Keyword phrases vs keywords 4 meta tags-- does it matter ?

[jasse]

Hello everyone,
I have a question about my website www.jeevanhealth.com; Recently I had a website company (internet services something) contact me about my meta tags for my websites-- telling me that i have done them incorrectly. Is it okay to have keyword phrases, as opposed to having keywords? Does it make a difference????

I have gone to the site: www.sitereportcard.com and I have an 8/10 for meta tags. One thing i don't understand is how does one correct HTML codes. Much of my website comes from a template, although there is quite a bit of my own html code as well.

[jestep]

There are 2 meta tags that you are talking about. Neither of them carry much weight if any in ranking, but I believe that Yahoo still looks at them for some purposes.

Meta Keywords: make a comma separated list of all of the key words/phrases that the specific page is related to.

Meta Description: Make a short description of the information that the specific page has to offer.

You can include key phrases in either tag, just don't make it too spammy.

[buddhu]

On this same subject, out of curiosity I recently commissioned a report from a high-ranking SEO company in the UK.

Most of the report was fine, and they pointed out a few obvious oversights which I am addressing (oh the value of a fresh, objective pair of eyes...)

However, when it came to the keywords meta I was baffled. Like jestep says, this is no big deal really these days, but it may return to haunt us in the future. Anyway, I've always filled out my keyword metas like a good boy, trying to keep them page-specific and free of unneccesary repetition.

The SEO company who did the report told me that, rather than using comma separated keyword phrase as described by jestep I should do the following:

<meta name="keywords" content="number plates, private plates, car registrations, numberplates, personal number plates, cherished number plates, personalised number plates, private number plates, car number plates, registration plates, registration numbers, car registration plates, car registration numbers, personalised registrations">

could be changed to;

<meta name="keywords" content="number plates private plate car registrations numberplates personal numberplate numbers registration cherished personalised uk value valuation valuations dvla cars cheap search buy sell buying selling online on line sales sale transfer transfers rules info information guide check history rules specialist service company England Scotland wales northern ireland">

What do you think? Their way or the trad way?

I'm not losing sleep either way, but wondering how that comma-free theory came about...

[Duncan Pollock]

I don't know who the people are, but I'd certainly have nothing more to do with them. They don't know what they're talking about!
Meta tags aren't governed by the rules of grammar, I suppose, but the search engines that do take notice of keywords need -- absolutely need -- to be able to "separate the separables" and that's precisely what commas do.
As only one example from the jumblement you're advised to create, just what does cherished personalised uk value mean? The SEs certainly aren't going to realize that you're indicating (I think!) two different keywords plus one keyphrase: cherished / personalized / uk value. Nor are they going to make any (proper) sense of guide check history rules
If, as you say, the SEO company is British, it should be ashamed of itself for making such a mockery of correct English usage!

Duncan

[cspelts]

Originally Posted by Duncan Pollock

keywords need -- absolutely need -- to be able to "separate the separables" and that's precisely what commas do.

But why? If I have the phrase "San Diego California Art Education Real Estate," then won't I get results for the following phrases?

San Diego California
San Diego Art
San Diego Art Education
San Diego Real Estate
California Art
California Art Education
California Real Estate

Using commas I'd have to target those phrases separately, and then I have repetition, which could be seen as spammy.

I still use commas out of habit, but I’m seriously wondering why? And if I thought the search engines still paid much attention to the keyword meta tag, I’d probably revamp my tags.

[cspelts]

Jasse, looking at your site I’d guess the SEO company was objecting to the repetition in your keywords, not the fact that you are using phrases. You have the words "Low Back" four times in your keywords and "Lower Back" twice, and the word "Support" four times - that’s serious overkill.

In other words, if you have "Low Back Supports," you don’t need "Back Supports" too.

[jasse]

Dear Cspelts,
You certainly have a point, and i thank you for your insight. My reasoning behind doing my keywords the way i did them was because of what potiental visitors type into the search engines; they may type in low back support, or they may type lower back supports---that is why i did the keywords that way.

[Duncan Pollock]

If I have the phrase "San Diego California Art Education Real Estate," then won't I get results for the following phrases?
San Diego California
San Diego Art
San Diego Art Education
San Diego Real Estate
California Art
California Art Education
California Real Estate

This isn't the way the search engines work, at least as I understand it. What they want to determine is the primary purpose/content of your website. Is it art or art education or real estate or art education real estate or perhaps education real estate (even assuming such animals as the last two phrases exist -- and never mind the question of whether we're talking San Diego and/or California)?
Using commas will make everything clear. Leaving them out will only lead to total confusion.
I suspect you're thinking of the broad match idea, but this can (in my view anyway) be covered by a list as follows:
San Diego, California, Art Education, Real Estate
This isn't any way spammy, but (if I make an assumption about what your exact focus happens to be) I'm fairly certain that it would cover all your quoted phrases.

Duncan

PS. Perhaps one of our resident gurus could/would advise cspelts, me, and everyone else whether this "pontificating" of mine is correct or not?

[buddhu]

Originally Posted by Duncan Pollock

This isn't the way the search engines work, at least as I understand it. What they want to determine is the primary purpose/content of your website. Is it art or art education or real estate or art education real estate or perhaps education real estate (even assuming such animals as the last two phrases exist -- and never mind the question of whether we're talking San Diego and/or California)?
Using commas will make everything clear. Leaving them out will only lead to total confusion.
I suspect you're thinking of the broad match idea, but this can (in my view anyway) be covered by a list as follows:
San Diego, California, Art Education, Real Estate
This isn't any way spammy, but (if I make an assumption about what your exact focus happens to be) I'm fairly certain that it would cover all your quoted phrases.

Duncan

PS. Perhaps one of our resident gurus could/would advise cspelts, me, and everyone else whether this "pontificating" of mine is correct or not?

I'm no guru, but the way Duncan describes it is the way I always understood things to work - hence my surprise at the suggestion by the SEO company.

[adbart]

Originally Posted by buddhu

...but wondering how that comma-free theory came about...

Meta Keywords need to separated by commas. You probably got a newbie representative giving you the data!

Use their keywords by all means, but whack in commas unless you want to take the pluuuuuunge! :p

[cspelts]

Originally Posted by adbart

You probably got a newbie representative giving you the data!

I would not write this off as a Newbie giving bad advice. All my sites have commas in the keyword meta tag - but I've read recently, in several different places that it's better to skip the use commas.

I can remember - circa 1998 - when it was suggested that you use all caps, no caps, and a combination for every keyword - so you'd use "SAN DIEGO, san diego, San Diego" for every keyword! But things change...

The thinking behind no commas is that the comma serves as a way to split up keywords, so if you have "san diego, california, real estate", you will only rank on those phrases. But if you use "san diego california real estate" then you can rank for any combination.

The order of the keywords is also important - in the example above you'd rank higher for "san diego real estate" than for "real estate san diego."

If I was completely convinced this theory was accurate, then I'd strip out my commas, but I haven't seen it documented in a place I'd really trust yet. Google ignores the keyword meta tag, but other search engines do still use it, so it still has value – and you never know when conventional wisdom about this issue may change.

[adbart]

mmm I'm not convinced.