Meta Keywords
An obsolete meta tag not used by search engines, but sometimes kept for internal CMS purposes.
The `<meta name="keywords" content="...">` tag was once used to list the main keywords of a page. Due to widespread spam, Google stopped considering it around 2009, and Yandex even earlier. Today, all major search engines ignore this tag, and filling it is a waste of time.
History of the meta keywords tag
In the 1990s and early 2000s, this tag was actually used by search engines. Webmasters started abusing it, stuffing hundreds of irrelevant keywords. Quickly, search engines realised the tag could not be trusted. Google officially dropped support in 2009. Yandex did so even earlier.
Current status: ignored
Today, neither Google, nor Yandex, nor Bing use the content of `meta keywords` for ranking. Some obscure search engines might still use it, but that does not affect global SEO strategy.
Should you fill it in at all?
- SEO – useless, don‘t waste time.
- Internal systems – some CMS (e.g., ModX) use this tag for internal search, tags or categorisation. Check if you rely on it.
- Competitors – through this tag you can see which keywords they considered important (but that doesn‘t mean they are actively targeting them).
- Privacy – if you‘re worried about competitors snooping, just don‘t fill it.
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