Author Topic: What's the right way to do long tail keywords? (Read 2988 times)

qwikad.com · « **on:** 24 Oct 2019, 12:40:32 pm »

Should we include the entire sentence (as much as possible) or just the keywords from the sentence or what? As an example:

Code: [Select]

<meta name="keywords" content="what are the best golf courses in florida for small children">
or should it be:

Code: [Select]

<meta name="keywords" content="best golf courses florida small children">
or should it be something else?

Are the words like in, for, the, a, is, are, etc. taken into consideration by Google or Bing?

Jason Knight · « **Reply #1 on:** 24 Oct 2019, 02:31:00 pm »

It's called keywords... not keyphrases, not keysentences, but keyWORDS.

It should be seven or eight single words or proper names that exist between <body> and </body> as plain text content on which you'd like to get a small uprank. Said words should be separated by COMMA's.

Hence:

Code: [Select]

<meta
  name="keywords"
  content="best,golf,courses,florida,children"
>

Would be what I'd use, but ONLY if those words exist inside the document body. I try to drop adjectives when possible.

It's not a word jumble where you list every possible combination, it's not a place to stuff full sentences or fragments, it's for words and proper names.

The example I use is you'll often see this:

WRONG, DO NOT USE

Code: [Select]

<meta
  name="keywords"
  content="plymouth babysitter, plymouth ma babysitter, Massachusetts babysitter, plymouth massachusetts babysitter, overnight babysitter, overnight babysitter plymouth massachusetts"
>

they'll go on like that for every possible combination of words, when that's GUARANTEED to get that tag ignored by search, all doing the job of:

CORRECT, this is how it's used!

Code: [Select]

<meta
  name="keywords"
  content="babysitter,overnight,plymouth,massachusetts"
>

Search is usually smart enough to figure out that Mass, MA and Massachusetts are the same thing.

... and again this only works/does anything if ALL the words used exist as plaintext / CDATA / textNodes inside your document BODY.

That's it, the be-all end-all of what the keywords META tag is for. Anyone telling you to put full sentence in there, or to delimit it with other characters like spaces, or stuffing it full of words that don't even exist on the page? Yeah, they're full of it. Talking out their backside.

The abuse/misuse of this particular META is why so many people are convinced the keywords META does nothing anymore. Quite the contrary, it's just that with nobody using it right, they don't get the benefits. Even Google seems to have forgotten their own rules about it, claiming it no longer works on their own searches when it seems that used properly, it still does.

It's right there in the name, keyWORDS.

qwikad.com · « **Reply #2 on:** 24 Oct 2019, 04:57:42 pm »

I understand what you're saying, but long tail keywords ARE phrases that serve the same purpose as keyWORDS. In long tail keywords something like "bed bath and beyond" or "how to make money" will be considered a keyword (or a keyphrase).

My question was what is the right way to use them. Are words like: is, are, and, of, in, a, an, etc. considered to be vital or should I omit them?

Jason Knight · « **Reply #3 on:** 24 Oct 2019, 05:58:31 pm »

Quote from: qwikad.com on 24 Oct 2019, 04:57:42 pm

My question was what is the right way to use them. Are words like: is, are, and, of, in, a, an, etc. considered to be vital or should I omit them?

The right way to use them is as content, completely written, marked up semantically. They have ZERO business in your keywords META because that is not what said meta is FOR.

Though if single words in them are important, put a copy of those words with unique meaning in the META. Just remember to limit yourself to just eight words from the entire page. No more! No more... What are these words? Explain! EXPLAIN!!!

... and that means 8 words with actual meaning unique to the content, so yes adverbs, conjunctions, and the like have no business in the META... but again, long-tail phrases have NOTHING to do with said meta. AT ALL. Zip, zilch, nein, nada.

But when people talk long-tail phrases, they should be talking about content inside <body> and placement in semantically higher ranked tags like your numbered headings or inside <em> or <strong>. As complete phrases or even sentences they should use proper English (or whatever the language in use is) so yes, long-tail should include those words when in the content -- inside body -- aka where they go!

Anyone out there talking about long-tail keywords AS something involving the keywords META isn't qualified to flap their yap on the topic, and is probably trying to pack you full of sand.

Sadly "long tail phrases" if repeated on a page are bad writing, not "writing for the user" and whilst it may provide a short term boost in the rankings, it can also get you pimp-slapped clear off the SERPS for obvious abuse / gaming of the system.

Part of why I think "long tail phrases" are more SEO scam artistry than useful content generation. Type of thing that gives you a brief and temporary boost, but over the long term does more harm than good. PARTICULARLY given how the way many SEO "experts" slop them into pages is actually bad writing.

Again, what Matt Cutts told us all those years ago: "write for the user, not the search engine."

If a phrase doesn't occur naturally during content generation, shoe-horning it in "'cause teh surch enjens" is NOT "writing for the user". It's gaming the system and whilst it might trick the engine in the immediate, don't be surprised if Google's anti-spam division sees it and decides "NO SOUP FOR YOU!"

I've watched that happen a few too many times to people suckered by people who "specialize" in just SEO -- completely banned from the listings from abuse. Which is a horrifying prospect!

It's part of why a lot of these tricks exist and are promoted as they ARE sure-fire ways for a quick up-rank, but only last long enough for "the expert" to Billy Joe and Bobby Sue their way to the horizon -- or WORSE use the devaluation in a couple months as an excuse to keep milking the client's wallet. Either way not a particularly ethical approach for doing business.

benanamen · « **Reply #4 on:** 25 Oct 2019, 02:14:37 am »

Quote

What's the right way to do long tail keywords?

There isn't. The top search engines do not use or consider keywords anymore and have not for many years.

https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2009/09/google-does-not-use-keywords-meta-tag.html

nshep · « **Reply #5 on:** 25 Oct 2019, 05:07:52 am »

I would agree that you should omit filler words like "in, to, for, etc." in places like the URL and use the entire phrase inside your content. However, I wouldn't bother setting meta keywords anymore, at least not for the major search engines.

Jason Knight · « **Reply #6 on:** 25 Oct 2019, 06:12:13 am »

Quote from: benanamen on 25 Oct 2019, 02:14:37 am

There isn't. The top search engines do not use or consider keywords anymore and have not for many years.

That's actually a myth, where -- as I said in my posts -- I think Google has forgotten how they work and when/where/why they are ignored.

People have used it incorrectly for so long, that so few sites get the boost from it, that even Google thinks it does nothing where it DOES if you use it right.

Though there are hints of that in what he said:

Quote

In those days, keyword meta tags quickly became an area where someone could stuff often-irrelevant keywords without typical visitors ever seeing those keywords. Because the keywords meta tag was so often abused, many years ago Google began disregarding the keywords meta tag.

They began disregarding it if you had more than 8 words/proper names and 96 characters and zero relevance to the text content inside BODY. This is why places like SeoWorkers a decade and a half ago added that to their SEO checking tool.

But it's been ignored when abused for so long, people are now convinced it doesn't work. Even the places where it DOES still work if you just use it for what it is FOR!

Be honest, when's the last time you saw a keywords META that was 7 or 8 single words, comma delimited, that also existed as plaintext inside the BODY of that same page?

But that's irrelevant here because long tail keywords, keywords research, etc, etc refers to content placed into BODY, and has not a single blasted thing to do with the keywords META!

The very subject of this thread, "long tail keywords", is completely unrelated to that META tag! Just because both have the word "keywords" in them doesn't mean they have the slightest thing in common.

Think of it like Java and JavaScript, which is like Ham and Hamburgers.

Same could be said of "friendly URI's" which have NOTHING to do with being SEO friendly. Search engines do NOT use words from the URI as part of your ranking, that's BS. The friendly URI's were created to be USER friendly by letting a user know where they are going on the target site before they click on the link, just in case the text of the anchor is skeezy. ALL the people who call them "SEO friendly URI's" don't know the first thing about why they are friendly or who they are for... and who they're for has not a blasted thing to do with search engines! I don't know who started calling them that, but they were so wrong they many never be right again... the people who keep blindly parroting that incorrect name for it? Well, I hope they're not too far gone; withdrawn; the conclusion foregone.

I would even say the same of people who say that XML, or made up tags in HTML, or classes and ID's are somehow magically "semantic" -- showing they clearly have no clue what "semantic markup" means, what it is for, who it is for, or why it exists.

qwikad.com · « **Reply #7 on:** 25 Oct 2019, 05:05:09 pm »

Quote from: benanamen on 25 Oct 2019, 02:14:37 am

Quote
What's the right way to do long tail keywords?

There isn't. The top search engines do not use or consider keywords anymore and have not for many years.

https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2009/09/google-does-not-use-keywords-meta-tag.html

I see. I knew the engines were not relying on keywords per se, but there has been a chatter over the past few months that because of all the voice searches long tail keywords were the way to go. Looks like it's all meaningless brouhaha.

Jason Knight · « **Reply #8 on:** 25 Oct 2019, 10:39:35 pm »

Quote from: qwikad.com on 25 Oct 2019, 05:05:09 pm

I see. I knew the engines were not relying on keywords per se, but there has been a chatter over the past few months that because of all the voice searches long tail keywords were the way to go. Looks like it's all meaningless brouhaha.

NO, long tail keywords are a thing. You incorporate them into the CONTENT of your site. This has NOTHING to do with the META that search engines ignore if you use them wrong.

Two completely unrelated subjects that just happen to share the word "keyword".

Long tail keywords and keywords research is about finding phrases people are searching for and incorporating them into your content -- inside headings, inside strong/em, inside appropriate semantics. It has absolutely not a single blasted thing to do with the keywords META tag.... unless you want to add a word or two from it AFTER you've done it properly.

Don't know how many times I need to say that or word that differently.

CUTCODEDOWN
Minimalist Semantic Markup