Do Search Engines Care About Meta Keywords?

[davidcorman]

I have read in some places that search engines care very little if at all about meta keywords. Is this true or is it still worthwhile to put in meta keywords?

[bailey.rein]

yes, because google will know what your site is all about because of meta tags..

[mokmok69]

I think some search engine like yahoo still care about that specially keyword density.

[BlackEyes]

Search Engine give a little value on your meta keyword..And i think the SE that gives meta more value is Yahoo..

[Wit]

Hmmm. Trick question.......:

How can a serious search engine (including Yahoo!) produce decent results if it values the "keywords" meta which -- let's face it -- has been spammed to death by lots of webmasters?

[phoenix06007]

all SE give values on meta.. but dont give your focus on here. there are other factors to consider for your optimization.. just don't forget to include the meta.

[Wit]

All SE? On meta tags? POSITIVE value (I mean not to wade out spam but to actually rank a page based on meta tags)?

Please show an example :)

[rustybrick]

phoenix06007, yea, where did you get that from. That is scary, that you would say that.

[sem4u]

Google doesn't even take meta keywords into account when ranking sites. Yahoo still uses them but they are of little value really these days.

[stevewalter]

Nice discussion.

Yes meta tags are very important.......

[Wit]

Yes meta tags are very important.......

In what way?

[seo Shruti]

Yes, Yahoo is giving more preference for meta keywords from other search engines.

[bpatton]

I would think so

[hasmat]

I am not clear about meta keyword. do u tell me how can i find this?

[Wit]

Really, don't bother :) Use your energy for stuff that really counts for something.

[hasmat]

i need to know more about meta keywords. anyone help me?

[destlecare4]

hi
steve is right they are very important and these search engines like google,yahoo,msn and other give preference to meta keywords or meta tags...

[Wit]

Prove it.

As far as I know, a lot of contributors to this thread have learned SEO back in 1998.

I would appreciate it if somebody, ANYbody, could point to a decent test that proves the significance of "meta keywords" when trying to get a webpage to reach the top of Google's results pages for a decent keyword/keyphrase.

Honestly :rolleyes:

So.... please educate us instead of blindly rehashing ancient SEO rules.

[totutoo2]

According to my own experiences, some search engines still give weight to meta tags.

Search Engines such as Yahoo and MSN still use meta tags as part of the determining factors for ranking a site. Although the amount of importance may be small, when it comes to search engine optimization (SEO) every little bit helps.

So, pay attention to it!

[dubizzle]

Yes of course they are very important.

[Wit]

According to my own experiences, some search engines still give weight to meta tags...

So, how exactly did you find out?
I'm yet to hear about a decent test that proves that metas help a page rank well.

[hasmat]

Thanks, for your information.

[Wit]

Thanks, for your information.

hasmat, no information has been shared yet. It's still all speculation up to this point.

[4everyoung]

Some Search Engines Still Give Weight To Meta Tags - Search Engines such as Yahoo and MSN still use meta tags as part of the determining factors for ranking a site. Although the amount of importance may be small, when it comes to search engine optimization (SEO) every little bit helps.

[Wit]

Again the same question: how exactly did you find out?

[SM911]

Yes they care about meta keywords but this is not only thing!
The content is the king so the keyword density is important in the content.
The meta tags relevancy is also important.

[Wit]

Ummmm, you are making this thing worse by dragging "keyword density" into it.

Could someone please add some sort of PROOF that both Microsoft and Yahoo! use meta tags for RANKING purposes?

In fact: the next farmboy replying to this thread w/o any form of proof -- or at least a quote from a well-respected source -- will be banned.

[jonpaul]

Hey, key words are really important. I run a site for a local locksmith, and without key words it would be really hard to describe what he does all day in his workshop.

Sorry, had to say something silly. Been gone a while, then came back after reading RustyBrick's advice on Google Ad Management. Totally mad discussion. But I am feeling more optimistic about things now. Why? Because now that I have been fired from my banking job of 12 years, I am now hitting it out alone as a search engine marketing professional (amongst other things) and to see so many people providing such outdated and misinformed information on SEO as fact proves to me that I really can provide a valuable service to the non-SEO bricks and mortar community.

Cheers.

:peep:

[stephen186]

I agree with moderator on this issue......we do not really have any proof that microsoft and yahoo are giving more importance to metatags than google...

[raj_krv01]

In a effort to show more relevant search results search engines had to add additional factors and criteria into the way they ranked a website. Since then search engines have been paying much more attention to the content of a site as well as a number of other factors.

These days some search engine such as Google pay little if any attention to meta tags in an effort to improve the quality of search results.

[NickStamoulis]

People have many different theories about this but without a doubt I think nicely written meta tags using keywords is a very important process in SEO.

[Wit]

Can I just ask you: what was it that finally got rid your "doubt" ?

[businesscredit]

Yes of course. For better results, better to optimized the site on-page too. :)

[Wit]

Ummmm, you are making this thing worse by dragging "keyword density" into it.

Could someone please add some sort of PROOF that both Microsoft and Yahoo! use meta tags for RANKING purposes?

In fact: the next farmboy replying to this thread w/o any form of proof -- or at least a quote from a well-respected source -- will be banned.

Got rid of one - for starters.
NickStamoulis got off the hook when he added the words "I think" :) Problem is tho: we're looking for evidence now - not theories. Especially not theories that search engine officials claim are NOT TRUE. Um ok - who's next? :ban: