Malav Shukla

The Keyword Tag

Importance level of this tag: 0.1/10

Though meta keywords tags are not a major factor search engines consider when ranking sites, they should not be left off the page. Both the meta keywords tag and the meta description tag contribute to your search engine ranking. A meta keywords tag is supposed to be a brief and concise list of the most important themes of your page.

Note: Meta tags are hidden in a document’s source, invisible to the reader. Some search engines, however, are able to incorporate the content of Meta tags into their algorithms. No engines penalize sites that use meta tags properly, so it’s recommended that you always include them.

The basic syntax for Meta Keyword Tag is:

<META name=”keyword” content=”keywords, keyword, keyword phrase, etc.”>

When you write a meta keywords list, start by scanning the copy on your page. Make a list of the most important terms you see on the page. Then read through the list. Pick the 10 or 15 terms that most accurately describe the content of the page. If you can’t narrow your keyword list down to 10-15 keywords, then the content on your page may be rambling too far. Because of the hyper-competitiveness of the current search engine placement landscape, pages need to be very focused on one or two specific keyword phrases in order to have a chance to get a top ten placement. For example, a page about northern Michigan apples and central Florida oranges doesn’t have much of a chance to win for either “northern Michigan apples” or “central Florida oranges.” To have any chance to win, you need to have one page about northern Michigan apples and one page about central Florida oranges.

Another example: If your page is a list of exercise or fitness tips, and on the page you list tips for things to do before, during, and after a workout, then you need to think to yourself, “What 10 or 15 words or phrases is this page MOST about?” Just because your page mentions dieting in the text doesn’t mean that the page is about dieting. If you want to win for dieting, then create a page about dieting. The ultimate example of a page which is focused and ready for search engine optimization is a page from an encyclopedia. Each page is brief, focused, and has just one theme.