Does the meta keywords tag still matter for SEO today?

The meta keywords tag was once a signal used by search engines to understand the topic of a page. At a time when semantic analysis was in its infancy, this tag allowed webmasters to explicitly declare their targeted keywords.

However, this system was quickly abused: keyword stuffing, endless lists of terms unrelated to actual content, widespread spam. Google stopped using it over fifteen years ago—officially confirmed in 2009, but likely abandoned long before that.

What led Google to abandon this tag?

The fundamental issue with meta keywords is that it was declarative and non-verifiable. Anyone could write anything in it without the actual content of the page following suit.

Google gradually developed semantic analysis algorithms capable of understanding the content of a page without needing assistance. The tag became redundant, and then counterproductive due to spam.

Are other search engines still using it?

Some minor engines like Yandex or Baidu have historically continued to use it, but with marginal weight. Today, even these players have largely evolved towards advanced semantic analysis models.

In short, if you're optimizing for the French or English market, the meta keywords tag is utterly useless. Even in Russia or China, its impact is negligible compared to other on-page signals.

Can the tag harm SEO if it's present?

No, it has no direct negative impact. Google simply ignores it—it neither penalizes nor boosts. It's just… invisible to the algorithm.

The only risk is revealing your keyword strategy to your competitors. Some SEO tools scrape meta keywords to analyze site targeting. It's better not to make it easy for them.

• Google has disregarded the meta keywords tag since at least 2009
• No major search engine gives it significant weight today
• The presence of this tag doesn't have a negative impact but may potentially expose your strategy
• Removing the tag from your templates is a good cleaning practice
• Focus your efforts on tags that actually matter: title, meta description, Hn tags, structured data

Does this statement align with real-world observations?

Absolutely. For the past fifteen years, no correlation has ever been observed between the presence or absence of meta keywords and SERP positions. A/B tests conducted by the SEO community confirm the complete absence of impact.

We still see legacy CMS or SEO plugins that automatically fill this tag by default. This is technical folklore—a relic of the past that is perpetuated out of habit or ignorance.

Why do some SEO tools still recommend filling it out?

Good question. Some automated audits flag the absence of meta keywords as an “error” or a “point of improvement.” At best, it reflects ignorance; at worst, it’s padding recommendations to artificially inflate action lists.

A serious SEO tool shouldn’t even mention this tag, except to recommend its removal. If your audit platform still flags it as important, that’s a warning sign about the quality of that tool.

In what cases might this rule not apply?

Honestly? There’s no valid case for Google SEO. If you're optimizing for a niche search engine documented as still using this tag, feel free—just make sure the information is up to date.

The only scenario where it might be kept is for internal use: some content management systems utilize it for their taxonomy or internal search. But in this case, it’s unrelated to external SEO.

What should be done with existing meta keywords tags?

If your site still has them, you have two options: either completely delete them or leave them as is. Deleting is preferable to avoid exposing your keyword strategy and to clean up the HTML code.

Specifically, go into your page templates (header.php for WordPress, Liquid layout for Shopify, etc.) and remove the corresponding line. If you’re using an SEO plugin, simply disable the option that generates this tag.

What mistakes should be avoided when cleaning metadata?

Don’t confuse meta keywords with meta description—the latter remains crucial for click-through rates in SERPs, even though it’s not a direct ranking factor. Also, don’t tamper with meta robots tags (noindex, nofollow) or canonical tags without knowing exactly what you're doing.

Another pitfall: some CMSs or frameworks automatically generate meta keywords based on tags or categories. Ensure that disabling this doesn’t break other functionalities—test on a staging environment before deploying to production.

How can I check that my site no longer generates unnecessary meta keywords?

Display the HTML source code of a few representative pages (homepage, product pages, blog articles). Look for a line containing <meta name="keywords". If it still appears, trace it back to the source: SEO plugin, custom template, third-party module.

You can also crawl your site with Screaming Frog or Sitebulb and extract all meta keywords into a CSV export. This will give you a broad overview and you can assess the extent of the cleaning needed.

• Remove the meta keywords tag from all page templates
• Disable automatic generation options in SEO plugins (Yoast, RankMath, etc.)
• Check the source code of typical pages to confirm removal
• Never confuse meta keywords with meta description or meta robots
• Focus your SEO efforts on on-page optimizations that have real impact: Hn tags, internal linking, rich snippets
• Regularly audit your metadata to avoid the accumulation of obsolete tags