Most website owners are savvy enough to know about metatags.  More specifically, the Keywords Metatag.  The problem with this is that site owners often believe that the Keywords tag is an important factor in how their website ranks in search engines.  The more keywords, the better the rankings, right?

Wrong.

The very problem with metatags is that everyone knows about them.  If every site owner is trying to optimize their site by adding metatags, who gets the top ranking?  When everyone caught on to metatags (several years ago) Google and the other search engines had to come up with new ways to decide top rankings.  The fact is that SEO has grown beyond, and more complex than, metatags.

In fact, with the exception of the Title Tag, metatags are of very little importance.  Metatags need to be reinforced by something else.  It is only when combined with proper page content, linking structure and back-linking that metatags play a role in search engine ranking.

When the keywords and description match up with page content and links, Google and other search engines can view the site as being consistent or ‘honest.’  That is, a site that is developed without keyword stuffing or attempts to fool the engines and visitors.  This ‘honesty’ can play an important role in search engine ranking, but simply cramming more keywords into your metatags is likely to have no effect (or even worse, a negative impact) at all when it comes to search engine positioning.