There has been a lot of talk lately as to whether meta keywords matter in Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Meta keywords are keywords in the top of a HTML webpage document (outside of the content). The tag looks like:

meta name="keywords" content="your keywords here"

Traditionally, this tag was used by search engines to categorize webpages for search results. After years of abuse, search engines like Google have engineered algorithms that analyze a webpage in ways that don't necessarily depend on the contents of this tag.

This isn't to say that the tag is deprecated. It's not currently known what impact this tag has on SEO, but a recent experiment I conducted proves that other factors weigh more.

Despite not having any keywords meta tag, one of my articles has turned up on the first page of Google for a particular keyword phrase 'css equal height columns' (without quotes).

Google Results ScreenshotTonight, I added a wordpress plugin that creates keywords and description meta tags. Previous to this evening, I had no keywords meta tag for my articles. I did, however, optimize in other ways. Want to know how I got on the first page of Google in less than 21 days?

Blog Optimization Techniques

Using a Phrase with Traffic

I happen to know that a lot of designers are faced with the challenge of equal height columns using tableless layout, so I wrote an article about it. It doesn't matter if you know what tableless layout or CSS is, it matters that people are searching for solutions for the issue. Knowing people are facing this issue on the internet, means people are searching for solutions. This means traffic! :)

Niche Topic

Another aspect to consider is how specific the topic is for this article. It's in a specific niche, and despite the 278,000 results for the unquoted phrase, the article turns up on the first page. Why? Keep reading...

The URL Matters

Or does it? The jury is still debating on this one. However, in the url of this post, 'css-equal-height-columns' exists. With the hyphens, search engines are supposed to recognize this as a phrase in the url.

Despite the unknown impact, it's better to cover all bases and have another keyword occurance.

Web Standards

My page validates! So many webpages out there don't validate to W3C standards. The markup is light and clean, so it's easy for the search engine bot to parse and understand.

I also have the advantage of title tags on my links (extra keyword occurances). Notice, I didn't say 'keyword packing'. Keyword packing is a phrase that describes a 'black hat' SEO technique where you pack a lot of keywords in to try to rank higher on the search engines.

Search Engine algorithms pick this up and can black list you for such 'black hat' SEO techniques.

Keyword Phrase First in the Title

Notice while you're reading reading this article, the title of the article is first in the title of the webpage in your browser application. To see this, look above of the webpage itself and at the window of the browser. At the very most top of the browser application window, you'll see the article title. This is also the text used if you save this article to your favorites.

By using the article title first, it has priority.

Keyword Phrase in H1

Here is where web standards come into play. My first header is marked up with a h1 tag, meaning header 1. My keyword phrase comes first in this tag. Notice the repeat.

First Paragraph Importance

I didn't even realize it, but I used the keyword phrases 'equal height columns' and 'CSS' in the first paragraph, near the beginning of the paragraph. I actually used 'equal height columns' twice, in my natural language without conciously intending to pack keywords in the first paragraph. However, I am aware that this helps in SEO.

The lesson here is, get to the point. By getting straight to the point of discussion, the article is easier to read and better for SEO.

Link Importance

Within the article, I am linking to two websites that rank highly for CSS. Great for the reader (additional resources) but also creditable to the search engine algorithms.

Domain Name Age

Another factor to consider is that I've owned this domain for over 3 years now. Search Engines also weight on domain age. If you just registered your domain, it may take a little while to gain some creditability. If Search Engines didn't consider age, spammers could set up sites in a day and turn up high on search engine results, making search engines pretty useless. Give a little time for your new domains before expecting search engines to weight it highly.

Wrapping Up...

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a large topic and subjective to a point. Experiementing with techniques is a great way to learn more about how to rank highly. Don't be afraid to experiement and learn.

SEO is more than keywords in the meta tag, and don't consist of 'keyword packing'. Repetitive use of a keyword increases the rankings of your page for that phrase. Repetitive use of a keyword doesn't mean you need to 'dumb down' your content by sounding repetive. It requires thoughtful use of keyword phrases in different elements of a webpage.

SEO also includes off-page optimization (e.g. - links from other websites). But that's a topic for another article....

About the author:
Diona Kidd
Internet Development Professional, owner of http://www.knowmad.com and http://www.studio12a.com . Any reproduction of this article needs to have an html link pointing to http://www.studio12a.com