Comma in Keyword Meta?

[Texlend]

Recently I disappeared in Yahoo and MSN and I had been on page 1 for many years. I still rank well in Google however. I just read an article stating that commas should not be used for the Keyword meta. I have plenty with many keywords pertinent to my site. I am hesitant to drop them in case it worsens my positioning with Google. I have many links and have cut off the ones that are not closely related to my Mortgage business. My PR took a hit also but traffic is good. Your thoughts on the commas?

[mjtaylor]

Well, I don't think the KW meta tag is supported by Y or MSN ... but in any case, or for those SEs that do support the tag commas (which are treated as a space) are used to separate kws in that tag, but are not necessary. You can use a space instead. Neither choice will affect your position in the SERPs.

Cheers, MJ

[incrediblehelp]

Originally Posted by mjtaylor

Well, I don't think the KW meta tag is supported by Y or MSN ...

Sure it is. In fact Yahoo is the only one out of the big three that really considers it at all. Either way i personally dont use them unless they help my websites internal search relevance. If you do use them make sure that they contain keywords aligned with the content of your page. If they don't this can cause problems.

[mjtaylor]

Originally Posted by incrediblehelp

Sure it is. In fact Yahoo is the only one out of the big three that really considers it at all. Either way i personally dont use them unless they help my websites internal search relevance. If you do use them make sure that they contained keyword aligned with the content of your page. If they don't this can cause problems.

Well, yes, I see now that Yahoo supports it somewhat ... before my previous post I searched and found many sources that say it is not ... so I was not sure ... however, I did just do a second, deeper search and here's what Danny Sullivan says about the Keyword Meta Tag and its support in Yahoo and other SEs.

Cheers, MJ

[mwall]

Here's what Google thinks of your Keywords Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: Answering more popular picks: meta tags and web search

Note the comments relevant to the keywords

[mjtaylor]

Originally Posted by mwall

Here's what Google thinks of your Keywords Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: Answering more popular picks: meta tags and web search

Note the comments relevant to the keywords

Good clarification, Mwall ... we had failed to make it clear that Google does not support or factor the meta KW tag.

In the comments, John Mueller said...

You're right in that we generally ignore the contents of the "keywords" meta tag. As with other possible meta tags, feel free to place it on your pages if you can use it for other purposes - it won't count against you.

Cheers, MJ