What Are Meta Keywords?
Meta keywords are a piece of HTML metadata once used to tell search engines what your page is about. It looks something like this in the code of your page’s head:
- <meta name=”keywords” content=”keyword one, keyword two, keyword three”>
Back in the early days of SEO, webmasters added them to help pages rank for relevant search terms. The old practice was to list all relevant keywords, so search engines know your page covers those topics.
Today, that thinking is outdated.
Why Meta Keywords Should Be Avoided
Search Engines Don’t Trust Meta Keywords Anymore
Google publicly confirmed back in 2009 that it completely ignores the meta-keywords tag for rankings. It hasn’t been part of Google’s algorithm for more than a decade.
What Google confirms:
Google openly states that it only looks at certain HTML tags to understand a page. Things like the title tag, meta description, canonical tags, robots directives, and structured data.
The meta-keywords tag is not on that list.
Google doesn’t read it, doesn’t use it to understand your topic, and doesn’t factor it into rankings. To Google, it’s simply ignored.
In short:
- Meta keywords no longer help.
- At best, they’re useless.
- At worst, they may raise flags.
Looking to clean up outdated tags and optimise the parts that actually matter? Cloudex Marketing can audit your site’s metadata and structure to ensure every tag earns its keep.
Meta Keywords Overuse, Abuse, And Algorithm Evolution
Meta keywords once worked. But they were easy to abuse. People stuffed in long lists of keywords (even irrelevant ones) to try to trick ranking systems. That forced search engines to evolve.
For Example:
A page about “garden tools” might have had a meta-keywords tag like:
- <meta name=”keywords” content=”spades, garden forks, buy garden tools online, best digging fork, gardening gloves”>
The goal wasn’t relevance. It was to capture any search possible.
This behaviour forced search engines to evolve.
Modern ranking systems now rely on what’s actually on the page:
- Real Content Quality
- Semantic Context
- User Behaviour
- And How Well You Answer Search Intent
They’re smart enough to understand a topic without a “keyword list” hidden in the code.
Thus, the meta keywords tag lost its value.
Risks & Downsides Of Using Meta Keywords Today
Using meta keywords may not just be pointless. It can be counterproductive.
- It adds no ranking benefit, so time spent managing meta‑keywords is wasted.
- It reveals your keyword strategy. Any competitor can view your page’s source and see what keywords you target. Not ideal if your strategy relies on unique keyword targeting.
- Possible spam signals (on some engines). Over‑stuffing or irrelevant keywords might count against you, especially on browsers/search engines sensitive to old‑school SEO “tricks.”
For most modern sites, keeping meta‑keyword tags is simply overhead with no real upside.
What Works Instead: Where to Place Your SEO Efforts
If meta keywords are obsolete, where should you focus your SEO energy? Here are the places that matter:
- Title tags: The visible page title in search results.
- Meta descriptions: Short summaries under the title. They influence whether people click.
- Heading tags and on‑page content: Real, meaningful text that delivers your value and covers user intent.
- Image alt text: Helps with accessibility and gives search engines context about images. If you’re unsure how to write it properly, our guide on how to write effective alt text will help you learn it with clear examples and best practices.
- Structured data & semantic HTML: Helps search engines understand context, schema, and page structure.
These elements all influence modern SEO. Unlike a hidden meta‑keyword list.
If you want to rebuild your SEO foundations, with current best practices and full transparency, drop us a message, and our SEO team will show where you’re wasting effort and how to refocus.
When Meta Keywords Still Have Minor Use (but not always)
Bing still recognises the meta-keywords tag, but only in a negative way. Bing’s system mainly uses meta keywords as a signal to detect spam, not to reward relevance.
In other words:
- If you stuff or misuse them, Bing will flag your page. But it won’t help you rank.
Today, the meta-keywords field provides zero SEO value and only downside, which is why modern sites drop it entirely.
There are a few more edge cases where meta keywords still appear, but none provide an SEO advantage. However, Google makes it clear that they don’t influence crawling, indexing, or ranking in any way.
Where meta keywords still show up:
- Internal site search or older CMS setups: Some legacy systems use meta-keywords to organise or classify content internally. This is a backend convenience, not an SEO benefit.
- Older ad platforms or contextual systems: A few outdated networks may reference them for basic targeting, but modern ad systems rely on real content signals and structured data instead.
Better alternatives today:
- Clean taxonomy and category structures
- Internal tagging systems
- Structured data (schema)
- Clear, descriptive on-page content
- Proper metadata (title and meta description)
In short:
- Meta keywords still function inside old systems, but they offer no search value and are easily replaced by modern, safer solutions.
Drop Meta Keywords, Invest Where It Counts!
Meta keywords are an SEO relic. They offered value once. But not anymore. If your site still uses them, you’re putting time into something search engines ignore.
Better to redirect that effort into the following:
- Crafting Strong Titles
- Clear Meta Descriptions
- Useful Content
- Clean Code
- And Proper Metadata (alt text, schema)
That’s real, modern SEO. Not old-school guesswork.
Conclusion:
Meta Keywords Are Dead. Move Forward!
The “meta keywords” tag had its time from the mid-1990s through the early to mid-2000s. But search engines evolved. SEO moved on. In 2025, and later on, we won’t see meta keywords as an essential or compulsory in the SEO universe.
Clinging to outdated tactics keeps you stuck in the past. Real visibility today comes from real content, real metadata, and real user‑focused optimisation.
If you want an SEO strategy grounded in what actually works, not what used to, Cloudex Marketing is ready 24/7 to help you build it.
