Re: Matt Cutts: Google doesn't count keyword or description meta tags in web searches
www.1-script.com
gbb wrote:
> I just stumbled upon this where Matt Cutts says:
> "To this day, you still see courts mistakenly believe that meta
> tags
> occupy a pivotal role in search rankings. We wanted to debunk that
> misconception, at least as it regards to Google. Google uses over two
> hundred signals in our web search rankings, but the keywords meta tag
> is not currently one of them, and I don�t believe it will be."
> And then down in the comments, you can see this (quoted from the
> video):
> �Even though we sometimes use the description meta tag for the
> snippets we show, we still don�t use the description meta tag in our
> ranking.�
> The full story is at:
> http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/keywords-meta-tag-in-web-search/
Well, this news is about 8 or 9 years old. Google has never been big on
using ANY on-page parameters, including the said meta tags. That's what
let them rise above the then keyword spam-riddled AltaVista which was back
in the last century.
Anyways, I don't know about meta keywords (though I still use them myself)
but you better make sure you have a presentable meta description: the
snippets Matt is talking about are no small issue. If the description
doesn't look enticing enough to click on your link, you hard earned
position in Google search results is wasted for nothing.
--
Cheers,
Dmitri
http://www.1-script.com/
John Bokma
> Anyways, I don't know about meta keywords (though I still use them
> myself)
Some SEs still seem to use them. Google *could* use them in a simple
way: if all keywords given are relevant for the content of the page give
a small positive score. If they are not, give a not so small negative
score. That way people who take care are rewarded, and spammers are
kicked lower.
> but you better make sure you have a presentable meta description: the
> snippets Matt is talking about are no small issue. If the description
> doesn't look enticing enough to click on your link, you hard earned
> position in Google search results is wasted for nothing.
I've used with a few pages a description, but I am not always happy with
the snippet. The advantage of basing the snippet on the content is that
more of the search keywords are highlighted (bolded) in the snippet, and
hence might look more relevant to the user.
--
John Bokma
Read my blog: http://johnbokma.com/
Hire me (Perl/Python): http://castleamber.com/