{"id":130008,"date":"2020-12-15T14:24:19","date_gmt":"2020-12-15T19:24:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/?p=130008"},"modified":"2023-10-05T03:02:49","modified_gmt":"2023-10-05T08:02:49","slug":"meta-keywords","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/meta-keywords\/","title":{"rendered":"Meta Keywords: What Are They and Should You Use&nbsp;Them?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"intro-txt\">Meta keywords are <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-meta-tags\/\">meta tags<\/a> that you can use to give search engines more information about a page\u2019s content. They\u2019re found in a webpage\u2019s HTML source code, and are not visible to visitors.<\/div>\n<p>Here\u2019s an example of a meta keywords tag:<\/p>\n<p><code>&lt;meta name=\"keywords\" content=\"seo, search engine optimization\"\/&gt;<\/code><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s easy to add meta keywords in most website builders and CMS\u2019, but should you bother?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"#do-you-still-need-meta-keywords\">Do you still need meta keywords?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#meta-keywords-use-cases\">Other use cases for meta keywords<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#remove-meta-keywords\">How to remove meta keywords<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"Do you still need to use meta keywords?\" data-section=\"do-you-still-need-meta-keywords\">\n<h2>Do you still need to use meta keywords?<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>Google hasn\u2019t used the meta keywords tag to help rank web pages for at least a decade. We know this because Matt Cutts, Google\u2019s former Head of the Webspam Team, released <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=jK7IPbnmvVU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a video<\/a> in 2009 where he&nbsp;said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>[\u2026] we don\u2019t use the keywords meta tag in our search ranking<\/blockquote>\n<p>Fast-forward to 2020, and according to <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bill_slawski\/status\/1266409136125734913\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a recent Twitter poll<\/a> by Bill Slawski, most SEO professionals no longer use the meta keywords tag.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Do you still use meta keywords tags on pages you optimize?\u2014 Bill Slawski \u2693 (@bill_slawski) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bill_slawski\/status\/1266409136125734913?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 29,&nbsp;2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>However, it\u2019s important to remember that there\u2019s more to SEO than Google, so there are a couple of reasons why you might still want to use the keywords meta&nbsp;tag.<\/p>\n<h3>1. It may still be used by Yandex<\/h3>\n<p>Yandex is the Internet\u2019s largest Russian search engine, with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.liveinternet.ru\/stat\/ru\/searches.html?slice=ru\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a market share roughly equal to that of Google\u2019s<\/a> in Russia. Their official documentation <a href=\"https:\/\/yandex.com\/support\/webmaster\/controlling-robot\/html.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">states<\/a> that meta keywords \u201cCan be used when determining the page\u2019s relevance to search queries.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Does this mean that meta keywords are a proven ranking factor in Yandex search? No. But as that page has only been live since late-2018, the information is likely still accurate.<\/p>\n<p>Even so, as one person mentioned on Twitter, it\u2019s probably a low-weight factor.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">\u201cOfficially\u201d they say they still do, but I think this is a very low weight factor, even for \u044f\u043d\u0434\u0435\u043a\u0441. This is the consensus among most of us who have done SEO in Russian \ud83d\ude42<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/RrNAmzR0Vb\">https:\/\/t.co\/RrNAmzR0Vb<\/a>\u2014 orun bhuiyan (@orvn) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/orvn\/status\/1266417952515067904?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 29,&nbsp;2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re curious about other <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/alternative-search-engines\/\">search engines<\/a>, it looks like none of the major ones use meta keywords:<\/p>\n<h4>Bing<\/h4>\n<p>In 2014, Bing stated in <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bing.com\/webmaster\/2014\/10\/03\/blame-the-meta-keyword-tag\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a blog post<\/a> that the meta keywords tag is \u201cdead in terms of SEO value.\u201d This was effectively confirmed in 2020 when Bing\u2019s Head of Evangelism <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ChristiJOlson\/status\/1266415751172247552\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">tweeted<\/a> the same&nbsp;thing.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The meta keyword tag is dead in terms of SEO value for <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BingWMC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@BingWMC<\/a>. We exclude it and ignore it. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CoperniX?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@CoperniX<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/facan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@facan<\/a>\u2014 Christi Olson (@ChristiJOlson) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ChristiJOlson\/status\/1266415751172247552?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 29,&nbsp;2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>However, in 2011, Bing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.seroundtable.com\/bing-wont-rule-out-meta-keywords-tag-29535.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">hinted<\/a> that it could be used as a spam signal to help identify low-quality pages. It\u2019s unknown whether that\u2019s still the case, but it\u2019s definitely not a <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/google-ranking-factors\/\">ranking factor<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h4>Baidu<\/h4>\n<p>In 2012, a Baidu engineer <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20201028033221\/http:\/\/bbs.zhanzhang.baidu.com\/thread-7625-23-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">stated<\/a> in their webmaster community that \u201cMeta keywords have long been in the garbage heap of history, and we will ignore them directly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However, on <a href=\"https:\/\/zy.baidu.com\/academy\/detail?id=2961\">a page<\/a> updated in April 2020, they&nbsp;say:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Title, description and <strong>keywords<\/strong> are important for Baidu to evaluate page\u2019s value.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>As it makes sense to trust the most recent information, it seems the keywords meta tag could be a ranking signal in&nbsp;Baidu.<\/p>\n<h4>Naver<\/h4>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Naver\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Wikipedia<\/a>, Naver handles 74.7% of all web searches in South Korea. And while we couldn\u2019t find a definitive statement about their use of the meta keywords tag, there\u2019s zero mention of meta keywords throughout their <a href=\"https:\/\/searchadvisor.naver.com\/guide\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">extensive documentation<\/a> on optimizing your website.<\/p>\n<p>Given that fact, we can assume it\u2019s either not used or is a very low-weight factor.<\/p>\n<h3>2. It\u2019s used for some internal site searches<\/h3>\n<p>Most popular CMS\u2019 don\u2019t use the meta keywords tag for internal site searches, but some internal search systems can, including SOLR, Algolia, and ones built on Elasticsearch.<\/p>\n<p>If any of these power your internal search, you might need to use the keywords meta&nbsp;tag.<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"Other use cases for meta keywords\" data-section=\"meta-keywords-use-cases\">\n<h2>Other use cases for meta keywords<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>You\u2019ve probably realized by now that most people don\u2019t need to use the keywords meta tag, but there are a couple of things you can use it&nbsp;for.<\/p>\n<h3>1. Create an internal tagging system<\/h3>\n<p>Many CMS\u2019 and website builders make it easy to add meta keywords to pages, as do many free <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/best-seo-plugins-for-wordpress\/\">WordPress SEO plugins<\/a>. This makes it easy to \u2018repurpose\u2019 the tag for an internal keyword tagging system. Just set the tag as your target keyword on each&nbsp;page.<\/p>\n<p>For example, if our page\u2019s target keyword was \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-tips\/\">SEO tips<\/a>,\u201d it\u2019d look like&nbsp;this:<\/p>\n<p><code>&lt;meta name=\"keywords\" content=\"seo tips\"\/&gt;<\/code><\/p>\n<p>If you do this on every page, it\u2019ll be easy to check whether you\u2019ve already targeted a keyword in the future. Just crawl your site with an auditing tool like Ahrefs\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-audit\">Site Audit<\/a>, then use <strong>Page Explorer<\/strong> to look for pages with your keyword in the meta keywords tag.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"543\" class=\"wp-image-130007\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/1-page-explorer-keywords.png\" alt=\"1 page explorer keywords\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/1-page-explorer-keywords.png 1600w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/1-page-explorer-keywords-680x231.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/1-page-explorer-keywords-768x261.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/1-page-explorer-keywords-1536x521.png 1536w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/1-page-explorer-keywords-650x220.png 650w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\"><\/p>\n<p>There are three reasons it can be useful to do&nbsp;this:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Help prevent keyword cannibalization. <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/keyword-cannibalization\/\">Keyword cannibalization<\/a> is where a website targets the same keyword across multiple pages. It can cause all kinds of issues, like undesirable pages outranking desirable pages.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Avoid overlapping work. <\/strong>If you work in <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/enterprise-seo\/\">enterprise SEO<\/a>, there are probably many people and teams working on similar things. Having an internal keyword tagging system helps prevent multiple teams from targeting the same keyword.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Find collaboration opportunities. <\/strong>If you see that you\u2019re not ranking well for one of your keywords, you might want to collaborate with another team to improve and update your content.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Just know that there\u2019s one potential downside to using the meta keywords tag for this purpose, which we\u2019ll talk about in <a href=\"#remove-meta-keywords\">the next section<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>2. Find \u2018seed\u2019 keywords from competitors<\/h3>\n<p>Bill Slawski\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bill_slawski\/status\/1266409136125734913\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">recent Twitter poll<\/a> shows that roughly 33% of people still use the keywords meta tag. As some of those people will undoubtedly be your competitors, this can come in quite handy for finding \u2018seed keywords\u2019 during <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/keyword-research\/\">keyword research<\/a>. Just look for the keywords meta tag on your competitor\u2019s homepage.<\/p>\n<p>For example, here\u2019s the keywords meta tag for the homepage of a popular toy&nbsp;store:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"119\" class=\"wp-image-130005\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/2-meta-keywords-homepage.png\" alt=\"2 meta keywords homepage\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/2-meta-keywords-homepage.png 1600w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/2-meta-keywords-homepage-680x51.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/2-meta-keywords-homepage-768x57.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/2-meta-keywords-homepage-1536x114.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\"><\/p>\n<p>It lists a bunch of toy-related keywords like <em>toys<\/em>, <em>climbing accessories<\/em>, <em>climbing frames<\/em>, <em>games<\/em>, <em>inflatables<\/em>, <em>pre school<\/em>, <em>sandboxes<\/em>, <em>slides<\/em>, etc.<\/p>\n<p>Paste any relevant ones into a <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/free-keyword-research-tools\/\">keyword research tool<\/a> like Ahrefs\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/keywords-explorer\">Keywords Explorer<\/a> and choose a keyword ideas report. You\u2019ll find thousands or even millions keyword ideas\u2014complete with estimated monthly <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/keyword-search-volume\/\">search volumes<\/a> and <a href=\"\/blog\/ahrefs-seo-metrics\/\" data-ahr=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-metrics\/\">SEO metrics<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1026\" class=\"wp-image-130006\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/3-meta-keywords-seeds.jpg\" alt=\"3 meta keywords seeds\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/3-meta-keywords-seeds.jpg 1600w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/3-meta-keywords-seeds-663x425.jpg 663w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/3-meta-keywords-seeds-260x166.jpg 260w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/3-meta-keywords-seeds-768x492.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/3-meta-keywords-seeds-1536x985.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\"><\/p>\n<p>You can use the inbuilt filters to narrow your search.<\/p>\n<p>For example, here are all the keywords related to hand puppets with low <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/keyword-difficulty\/\">Keyword Difficulty<\/a> scores.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"913\" class=\"wp-image-130004\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/4-keyword-research-filters.png\" alt=\"4 keyword research filters\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/4-keyword-research-filters.png 1600w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/4-keyword-research-filters-680x388.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/4-keyword-research-filters-768x438.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/4-keyword-research-filters-1536x876.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\"><\/p>\n<p>Just know that you might need to check a few sites before you find any useful <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seed-keywords\/\">seed keywords<\/a> because many fill their keywords meta tags with junk or leave them&nbsp;empty.<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"How to remove meta keywords\" data-section=\"remove-meta-keywords\">\n<h2>How to remove meta keywords<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>Given that you can use the meta keywords to \u2018spy\u2019 on your competitors\u2019 keywords, they can also do the same for you. For that reason, unless you have a legitimate reason to use it, you might want to remove any lingering meta keywords from your website.<\/p>\n<p>But first, you need to find&nbsp;them\u2026<\/p>\n<p>You can do this for free with <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/webmaster-tools\">Ahrefs Webmaster Tools<\/a>. Just sign up, crawl your website with Ahrefs\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-audit\">Site Audit<\/a>, then use these filters in <strong>Page Explorer<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"643\" class=\"wp-image-130003\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/5-meta-keywords-site-audit.png\" alt=\"5 meta keywords site audit\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/5-meta-keywords-site-audit.png 1600w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/5-meta-keywords-site-audit-680x273.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/5-meta-keywords-site-audit-768x309.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/5-meta-keywords-site-audit-1536x617.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\"><\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ll see a list of all pages on your website that have a meta keywords tag.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"954\" height=\"292\" class=\"wp-image-130002\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/6-pages-with-meta-keywords.png\" alt=\"6 pages with meta keywords\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/6-pages-with-meta-keywords.png 954w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/6-pages-with-meta-keywords-680x208.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/6-pages-with-meta-keywords-768x235.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 954px) 100vw, 954px\"><\/p>\n<p>If there are no results, there are no pages with the&nbsp;tag.<\/p>\n<p>From there, all you need to do is run through and remove the tags from any offending pages.<\/p>\n<p>Just know that this probably isn\u2019t worth doing if you have a big website with keywords meta tags on every page. However, if you see the same meta keywords across all pages, chances are it\u2019s being pulled from one location in your CMS or template\/theme. In which case, you can likely remove it from all pages by editing just one piece of&nbsp;code.<\/p>\n<p>That said, it\u2019s worth noting that having meta keywords tags on your site is unlikely to have a negative SEO impact. Unless you\u2019re overly concerned about competitors \u2018stealing\u2019 your keywords, your time is probably better spent elsewhere.<\/p>\n<h2>Final thoughts<\/h2>\n<p>For 99.9% of people, the meta keywords tag is useless, and filling it out is a waste of time. You should only use it if you have a particular reason to do so, like using it for an internal keyword tagging system or an internal site search.<\/p>\n<p>Other <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-meta-tags\/\">meta tags<\/a> like your <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/title-tag-seo\/\">title<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/meta-description\/\">meta description<\/a> deserve more attention.<\/p>\n<p>Got questions? Ping me <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/joshuachardwick?lang=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">on Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here\u2019s an example of a meta keywords tag: &lt;meta name=\u201ckeywords\u201d content=\u201cseo, search engine optimization\u201d\/&gt; It\u2019s easy to add meta keywords in most website builders and CMS\u2019, but should you bother? Do you still need meta keywords? Other use cases for<span class=\"ellipsis\">\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more\">Read more \u203a<\/div>\n<p><!-- end of .read-more --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":130012,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[413],"tags":[],"coauthors":[336],"class_list":["post-130008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-on-page-seo","odd"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Meta Keywords: What Are They and Should You Use Them?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Meta keywords are meta tags that you can use to give search engines more information about a page&#039;s content. 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