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Is the meta keywords tag truly dead, or does anything read it?

  • Published November 6, 2026
  • Linked from 1 answer
  • In a cluster of 63

For Google, yes. Its page on the meta tags it supports lists the tag under unsupported ones and says “The meta-keyword tag is not used by Google Search, and it has no effect on indexing and ranking at all.” Google said the same in a September 2009 blog post, explaining that it had stopped using the tag because it was so widely abused. Other software can still read it, but none of that affects how Google ranks your pages.

Who might still read it

Reader Does it use the tag? What that means for you
Google Search No, for indexing or ranking Filling it in is not SEO work
Your own site search or CMS Only if configured to Check your own setup before removing it
Other search engines and tools Depends on each one's own documentation Check the specific tool if it matters to you
Competitors viewing your source Yes, anyone can read it A filled tag publishes your keyword list

The last row is the one practical cost of keeping a populated tag: it sits in the page source, where anyone can read the terms you are targeting, and it gives Google nothing in return.

What to do with the tag

  1. On existing pages, an empty or auto-filled keywords tag does no harm in Google; removing it is housekeeping, not an SEO fix.
  2. On new pages, leave it out unless an internal system you run reads it.
  3. For the effort you save, put the same thought into the parts Google does use: the title, which feeds the title link in results, and the page’s visible content. If the title is where the saved effort goes, check its length against how long a title tag can be before Google rewrites or truncates it.

Google’s SEO Starter Guide says the same in one line: Google Search does not use the keywords meta tag. Treat any audit that flags a missing keywords tag as out of date on that point.

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