MetaTags - Keyword or Keyword Phrases?

Discussion in 'SEO, Traffic and Revenue' started by ConfabIt, Jul 24, 2013.

  1. ConfabIt

    ConfabIt Regular Member

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    At the moment I'm using phrases, for example "general discussion forum, general discussion forums...etc", and thus far the results have been decent.

    However, I'm wondering if it's a better idea to go with individual keywords rather than the phrases themselves? Any idea on this guys/gals? :)
     
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  2. Cerberus

    Cerberus Admin Talk Staff

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    I ran a quick report on it and it looks fine. My only suggestion would be to limit your keywords and do a more targeted campaign on the main ones you wish to rank the best for. I tend to keep it to a minimum of about 3 to 4 keywords myself. Then target those. By doing so, you will also pull in other long tails and such. Here is a copy of the report by the way :) But, as said I would probably limit the keywords and maybe a better description. It does not really tell you what the site is other than that its a forum. You also might want to work on your keyword density. The word forum is used like wayyyy too much.. But that is just my opinion

    ai.imgur.com_324busF.png
     
  3. Sylvain

    Sylvain Regular Member

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    What did you use to run this report? This is very interesting stuff :)
     
  4. djbaxter

    djbaxter Regular Member

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    It doesn't look fine to me. It looks like what Google would consider to be keyword stuffing.
     
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  5. wowtgp

    wowtgp Regular Member

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    It certainly isn't going to go down well in Google's book.
     
  6. Programmers World

    Programmers World Regular Member

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    Yeah, I do not have personal experience with meta tags because I do not use them, even though I should. Since reading this, I think I will add meta tags to my phpBB forum. What guidelines should I follow when creating meta tags?
     
  7. djbaxter

    djbaxter Regular Member

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    Really, nobody needs to uses them any more because, other than the title tag, they are universally ignored in terms of any major search engines. Having none is not a handicap. Having spammy ones definitely is a handicap. If you're unsure, omit them.
     
  8. Cerberus

    Cerberus Admin Talk Staff

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    Actually that would not be considered keyword stuffing by google. They do not really lend much weight to meta anymore. It is included in your SERPs as far as listing description, but meta is useful for other engines. I know most people like to target only google, but you would be surprised the amount of traffic you can get from the others if you hit their first pages also. But, I agree you should only have about 3 to 4 at most in your meta for optimal performance in other engines and for the various non popular scrapers and pings and such.

    Also, as you can see from the report the way a program thinks is WAYY different than a person. It is more like a guideline/base to start from. I mostly use reports like that to get character counts and such. I am lazy LOL This is also why you should never pay anyone for SEO who does not layout a contract and stipulations they must meet for pay enhancements, otherwise you end up with a kid on fiver using automated programs just getting you spammy backlinks
     
  9. djbaxter

    djbaxter Regular Member

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    Bing doesn't pay any attention to meta keyword tags either. And the meta description tag is used only for search results snippets - both Google and Bing will override the description tag for something that they feel is more appropriate, and if yours is spammy you can be fairly confident they'll ignore it so it will never see the light of day. Meta description tags are not a factor in ranking.

    That doesn't mean they don't look at keyword stuffing from other tags as determinants of "authority" and "quality".

    Please tell us one major search engine that pays any attention to anything but the title tag (and of course author and canonical tags).
     
  10. Cerberus

    Cerberus Admin Talk Staff

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    Every major search engine uses some of the Meta, not all of it. And yes, most do not care at all about the keywords tag, but some do. It would depend on what you consider "Major search engines". Also, you kinda prove my point when I said that would not be considered keyword stuffing, if the engines does not use the tag. And yahoo, Bing, google, they parse out the meta keyword tag and remove it, just for the record :)
     
  11. djbaxter

    djbaxter Regular Member

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    My point about the meta keywords tag is that it won't help you but it can hurt you.

    Google ranking factors these days are all about relevance, quality, and authority. Anything you do that detracts from ANY of those factors, whether or not Google actually uses them for ranking, can hurt you - hence my comment that you are better to omit it entirely than to insert a spammy one.

    And again, I would respond, name one.
     
  12. andyred

    andyred Regular Member

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    To be honest, looking at those phrases you to have a diverse amount of words. You have a lot of phrases there than I would normally put myself but at least yours are about different topics and not all the same variations.

    Even though Meta Tags and Keywords are apparently not used anymore, I always ensure they are included in my sites... just incase :)
     
  13. Programmers World

    Programmers World Regular Member

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    If hardly anyone uses META tags anymore, what purpose does it serve to add them?
     
  14. djbaxter

    djbaxter Regular Member

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    Add:

    1. Title tag
    2. meta description tag (non-spammy) - not used in ranking but may be used as search engine results snippet if accurate and not keyword stuffed
    3. certain additional tags like author tags and canonical tags if desired

    Omit anything else. All it does is add to page bulk.
     
  15. MyDigitalpoint

    MyDigitalpoint Regular Member

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    I prefer to add only keywords in first instance and only if it's relevant to the site or the content add a few phrases, but never exceeding 3 or 4 words because certainly adding only long-tail keywords and complex phrases can be assumed as keyword stuffing and having Google (and other search engines) penalizing you in no time.

    Moreover, if your keyword phrases are irrelevant to your content, your visitors can feel disappointed and never return again thinking yours is a spammy website.
     
  16. djbaxter

    djbaxter Regular Member

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  17. andyred

    andyred Regular Member

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    Surely a lot of the not well known Search Engines still use them?
    I would keep my keywords on just Incase an uncommon engine has me listed. Even though it probably won't send much traffic it's still worth it in my opinion!
     

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