Q and A: Can you target phrases in the META keywords tag?

QuestionHi Kalena

Quick question on the META Keywords Tag:

Is there a way to target phrases with this? It seems to be parsed by spaces, any phrase would be taken as individual words.  Is this assumption correct?

Thank you,
Cy

Hi Cy

No, your assumption is not correct. Multiple keywords can be integrated into the KW tag as phrases and both the individual keywords and the grouped phrases should be picked up by those few search engines that support the META Keywords tag.

You can either separate the phrases with commas, or just include all your keywords and phrases without commas separating them. Commas are a personal choice and I prefer not to use them in a META Keywords tag because I feel they can act like a stop word to some search engines.

Danny Sullivan likes to use commas. I don’t. That’s just how I roll.  Danny wrote a great piece about the META Keywords Tag and the Great Comma Dilemma so you can decide for yourself.

Hope this helps!

[ADDED: A few people reading this have asked me *which* search engines still support the META Keywords Tag. Judging by Danny’s tag retrieval test, it looks like only Yahoo and Ask continue to support the tag, so don’t stress about it!]

Spread the joy!