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Do meta keywords still matter for SEO?

No. Google announced in September 2009 that it does not use the keywords meta tag in web search ranking, and it still doesn't support it. Google dropped it because site owners stuffed it with irrelevant keywords visitors never saw. Today the tag only shows competitors which keywords you target, so remove it from your templates.

This no longer works. Google announced in 2009 that it does not use the keywords meta tag in web ranking and still doesn't support it.

Status Evidence Applies to Retired
Retired Official guidance Google, Bing September 2009

Why it stopped working

Google announced in 2009 that it does not use the keywords meta tag in web ranking and still doesn't support it. It only exposes your target keywords to competitors.

What to do instead

  1. Remove meta keywords from templates
  2. Put the effort into titles, headings and body copy instead

Example

The tag to delete
<meta name="keywords" content="seo, seo tools, best seo tools">

Questions

Do meta keywords hurt SEO?

Not in Google rankings, since Google ignores the tag in web search. The real cost is that it hands competitors your keyword list in plain view of your page source.

Why did Google stop using meta keywords?

Because the tag was widely abused. Site owners filled it with irrelevant keywords that visitors never saw, so Google stopped considering it for web ranking.

Does Google use the meta description for ranking?

No. Google said in the same 2009 announcement that it does not use the description meta tag in ranking either. It sometimes uses the description for the search result snippet.

What should I do instead of meta keywords?

Put the effort into titles, headings and body copy, which are what Google reads to understand a page. Use the words your audience uses naturally instead of a hidden list.

Sources

Change history

Date Change What changed
Oct 30, 2026 Added Added to the rulebook.

Checked against its sources every Monday. Only content changes are listed.

Rules that work instead