Meta Keywords Dilution?

[NiallTom]

In general, does having a large number of meta keywords listed in a page's meta keywords line dilute effort?

On other words, should I focus on optimizing for 1 or 2 keywords per page to keep my efforts focused and increase the probability of ranking better for those 1 or 2.....or should I put down all the keywords I would "like" to rank for?

Thank You

[ASCSoftware]

Are you referring to the Meta tag or keywords on your page.  If you meant the META tag then I wouldn't bother putting the effort into building the list.  I like SEOMoz.org's opinion on META keywords that they are only good for giving your competition an idea of what keywords your focusing on.

If you meant keywords in the content of your page.  I would suggest picking those that fit best and focus on making it human readable.  I would be discouraged by a site that seemed to stuff keywords in the content.

[NiallTom]

I am referring to the Meta keywords tag.  Thank you.

[matbennett]

Your best bet is to forget that meta keywords ever existed. Honestly: It does nothing of worth and just distracts from real issues.

[SimonCullum]

Hi Niall

Google no longer use the Keywords Meta Tag in their ranking algorithm, **officially announced back in September 2009 **so from an SEO perspective in relation to Google rankings, not worth spending the time on.

There is an interesting YouMoz blog post here on SEOmoz by DinkyDory from a year ago entitled "Why I Still Use Meta Keywords" which details a few reasons other than Search Rankings as to why they can still have a part to play.

My take on Meta Keywords though is that if everything else was done & there was nothing left to do, then perhaps just for the fun of it and because some directories still use them, though that really is clutching at straws.  As there will always be endless tasks to do, I for one along with many others will continue to give them a miss.

I hope that helps,

Regards

Simon

[DougRoberts]

Here's an article from SearchEngineLand about how Bing still uses the Keywords meta tag:

The Meta Keywords Tag Lives At Bing & Why Only Spammers Should Use It

Looks as if Bing use the keywords meta-tag as possible negative signal to identify spam. If you're going to use it, then be careful about over stuffing...

[NiallTom]

Good article, Doug.  Thanks!