Optimization of the Keywords Tag

What is the keywords tag?

The keywords tag is a HTML element that should be placed in the head section of your webpage. It provides keywords relevant to the page it is included on, so search engines can categorize a site by these words. Most search engines (like Google) don’t use the keywords for enlisting your site though! Only some of them might. Most search engines do, however, use the keywords to search for misuse, such as with the inclusion of popular words that have nothing to do with the site. Since keywords don´t give a huge advantage, many sites choose not to include them. The Internet of Bots offers a full tutorial about how to correctly implement this keywords tag, by which users and search engines can make the best use of this part of a website.

- - - Optimization of the Keywords Tag - - -

How is it used?

  1. The keywords tag should be placed within the <head> section.
  2. As a HTML Meta element, the tag should be declared by name and content. Remember to place the information between quotation marks: <meta name="keywords" content="Text">
  3. Separate the keywords with COMMA SPACE: “one, two, thee, four, five”. There are many websites that choose to only include COMMA, which is also fine: “one,two,thee,four,five”.
  4. It doesn´t matter whether you use capital or normal letters.
  5. Don´t use HTML elements, such as anchors <a>, paragraph marks <mark>, or highlighting <b> <i> <u> within the keywords tag.
  6. You don´t have to close the tag: <meta></meta>.
  7. Make sure there is (only) one keywords tag per page.

<head>
<meta name="keywords" content="the, internet, of, bots">
</head>

Why is it important?

  • Some search engines might use the keywords for enlisting your site.
  • Search engines check your keywords to detect misuse.

What can I do to check if my description is good?

  1. Make sure every page of the site has a unique keyword tag
  2. Try to limit the tag from 20 up to 30 words
  3. Have the name of your website / company included
  4. Make the keywords correspond to the title, description, H elements, and / or the text of the page
  5. Don´t use keywords that have nothing to do with the website / page!
  6. Make sure the tag is defined correctly (see ´How is it used?´)

What is the exact position to place the tag?

This is a difficult question, since different developers have different opinions. The main thing is to place the title tag in (the top) of the head section. The Internet of Bots uses the following order as proposed bij Bootstrap 3:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<title>Optimization of the title tag - The Internet of Bots</title>
<meta name="description" content="The keyword tag is a HTML element... ">
<meta name="keywords" content="The, Internet, of, Bots" />
[...]

Suggestions:

  • Open a website and view its sourcecode. Here you can see how the website has defined its description tag.

External references:

  1. W3schools explaining the keyword tag
  2. Meta tags that Google understands
  3. Google search for HTML keyword tag

The Internet of Bots • Questions, additions or corrections? Please feel free to contact us.

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