How do I get my site on the first page of Google? Good content? Lots or relevant backlinks? Good site structure? The answer is yes to all of them but truth be told no one really knows how much of each you need to apply to your site to ensure good natural results. It’s safe to safe a combination of all three will set you in good stead.  There was once a time when webmasters would simply tell you that all you need is a few relevant keywords in your keyword meta tag and bingo,  you are away. Not so it seems.

Google’s own head of webspam Matt Cutts has confirmed that Google completely discounts the keyword meta tag for its main core search results. That’s not to say that other search engines don’t take this into account.

Google does however take into consideration other meta tags, including the description meta tag for example. A good useful meta description will ensure Google returns a snippet of that meta tag in its search results.

Now I don’t pretend to be an SEO expert so I would get it straight from the horses mouth and Matt Cutts blog is well worth reading.

As the keyword meta tag doesn’t seem to harm search engine rankings I wouldn’t leave it out all together, consider it meta tag insurance.

Feel free to comment with any experience you have had.