What Are Meta Keywords? | Customer Impact

The meta keywords tag is an outdated HTML tag in which you used to list the keywords you wanted your page to be found for. Let us be honest right away: that tag no longer works. Google has not used it for ranking since 2009, and neither have most other search engines. In this article you will learn what the meta keywords tag actually is, why it is dead and where to invest your time instead.

What is the meta keywords tag exactly?

The meta keywords tag is a piece of code in the <head> of a page that looks like this: <meta name="keywords" content="seo, marketing, lead generation">. The idea in the early days of the web was simple. Search engines were not yet smart enough to work out what a page was about on their own, so you told them directly: here are my most important keywords.

Visitors never see the tag. It only lived in the source code, meant for search engine crawlers. In theory, a page with “accounting software” in its meta keywords would rank better for that term. In practice, a problem appeared immediately.

Why Google ignores the meta keywords tag

Because the tag was invisible to visitors, webmasters could stuff anything into it without consequence. They filled it with dozens of irrelevant terms, popular keywords and even the names of competitors. That practice is called keyword stuffing, and it made the tag worthless as a signal.

Google pulled the plug in September 2009 and said so openly. In an official post on the Google Search Central blog, the company confirmed that it does not use the meta keywords tag in its web ranking. The reason: the tag was abused so widely that it said nothing about the actual content of a page.

Nothing has changed since. Google still ignores the tag completely. Bing, too, has for years treated it at best as a possible spam signal, never as a positive ranking factor.

So should you fill in the meta keywords tag?

Short answer: no, it does not pay off. There is no SEO benefit to gain, and there are even two small downsides:

You give away your strategy. Anyone can view your source code. Fill the tag in neatly with your most important keywords and you hand competitors a free look at what you are targeting.
It costs time without return. Every minute you spend on outdated tags is a minute you could spend on things that do work.

If the tag is already on your site, you do not need to remove it in a panic. It does no harm, it simply does nothing. If you are building a new site, just leave it out. And do not confuse the meta keywords tag with the meta description: Google does show that one in the search results and it is still useful for winning clicks.

Where to invest your time instead

The meta keywords tag is dead, but keywords are not. Search engines have simply become far better at recognising what a page is about by themselves. They read your entire content, your structure and your context. So instead of a hidden little list, these are the signals you work on today:

Strong content that genuinely answers the search intent. Google derives your topic from the text itself, not from a separate tag.
A sharp title tag. This is still one of the most important on-page signals.
Clear headings and internal links that place your page in a logical structure.
A well-considered keyword strategy that you weave into your headings, text and URLs.

These building blocks form the basis of healthy on-page SEO. If you want to understand how it all fits together, read our explanation of what SEO is or the shorter wiki entry on SEO.

Our take for B2B

We prefer to say honestly what does and does not pay off. The meta keywords tag belongs firmly in the second category: ignore it. For a B2B company with a long sales cycle, something entirely different matters. You want to be found by the handful of decision makers who are actually looking for your solution, and to convince them with content that hits their problem. That calls for relevant pages and a clear structure, not tricks from 2005.

That is what we steer on in our SEO approach: on qualified leads and revenue, not on vanity signals nobody reads anymore. Keywords remain important, but as a strategy you build into your real content, not as a hidden list.

Frequently asked questions

Does the meta keywords tag still work for Google? No. Google confirmed in 2009 that it does not use the tag for ranking, and that is still the case. Filling it in delivers no benefit whatsoever.

Does the meta keywords tag hurt my SEO? Not directly. Google simply ignores it. The only downside is that you make your keyword strategy visible to competitors who view your source code.

Should I remove the tag if it is on my site? There is no need. It does no harm. On a new or rebuilt site, just leave it out.

What is the difference with the meta description? The meta keywords tag is dead and invisible. The meta description is still very much alive: Google often shows it as the description in the search results, where it influences your click-through rate.

Not sure what actually works for your site?

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What are meta keywords? And why Google ignores the tag