How to Write Keyword Meta Tags

Keyword meta tags were once considered the most important factor in search engine optimization (SEO). Today they're considered the least important, as it's widely believed that most search engines don't even take keyword meta tags into consideration when deciding how to rank your page. But as long as there are any search engines out there still paying attention to keyword meta tags-and there are-it's important to know how to use them.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Make a list of every keyword or keyword phrase that you believe people would use to search for a business like yours online. Try to come up with at least fifty of them. Though you never want to repeat a keyword within your keyword meta tag, some phrases may contain the same words as in other phrases. For instance, if yours is a website promoting your writing services, your keywords or keyword phrases may include "writer, copywriter, creative copywriter, article writer, environmental writer, web content writer, writing, copywriting, writing services, Internet writer," and so on.

2. Take your list of keywords or keyword phrases and test their traffic with an online tool typically known as a keyword popularity checker. This tool will tell you how often people are actually searching for your keyword or keyword phrases. You can search "Free Keyword Popularity Checker" to find this tool (see Resources below).

3. Though you never want to copy another website's meta tags, it is OK to learn what keywords or keyword phrases are being used by your top-ranking competitors. To find out who your competitors are, simply do your own online search using your top two or three keywords. Write down the website addresses for the first 2 or 3 results for each search. Then use a meta tag analyzer to find out what keywords or keyword phrases they're using. You can search "Free Meta Tag Analyzer" to find this tool (see Resources below). If you see keywords or keyword phrases that seem appropriate for your website too, incorporate them into your own list. Just be sure to use the keyword popularity checker on them too.

4. Rank your keywords or keyword phrases in order of popularity and edit accordingly. Some sources recommend that you limit your keyword meta tag to 48 words. Keep in mind that one keyword phrase with two words in it counts as two words.

5. Write your keyword meta tag by separating each keyword or keyword phrase with a comma. List them from the most important keyword or keyword phrases to the least important. Though this may be in the order of your popularity numbers, it may not be exact. For instance, "writer" is searched more often than "environmental writer," but if I specialize in environmental writing, then I want that to be at the top of my list.

6. Incorporate your keywords or keyword phrases into the copy on your webpage. A recommended ratio of keyword density is 3 to every 100 words.

Tips & Warnings

• You do not want to use the same keyword meta tag on every page of your website, as every page has its own unique focus and the keywords should reflect that difference. So for every page, repeat Steps One through Five above.
• The most searched keywords last month may be different this month. That's why it's critical that you reassess your keyword meta tags on a regular basis and make changes accordingly. Plus, you may add new products or services that would benefit from keyword inclusion.
• Search engine optimization is a tricky task that's both science and art. So do yourself a favor, and don't get discouraged just because you don't see the kind of results you want right away. Just keep learning all you can with the Other SEO Tools linked to below.

Resources

• Keyword Popularity Checker
• Meta Tag Analyzer
• Other SEO Tools

[scottmitzi]

on 5/19/2009 This is actually driving me crazy! I keep reading about keywords and meta tags is totally new. Are the keywords the words that are underlined in my articles? Thanks for the research, I'm off to visit some of your resources.

[doban]

on 3/31/2009 Thanks for the info on keyword meta tags

[starinfo]

on 1/2/2009 Thanks a lot for posting such a wonderful article. I believe this will help me. I was thinking about researching meta tags a little more. I use them for the entire site but not for each individual page. Keep up the good work!

Star

[hlthychoclitnut]

on 1/2/2009 Learning more and more about keywords