Are Keywords in Meta Tags still important? A sordid Past, and Promising Future
Keywords in ‘Meta’ tags in technical SEO and the impact on search has a long – and somewhat sordid past. From the now mostly defunct keywords tag to new fields like rel-author and other structured data, Many SEO’ers have their own ideas as to what matters – and why.
This past Tuesday I was asked to speak at Edmonton’s Online Marketing Meetup and weighed in on the subject. Check out my spare-no-expense power point presentation below:
If you simply can’t bear the suspense and are too busy to relish in the awesomeness of the above, Here’s the summation and takeaways:
Summation:
- Generic Keywords tag doesn’t much matter, but can’t hurt. Just don’t spam it.
- A Meta Description with well crafted keywords AND that offers brand uniqueness is most likely to win.
- Google (temporarily) featuring brand first in Meta Title – A Potential De-valuing of keyword ordering.
- Newer Rich Snippets assisting CTR and trust – Authorship, reviews, and beyond
Takeaways:
Google preferring Brands:
- Doesn’t have to be Coke or Pepsi or Viagra, but simply put, a brand is something that Google is more likely to trust. Trust can be as simple as verified G+ pages, phone #’s , addresses, citations, co mention, etc.
Google Wants to establish and favors UNIQUENESS in their search snippets – not generic keyword crap:
- Google wants to showcase each company’s differences and specialties. At some point in every niche, I feel there will be this sort of ‘critical mass’ where just being an ‘Edmonton mortgage broker offering low rate mortgages’ is not enough; customers and consumers are aware that everybody on the first page *must* provide the product or service; the uniqueness will establish HOW you do it and help determine if it’s a good fit or a good match.
Which of your unique traits will resonate with your customers?