The meta keywords tag is a meta element in the <head> of a page where site owners once listed keywords for the page. For Google Search it has no function. The term is historical.
What applies today?
Google’s documentation says: “The meta-keyword tag is not used by Google Search, and it has no effect on indexing and ranking at all.” Google had already announced in a Search Central blog post in September 2009 that it does not use the keywords meta tag in web ranking.
Where does the tag come from?
Early search engines let site owners state the topic of a page themselves. Since the field is invisible and easy to fill, it was widely stuffed with terms, which made it unreliable as a signal. According to reports, Bing and Yahoo ignore the tag as well, while Yandex has been named as an exception. The current behavior of other engines should be checked in their own documentation.
Example
<meta name="keywords" content="running shoes, trail shoes, sneakers">
According to Google this line can be removed without any effect on indexing or ranking. Competitors can still read it in the source code.
What to use instead
Google’s supported tags include description and robots. Topical signals come from the visible text, headings, the title and internal links. Keyword research is done outside the page code.
FAQ
Should I fill in meta keywords? For Google there is no benefit. If a CMS or plugin fills the field automatically, it can be left empty or switched off.
What is the difference between tags and keywords? Keywords are terms a page is meant to be found for. A tag is an HTML element with information about a page. The keywords tag was the HTML element meant to hold such terms.
Sources
- Meta tags that Google understands – Google Search Centraldevelopers.google.com
- Google does not use the keywords meta tag in web ranking – Google Search Central Blog (2009)developers.google.com
- Meta Tags in SEO – Conductor (secondary)conductor.com
- Meta Keywords – ClickMinded (secondary)clickminded.com
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