Meta Keywords are words or phrases used in the HTML code of a website to help describe the content of a website and tell search engines what the website is about. Meta keywords are an important part of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) as they provide search engines with additional information about a website that can be used in their rankings.
Meta keywords are not as important as they once were, but they can still play a role in driving organic traffic to a website. It is important to understand how to use Meta keywords, and the best practices when including them in your website.
What Are Meta Keywords?
Meta keywords are to words or phrases (sometimes known as meta tags) that are added to the HTML code of a webpage to help describe the contents of that page. They are not directly visible to website visitors, but are instead visible to search engines.
When creating a Meta keyword, the content creator should think of words or phrases that accurately describe the content on the page, and that visitors may use when searching for it on the web. For example, a website about pet health advice would likely include the Meta keywords: pet, health, advice, veterinarian.
How Do Meta Keywords Work?
When a search engine crawler (a piece of software used by search engines to scan websites) visits a website, it will look for Meta keywords to help them decide what the website is about. Depending on the chosen Meta keywords, the search engine will then index the page appropriately, and decide if it should be included in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).
When deciding what Meta keywords to add to a website, it is important to ensure their accuracy and relevance to the specific page. This ensures that Search Engines index the page correctly and can boost the page's organic ranking.
Best Practices for Using Meta Keywords
There are a few basic guidelines and best practices when including Meta keywords into your website.
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Choose Keywords Carefully
Make sure the keywords chosen are relevant to the content on the page and accurately reflect what the page is about. Also, try to avoid using any stop words, such as “or”, “and”, or “the”.
Focus On Relevant Phrases
It is generally best to focus on choosing relevant phrases or terms that people may use when searching for the content on the page, as this helps to give search engines an indication as to what the page is about.
Use Synonyms and Variations
When creating Meta keywords, try to use variations or synonyms of keywords to increase the chances of the page being indexed correctly. For instance, if the page is about pet health advice you may use the variations, “expert pet health advice”, “pet health tips”, and “pet wellness”.
Avoid Stuffing
When creating Meta keywords, it is important to avoid keyword stuffing. This is when the same keyword appears multiple times in the Meta tag, which can be seen as deceptive by search engines. It can also result in decreased rankings or even getting the page removed from the search engine index.
Use Up to 10 Terms
It is recommended to stick to 10 terms or less per page. This ensure that the Meta tag doesn't become too long or difficult to read, while also avoiding keyword stuffing.
Conclusion
Meta keywords are words or phrases used in the HTML code of a website, to help describe the content of a website and give search engines additional information. It is important to understand how to use Meta keywords, and the best practices when including them in your website.
Making sure that the keywords accurately reflect the content of the page, and that no keyword stuffing is present, can help to ensure that search engines index the page correctly. While not as important as they once were, they can still play a role in driving organic traffic to a website.