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Do you need to fill the keywords meta tag and how to use it

Keywords meta tags are no longer a compulsory element in SEO promotion since the beginning of the 2000s. Search engines stopped considering manually written key queries in the website code. However, their use makes sense just because everything can change.

What is meta keywords

The keywords meta tag is a fragment of code used to indicate a list of keywords relevant to a particular page. In the late 90s, it was important, as it defined a list of keywords to promote each page in the search.

The SEO specialists used this feature for their own benefit; they tried to enter a lot of keywords. Often the keys specified in meta keywords didn't match the content of the page.

As a result of overusing keywords, the meaning of the tag is completely lost. The tag wasn't a useful signal when ranking websites, which affected the reputation of the search engines themselves.

Soon, search algorithms started to apply sanctions to websites for the excessive use of keywords. If the algorithm found many non-related keys in the keywords tag on the page, the page dropped down in the search results and was subject to sanctions.

The syntax for the keywords meta tag looks like this:

<html>
 <head>
  <meta name="keywords" content="keyword 1, keyword 2, keyword 3" />
 </head>
</html>

The keywords meta tag should be placed in the HTML code of the page in the <head> section.

Should meta keywords be used for SEO promotion in 2019?

Back in 2009, Google officially announced that the search engine would no longer take into account keywords.

It is recommended to pay attention primarily to more influential tags like Title and Description, and optionally insert keywords. Search engine algorithms regularly become more complicated. It is likely that in the future, the key phrases specified in keywords won't have any effect. Most search engine optimizers have completely stopped using the tag.

How to fill the keywords meta tag in 2019

Filling rules for keywords

Key phrases in the keywords tag must be filled with a comma, separated by a space.

Don't allow spam. The number of requests should be small. The content should be fully consistent and related to the topic of the website.

Don't repeat words. Frequent repetition of identical keywords is perceived negatively by search engines. For example, it's correct to write "buy a laptop, Moscow laptop, price" instead of "buy a laptop, buy a Moscow laptop, price laptops".

Fill unique queries. For each page, there should be a set of 2-5 keywords that are not used on other pages.

Don't register a keyword meta tag for technical pages: feedback forms, contacts, etc.

Don't enter prepositions between words in key phrases.

How to quickly fill in meta keywords for SEO

Besides manual insertion of a tag into the site code, in 2019, the simplified ways of implementing keywords have become relevant. For WordPress websites, you can use plugins with a built-in keyword tag generator. Or you can manually register requests on each page in the admin panel, after which they will automatically be entered into the site code.

In Joomla, you can do the same:

There is no such feature in OpenCart websites. Here you can add meta keywords for Google in any of the following ways:

go to the database through the hosting panel and add the script:

ALTER TABLE `oc_information_description` ADD `meta_description` VARCHAR( 255 ) CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_bin NOT NULL ,
ADD `meta_keyword` VARCHAR( 255 ) CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_bin NOT NULL

make changes to the admin/controller/catalog/information.php file after the line 270:

$this->data['entry_meta_keyword'] = $this->language->get('entry_meta_keyword');
$this->data['entry_meta_description'] = $this->language->get('entry_meta_description');

add a section of code to the file admin/view/template/catalog/information_form.tpl:

<tr>
<td><?php echo $entry_meta_description; ?></td>
<td><textarea name="information_description[<?php echo $language['language_id']; ?>][meta_description]" cols="40" rows="5"><?php echo isset($information_description[$language['language_id']]) ? $information_description[$language['language_id']]['meta_description'] : ''; ?></textarea></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><?php echo $entry_meta_keyword; ?></td>
<td><textarea name="information_description[<?php echo $language['language_id']; ?>][meta_keyword]" cols="40" rows="5"><?php echo isset($information_description[$language['language_id']]) ? $information_description[$language['language_id']]['meta_keyword'] : ''; ?></textarea></td>
</tr>

add the following code in the file admin/model/catalog/information.php after line 147:

'meta_keyword' => $result['meta_keyword'],
'meta_description' => $result['meta_description'],

In this case, you also need to add this code in the 39th line after the word SET separated by a space:

meta_keyword = '" . $this->db->escape($value['meta_keyword']) . "', meta_description = '" . $this->db->escape($value['meta_description']) . "',

add the following in the file admin/language/english/catalog/information.php after line 14

$_['entry_meta_keyword'] = 'Meta Tag Keywords:';
$_['entry_meta_description'] = 'Meta Tag Description:';

After performing one of these actions, the fields with keywords will appear in the admin panel, which must be filled for each page. To determine the list of keywords, you can use any online meta tag keywords finder or generator, for example, this one.

You need to write a list of high-frequency queries in one field and click Enter. After that, you will see a new list of low-frequency keywords that can be distributed on different pages.

Conclusion

Meta keywords can be used on the website, but this is no longer necessary. The tag doesn't affect the ranking.

Google believes that keywords meta tag is not required, therefore, the search engine doesn't analyze it.

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