If you’ve done any research on how to get found in the search engines, or you’ve talked to anyone who works in the web development or SEO (search engine optimization) field, you may have seen or heard that Google no longer uses keywords, so you don’t have to use them.
For those of us who work on websites, we understand what this means. But for the layman, you might think, “Oh, I don’t have to use keywords.”
What it really means is that the search engines no longer use the keyword meta tab in their search engine algorithm. In the “olden days” of web development, you’d put a meta tag in the <head> of your website, and insert all the keywords for that page. That was standard operating procedure.
But Google no longer uses that tag. Why? Why does that tag exist if we shouldn’t use it? Keyword Abuse is why. People were stuffing as many keywords into that tag as possible to try to get ranked the highest. The truth is, Google wants to give users the best results for their searches. They want you to find what you are looking for. I remember many years back when you would do a search, and have to wade through pages of garbage just to get to a site that wasn’t spam. This isn’t the case anymore, and it’s because the search engine algorithms have become more sophisticated and effective.
But what this means for you, the website owner, is that you have to use keywords in appropriate ways so that the search engines can find your content when people are searching for it. Goodbye keywords meta tag, hello keywords elsewhere!
Where to use your keywords?
- Page title
- H1 heading
- URL
- optimized image
- meta description
- within your content
Are you using the Yoast SEO plugin? If not, you need to be. It will really help you narrow your focus on your keywords and plan a strategy better. Here’s an example of how this plugin will guide you toward better optimization. You pick your keyword phrase, and then it tells you where you have and have not met your keyword placement.
A few things to note – you want to pick one unique keyword phrase to focus on for each page. Having two splits the purpose of the page and makes it harder to index. Second note, please please please, for the love of Google, be sure that when you are doing research on how best to do SEO, read the DATES on the articles! There’s a lot of old information out there, and if your article is more than a year old, it may no longer be best practice!
So the keyword is not dead, but you have to plan how to use them properly to get the best placement for your site.
Amy Masson
Amy is the co-owner, developer, and website strategist for Sumy Designs. She's been making websites with WordPress since 2006 and is passionate about making sure websites are as functional as they are beautiful.