in Redondo Beach, which is near Manhattan Beach, Torrance, El Segundo, Hermosa Beach, and Palos Verdes Estates in California, Southern California to be exact, zip codes 90277, 90278, 90266, 90501, 90502, 90503, 90505, 90245, and 90274, where Britney Spears and other Sexy Stars In Bikinis hang out, sometimes Tiger Woods, rarely Barak Obama, but not usually Snooki, The Situation, the Real Housewives of Atlanta, the Japanese tsunami or radioactive fallout. Also Libya, March Madness, and the iPad2.”
You think I’m kidding, but I have seen pages written this way. You might get a momentary Google bump before being banished to page 148 of search-engine results — justifiably — for stuffing your page with nonsense, but you’ll get lots of searches from 14-year-olds in no position to buy a $2,000 redwood patio set. Worse, your qualified buyers will think you’re an idiot, or insane, and click away before they catch something.
Trashing your website with irrelevant keywords is useless, and damaging to your site's success as a marketing tool.
Remember, search engine rankings do not equal qualified prospects, click-throughs, or sales. Instead of tweaking meta tags or buying expensive services to turn your website into a keyword piñata, hire yourself a good copywriter and get good search engine rankings while using your site to sell stuff. What a concept!
