Keyword Meta Tag

[Smuck]

Regarding keyword selection for the ‘keyword’ meta tag, and specifically a home page. Is it true that the use of the same word 3 times or more, may hurt the site in terms of ranking? In other words, is it not a good idea to use: city1 real estate, city2 real estate, city3 real estate, etc? Or is it better to use: ‘city1 real estate, city2, city3, etc?

Also, do commas serve a useful purpose in keyword lists for the keyword meta tag?

[webmaster]

You should separate your keywords with commas keyword phrase, keyword phrase 2, etc

In terms of will it hurt you? No it wont, but it wont help you either. Your meta keywords tag should be only one or two phrases summing up the 2 most important targets for the page area real estate, area state homes something like that.

[Smuck]

I have about 7-10 key phrases (or more) and many keywords. Probably like any other Realtor. What you are saying is at best we can effectively capture only a few key phrases on a home page?

I’ve looked at many websites’ meta keyword tags (for their home page, that is) to see a long list of keywords. If I understand you correctly, this would be ineffective approach, and should be shortened to those keywords/keyphrases that can be captured on THAT page (the home page)?

If this is correct, then more than a few REW forum members are guilty of this. Yes, I’ve checked, as I am trying to figure this keyword thing out. What better way to figure things out than studying the sites that rank well in competitive markets!

Part of the dilemma is deciding what the defaults should be for the CMS. I imagine you would recommend against using the default meta tags in the CMS, and customizing the meta tags, per page, throughout the site?

[kid disco]

Though the meta-keywords may have little to no weight in the search engine algorithms, I still like to put something in there for good measure.

I come from the "less is more" school of thought...

By only adding a few keywords, each keyword will be given more weight whereas the weight given to each keyword among hundreds of keywords will be diluted.

This goes for more than just the meta-keywords. For example, bolding a ton of keywords on a given page will dilute the amount of weight given to each keyword that is bolded. The lesser amount of keywords bolded, the more weight each will get.

(For you PageRank freaks, a comparable example of "less is more" may be the amount of sites you link out to on a given page... the more sites you link out to, the less PR juice each will get. Therefore, it is more beneficial for the target site to be on a page with a lesser amount of links.)

I also like adding common misspellings into the meta-keywords. Yeah, it's not a huge deal, but every once in awhile, I see visitors get to my sites by misspelling a search query...

This isn't an exact science, but these are some general points I normally follow:

• Around 20 words

• Separate each keyword/keyphrase with a comma

• Include main keywords from the page

• Keywords must be relevant to content on page

• Do not repeat the same keywords/keyphrases

• Words may be repeated in different phrases

• Use misspellings of main keywords

Honestly, I've probably thought about it way too much.

[Smuck]

I come from the "less is more" school of thought....

Would you (or anybody else reading this thread) go as far to say that only a few keywords and/or keyphrases (maybe even none) need to be on a home page, providing the subsequent pages adequeatly cover these words and phrases?

[fpforum]

is it better to use: ‘city1 real estate, city2, city3, etc?

Also, do commas serve a useful purpose in keyword lists for the keyword meta tag?

Thats how I always read and learned to do it. You will be penalized for using the same keyword multiple times (it begins to look like keyword spam)...The correct way should be: real, estate, city1, city2, city3..etc or maybe you can do it like city1 real estate, city2, city3..

[Goknights]

would you be comfortable with a new site that doesn't have meta tags?
Are they really necessary? I don't think Google even mentions meta tags in their guidelines.. Should I add tags or just leave the tags out?

[Smuck]

would you be comfortable with a new site that doesn't have meta tags?
Are they really necessary? I don't think Google even mentions meta tags in their guidelines.. Should I add tags or just leave the tags out?

Could you clarify?