Meta tags?

I noticed on twitter a short while ago an official announcement from Google – that they no longer use Meta tags and keywords in a web search.  I haven’t been using them for quite a while but every now and then a client insists that I use them so I install them.

In the early days of the internet, when browsers were less sophisticated, meta tags and meta keywords played a key role in being found and placement.  As the internet got bigger over time, many people abused the keywords and meta tags, applying words that were not relevant to their website content.  Because of this abuse, meta tags started being ignored  by search engines.

Can having them on your website hurt you? Not at all, BUT it does give your competition a clue to the keywords you are using.  Some practices, and I believe this is one of them, need to be discarded. I had someone copying my keywords to the letter in an attempt to gain higher placement. It’s a sneaky but legal practice, but why help a competitor?  It’s good to stay abreast of internet development, as the internet is progressing at the speed of light, and to discard archaic practices.