What Are Meta Keywords?
Meta keywords are HTML meta tags used to provide search engines with additional information about the topic of a webpage. They typically include the focus keywords you intend to target with the page.
Meta keywords are only included in the source code and are not visible on the front end. For example, a blog post on yoga could contain the meta keywords below.
<meta name="keywords" content="yoga, yoga for beginners"/>
Here, yoga and yoga for beginners are the focus keywords of the article.
Importance of Meta Keywords
Meta keywords are generally considered outdated, redundant, and irrelevant for SEO purposes, so many SEOs no longer include them in their content.
Google has confirmed that it does not use the meta keywords for ranking purposes. However, there are considerations that other search engines use them. Yandex, for instance, has confirmed that it could use meta keywords to determine how relevant an article is to a search query.
Even for Yandex, the meta keyword is a minor ranking factor that has little impact on how you appear on search results pages.
While meta keywords have little to no impact on your SEO, they are helpful for the search systems used to find documents within a site.
Meta keywords are also great for competitor research. If your competitor uses them, then you are in luck. You can easily check their meta keyword to uncover the keywords their content is trying to rank for. You can then optimize your content for those keywords.
However, this is a two-way thing. Just as you can use their meta keywords to spy on them, they can also use yours to spy on you. So, you should avoid using them altogether to avoid providing your competitor with your SEO strategy.
Meta Keywords Best Practices
The general consensus is that meta keywords are unhelpful to SEO and should be best avoided. However, if you decide to include them in your content, here are some best practices you should follow.
1 Use a Maximum of 10 Keywords
Meta keywords can lead to keyword stuffing when used inappropriately. Many bloggers used it to spam and game the Google algorithm. To avoid that, it is best practice to include between five and ten keywords in your meta keywords.
2 Only Include Relevant Keywords
You should only include meta keywords directly related to the page’s topic and purpose. These keywords should reflect the page’s main content and must be consistent with the visible content on the webpage.
3 Avoid Using the Same Meta Keywords on Multiple Pages
The keyword should be unique to the page. So, you should avoid using the exact meta keywords on multiple pages. Having the same keywords on multiple pages indicates keyword stuffing or keyword cannibalization.