If I optimize for Google, Do I need the meta keyword tag?

This is old news. However, I still feel that it is important enough to cover. Back in 2009, Google stated that they don't use the keyword meta tag. On the Spunky Jones SEO Blog, I still suggest that you keep using the keyword meta tag. Therefore, I wanted to clarify why you should still use the meta keyword tag.

It is well known that Google has 65% to 70% of the search engine market share. However, there are other search engines such as, Yahoo, Bing, Ask that can deliver ample amounts of traffic to your site. Yahoo and Ask, still use the keyword meta tag in their ranking system. Therefore, I suggest that you use the meta keyword tag and don't solely optimize for Google.

In my experience, it is best to diversify and have a backup plan in action in action to cover yourself. If Google wasn't here tomorrow morning, would you still be able to do business? If your answer is no, it is time that you rethink your strategy.

If you optimize for Google, and you don't rank in first three pages, your visibility is very limited. After the 3rd page, your visibility is decreased immensely. If you optimize for Yahoo and your site hits the top page, you'll get a fair amount of targeted traffic. It won't be as much as Google could deliver. However, it is enough that can make your efforts well worth it. Furthermore, ranking in Yahoo, is often much easier than ranking in Google for the same search terms.

Example 1: Madmouse Web Directory
Keyword term: URL Submit
Google: Ranking position #17 out of 130,000,000 results. Estimated daily searches for the keyword term, 5,499.
Yahoo: Ranking position #7 out of 404,011,065 results. Estimated daily searches for the keyword term, 1,644

Example 2: Madmouse Web Directory
Keyword term: URL Submission
Google: Ranking position #0 out of 11,700,000 results. Estimated daily searches for the keyword term, 1,649
Yahoo: Ranking position #6 out of 404,011,018 results. Estimated daily searches for the keyword term, 493

As you can see above in example 1, the site ranks on Google's second page and Yahoo's first page for the search term. In this case, the first search term "URL Submit" will deliver a nice amount of traffic from both search engines. However, in the second example, the search term "URL Submission" ranks only in Yahoo. Therefore, in this case, it is better to rank in Yahoo from a fair amount of visibility.

It is my opinion that it is best to have some recognition than none at all. Therefore, I will continue to keep suggesting that you use the keyword meta tag, for as long that there are search engines that still use it in their ranking system. Furthermore, you'll never know when Google could start using the keyword meta tag.

Hope this blog post was helpful to you, "If I optimize for Google, Do I need the meta keyword tag?" Be sure to share this post with your friends on Twitter. Furthermore, I appreciate your time that you have spent here!

Spunky Jones.

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