What are cons to not to use <meta name="keywords" content="some, words" />

Question

If i only use <meta name="description" content="lorem impsum." />

I heard search engines does not give importance to Keywords.

<meta name="keywords" content="some, words" />

So is it ok to not to use Keywords?

Answer 1

I have heard the same. However search engine algorithms are not static and may change over time. Furthermore not all search engines treat the keywords tag equally. I think you should include it if possible.

Answer 2

Google analyzes your page content and gives higher priority to other parts, but I don't know of any reason not to include meta tag keywords.

Answer 3

I heard search engines does not give importance to Keywords.

Google doesn’t use the keywords meta tag for the web search (Source).

However, Yahoo (Source), Bing (Source), and other search engines may still be using them with various degrees of importance. They may also be used by internal search engines.

So is it ok to not to use Keywords?

"... I hope this clarifies that the keywords meta tag is not something that you need to worry about, or at least not in Google." - Mutt Cutts (Google doesn’t use the keywords meta tag in web search)

Answer 4

I have been looking for evidence of Meta Keyword support for years and never found any documentation that they are supported by anyone. Never. Most of the recommendations supporting them are recycled from everyone else.

Some people say that they may be used in the future... well, I'll get to that in a moment. Other people say that Keywords can't hurt so just include them anyway. But they are incorrect.

Meta keywords are great for letting your competitors know your SEO secrets. You wouldn't tell your competitors this information directly so, don't use them. These are the only people that are likely to look at your Meta Keywords.

Since Google set the bench mark of quality software, Search Engines must perform to very high standards to be successful. It's too easy for consumers to switch to Google which is trusted and reliable.

Consider this:

To build quality Search Engine you must, first of all acquire high quality information for indexing. This is the foundation of your product.

You must also protect your search index from being manipulated by third parties for their benefit. Your users will probably not have the same interest as a third party who can modify your Search Engine's behaviour.

Meta keywords are not derived from the content of the web page though any process that can be considered reliable. Meta Keywords are not directly related to web pages in any way and can be manipulated without consequence. This makes meta keywords a low quality source of information. They are what's known to programmers as "Tainted Data", data that is not to be trusted.

If you build your Search Engine to index low quality information, your Search Engine won't return useful search results. I propose that it would be impossible to build a search engine today that uses meta keywords that would work well at all.

It's important to stop using Meta Keywords and try to put the Meta Keywords myth to rest. They just waste everybody's time and are counter productive. Remember, It's not good practice to add features to your website that don't work. The time you spend with something that doesn't work could be better spent with something that does. Or maybe go look out the window and admire the sky. You'll be better off.