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Ten Tips for Optimizing a Web Page for Search Engines

Aug 24, 2007

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6. Use Meta Keywords

Much like the meta description tag, the meta keywords tag doesn't show up in the content portion of your page—actually it doesn't show up anywhere, but the search engines do read it and use it. However, the tag is insignificant when it comes to using it to gauge relevancy for a web page.

In the past, webmasters and marketers alike would fill this tag with hundreds of keywords, thinking this would propel them to the top of the rankings. That strategy worked in 1999. Because of the abuse of this tag, however, search engines have devalued it in terms of relevancy. So with that in mind, you're probably wondering "why should I bother?"

If you're optimizing a web page for a particularly competitive market space, filling the meta keyword tag with your keywords isn't going to make a difference at all, so in this case—unless you have copious amounts of free time—leave the common words out of the keyword tag. What you can spend your time on is utilizing the meta keyword tag for common misspellings that you don't want to show in content that is visible to the searcher.

Here's a sample usage for the Oasis Camel example:

<meta name="keywords" content="cammel rides, camle rides, camell rides, carmel rides">

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