On-Page Optimization: Meta Tags

Meta Keywords Tag

It's questionable whether the keywords meta tag carries much weight these days, if any at all. Subject to long and hard abuse, it's fallen into dis-use by search engines the last few years. There is still the possibility that some search engines may still make some use of it, however limited, particularly the smaller ones, so it's still a good idea to include just in case, if for no other reason than to accurately identify what the page is about. It can still be useful to a webmaster for documentation purposes to establish the focus of the page for reference purposes, so it isn't a bad idea to include it, although it isn't really necessary.

Proper format for the keywords meta tags:

Primary touch-points for keywords meta tag:

Number of total characters
Number of keywords/phrases
Repetition
Use of commas

To Comma or Not to Comma

There have been many debates over whether or not to include commas to separate keyword phrases in the keyword meta tag, which some leaning toward not using commas to enable more varied phrasing by search engines.

Yahoo does does suggest using commas in their current webmaster documentation, as did Inktomi, and since there is indication that the keywords tag may carry some degree of weight for scoring with their engine, it can serve us well to include the commas.

Note: More to come on this page