Ah, meta keywords. You may have heard stories about websites getting significantly more traffic due to these, you might even believe it. Sorry to disappoint you, but times have changed.
Back in the day, many years ago, people used to get ranked high on Google just for using meta keywords. However, over time, they have become less and less useful. They won’t get you ranked on the front page of Google anymore, but they can help determine what your website is indexed for.
Google has come up with an amazing keyword tool for finding out how many times a keyword is searched for a month with their search engine, and how much competition there is for that keyword. You can view it by clicking here.
When you find keywords you want to use, implementing them is very simple. It is best to do them before you close the <head> tag in your page. Here is an example of meta keywords being used on a website:
<html>
<head>
<meta name =”keywords” content=”start a website, make successful website”>
</head>
As you can see, I only used two meta keywords. I do this, because if you use to many keywords on a page, the keywords may be devalued. I would recommend anywhere from 2-5 meta keywords per page. If you are adding meta keywords to a forum or blog, add the meta keywords in a theme file so they will appear on every page. Although, for individual blog posts, I do recommend adding individual meta keywords. There are plugins for it available on WordPress such as Yoast or All In One SEO.
Long Tail Keywords Are Best For SEO
Long tail keywords are keywords that are more specific. They get searched for much less, but you have a much, much higher chance of getting ranked high on search engines for it.
Let’s say for example, that I had an online store selling hats. Instead of having a meta keyword such as “hats” or, “hats for sale” on every page, I would use long tail keywords for each individual product. An example of a long tail meta keyword would be “blue baseball caps for men”. Use Google’s keyword tool for finding good keywords with low competition. It may not be searched as many times a month, but it will be ranked much higher Google results pages, and advertisers will pay more because the page will be more targeted (leading to more conversions for the both of you!)
This is why niche websites are still so successful today. By targeting a certain long tail keyword, with little competition, you’re almost guaranteed a front page ranking on Google, without having to worry about chasing backlinks or marketing your website like crazy. In fact, with the right keywords, a single niche website can make you thousands of dollars over time, with almost no promotion. Cool, right?
So let’s review. While meta keywords can make a slight difference in how your website is ranked, they aren’t some magic tag that is instantly going to bring you thousands of visitors. Should you include them? Yes. Should you research the best keywords for you to use? Yes. But should you stress about them? No, definitely not.