Google has been the dominant search engine since the late 1990s, and they have relentlessly updated their algorithm to provide searchers with the best possible results. One thing that has remained constant, however, is their use of the keywords meta tag to help determine which websites to rank for which queries.
This may come as a surprise to some, as Google has never explicitly stated that they use the keywords meta tag in their ranking algorithm. However, there is overwhelming evidence from webmasters and SEOs who have tested this extensively that the keywords meta tag is still a very important ranking factor.
Let’s take a look at some of this evidence so you can see for yourself why the keywords meta tag should not be ignored.
Webmasters Have Long Observed The Impact Of The Keywords Meta Tag On Rankings
For years, webmasters have observed that changing the keywords meta tag on their website had a direct impact on their Google rankings. This was especially true in the early days of SEO when much less was known about how Google’s algorithm worked.
One well-known case study comes from Bruce Clay, who is considered one of the fathers of modern SEO. Back in 2001, he conducted an experiment where he changed the keywords meta tag on his website from “search engine optimization” to “bruce clay seo tools” and observed his rankings for various SEO-related queries change accordingly.
