A meta search term, often also referred to as a meta keyword, is a specific HTML-meta tag, which in the past was used to inform search engines about the content of a website. It was used in the <head>-area of an HTML file and contained a list of Keywords, which should reflect the core of the page content.
Historical significance in the SEO
In the early days of search engine optimization (SEO), especially in the late 1990s and early 2000s, meta search terms played a role in the evaluation and ranking of search engines. Ranking of websites. Webmasters used the meta keywords tag to tell search engines which topics their pages were relevant to. The assumption was that the terms stored here contributed directly to visibility in the search results.
An example of the implementation in HTML code:
<meta name="keywords" content="Suchbegriff 1, Suchbegriff 2, Longtail Keyword">However, this practice quickly led to abuse in the form of „Keyword stuffing“, in which irrelevant or excessive Keywords to achieve undeservedly high rankings. In response, leading search engines such as Google their Algorithms adapted.
Current relevance and recommendations
Since around 2009, Google has confirmed that meta search terms no longer play a role in the ranking of websites. Other major search engines such as Bing have also adopted this stance. They are ignored by modern search engine crawlers when it comes to relevance assessment and positioning in organic search results.
For successful search engine optimization, it is crucial to focus on other factors that are actually relevant. These include:
- High quality and unique Content, that serves the user intention.
- An optimized meta description that encourages click-through rates.
- Concise title tags that clearly state the main topic of the page.
- A user-friendly page structure and internal linking.
- Fast Loading times and an excellent Core Web Vitals Performance.
- A strong Backlink structure through natural Links.
The meta keywords tag can still be relevant in individual cases for internal search functions on a website or for very specific, non-public use cases, but is no longer relevant for external visibility with major search engines.
