Not too long ago, the Meta keywords tag was very useful in helping pages win on search engines by getting on top of the search engines results page. Unfortunately, since the Meta tags keywords have been abused by unscrupulous webmasters, search engines such as Google and Bing have had to de-emphasize their importance. Still, Meta keywords SEO should not be taken off web pages completely.
Meta Tags Keywords
A Meta tag keyword is the hidden text which is placed in the ‘head’ section of a HTML page. Meta tags are used by most major search engines for indexing websites based on the keywords they use and their descriptions. It is very important to use Meta tags keywords, especially in SEO, as well as a good title if one expects to be found at the top of most search engine pages. However, Meta tags keywords are not the only thing search engines will look at when ranking sites.
Guidelines for Using Meta Keywords Tags
Meta tags keywords should adhere to the following guidelines:
- Keep your list of keywords or keyword phrases down to ten or fifteen unique keywords or phrases.
- Separate the words or phrases using a comma.
- Do not repeat the words or phrases which you use.
- Place your most important words or phrases at the beginning of your list.
HTML Keywords
Keywords that are used in HTML are just words that allow a person to find something they are looking for online. HTML keywords are made out of short phrases which represent what the webpage or its content is all about. These could also be the words that a person types in when using a search engine like Google.
However, the most common use of the term HTML keywords is in Meta data or the Meta keyword tag, which is written in the HTML code and looks something like this.
<meta name=""keywords"" content=""keywords,html keywords,meta keywords,keyword data"" />
Since search engine spiders search for code (html keywords) as well as content, it would probably be a good idea to take advantage of them on your page. This is where research comes in. Before you create a page or content, it is important to search for html keywords that are important for your SERPS ranking.
The following are some of the areas you should focus on.
- Title tag
- Heading Tags
- Link labels
- <strong> and <em>
- File names for external CSS files or images
- Alt attributes
- Table elements
- URL of the pages
- Meta description tag
- The first line of the first paragraph
- Acronyms and abbreviations
Another Option
If you are going to include Meta keywords for SEO on your web pages, you should probably ignore the keywords tag, and use the Meta description tag instead. This type of Meta tags keywords is used by almost all search engines to help them describe your web page in their index. The extra information could mean the difference of a customer clicking on your site for information or the competitors.
Using a Meta Keywords Generator
A good way to determine the keywords in your HTML is to use a Meta keywords generator. There are many online tools that can analyze the content on your web page and tell you exactly how many times various phrases have been used on your page. These are typically known as keyword density analyzers.
Another use of a Meta keywords generator is when titles and Meta tags are not properly optimized. Search engines will not have the information that is needed to properly rank and display your page in their search results. By using one of the free Meta tag generators available online, you can create the basic key elements so your title and Meta keyword tags are at least search engine friendly. This will also mean that your web page will rank better or higher in all search engines too.