News Flash: Google Doesn't Use Meta Keywords Tag

Sep 22, 2009 - 8:32 am 2 by

Google made historic news yesterday by declaring they do not use the meta keywords tag. Okay, I am being incredibly sarcastic. Google hasn't used the meta keywords tag for an incredibly long time and any "SEO" should know that. So why did Google blog about this, on the record? At least two reasons, (1) people continue to sue over it by claiming copyright infringement and people confuse the meta keywords with the meta description, which Google does recommend to use.

So there are official posts from Matt Cutts, the Google Blog and Search Engine Land trying to erase any confusion from people who are new to this space.

If you want to know which meta tags Google does pay attention to, see this FAQ. Plus, Googler's JohnMu tweeted that Google also does "not adhere to the "revisit-after" meta tag," if you wanted to know.

Finally, here is a video if you don't want to read any of this:

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and DigitalPoint Forums.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: February 26, 2026

Feb 26, 2026 - 10:00 am
Google

Google Circle to Search Looks At The Whole Image

Feb 26, 2026 - 7:51 am
Google Ads

Google Ads API Version 23.1 Now Available

Feb 26, 2026 - 7:41 am
Bing SEO

Microsoft Updates Bing Webmaster Guidelines (A Bit)

Feb 26, 2026 - 7:31 am
Google

Google To Test Showing Vertical Search Services In EU

Feb 26, 2026 - 7:21 am
Google Maps

Google Post Recurring Scheduling Coming

Feb 26, 2026 - 7:11 am
 
Previous Story: Bing adCenter To Try Favicons in Search Ads