Search Engine Optimization (SEO): how to make my website rank well in the search engines
Optimize with the Keywords meta tag
So far we’ve talked about carefully choosing your top keywords and phrases, making sure your file names are optimized, revisiting your title tag to ensure it has your keywords in it, and optimizing your meta description tag. What’s next?
The keywords tag used to be a very important tool when optimizing a site for the search engines. This was the spot to put all your important keywords. The search engine would read the words in that tag and index you accordingly. Unfortunately, unscrupulous web designers began stuffing their keywords tag with dozens of completely unrelated (sometimes very offensive) search terms - so the search engines moved away from placing emphasis on this tag.
Having said this, it’s surprising to note that many of the smaller, yet popular, search engines are still using older technology, including the Meta keywords tag. For that reason alone it’s worthwhile to still include the keywords tag in your optimization plan.
The Meta keyword tag is a piece of HTML code that goes inside the <head></head> section of the web page, usually placed after the Meta description tag. It contains a list of keywords or phrases, always separated by commas, that describe the subject matter of that particular page. Make sure that they keywords you provide are actually found within the content/body of your site. It’s also helpful to have them in your Title tag, Meta description tag, and Alt tags as well.
Here are some important things to remember when writing your keywords tag. First, keep the length of the tag under 500 characters (including spaces), and always use commas between each keyword. Never repeat a keyword or phrase more than three times. Be sure to place your most important keywords or phrases at the beginning of the tag. Oh (for the sake of repetition), always … always use only keywords that are found within the content of that page - keep it relevant!
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