Even though you may have heard that keywords are dead in SEO-related headlines, that’s mostly clickbait. It’s true they do not play as large a role as they used to (from the 2000s to 2010s) but are still relevant.
My personal feeling is to use them if you have the tag option on your site. It doesn’t hurt and can only enhance the search quality of the site. However, if your site builder doesn’t offer this meta tag, they are deciding for you that keywords meta is not needed. Hopefully, they have the other top tags to help you rank effectively, such as title, description, alt, and some others.
Here are some articles for those who still find them relevant.
Here are several articles from reputable sources that discuss why keywords are still relevant in 2022.
- https://optiminder.com/keywords-in-2022/
- https://seovalley.com/blog/will-keywords-still-play-an-important-role-in-2022
- https://webpublisherpro.com/keywords-seo-in-2022/
- https://fishergreencreative.com/importance-of-keywords/
- https://www.advancedwebranking.com/blog/meta-tags-important-in-seo/
- https://www.wordstream.com/meta-tags
Here are some articles for the naysayers.
- https://www.safaridigital.com.au/blog/does-google-still-use-meta-keywords/
- https://www.clickminded.com/meta-keywords/
What it boils down to is what does Google have to say?
Here’s a video from John Mueller, a Google Senior Webmaster Trends Analyst, that helps answer the question. Plus, he offers a link to another video about which meta tags Google does pay attention to.
Keep in Mind
Even though the keyword meta tag may not hold as much weight as it did in the early 2000s, keywords are still relevant in the title, description, alt, and other tags on the site. So, you still have to determine what your keywords/phrases are for which you want to rank.
excellent information, as always