Keywords in meta description tag

key1 key2, key1 key3, etc...

[tomda]

Could you clarify the following for me.

My meta description currently has the following format :
keyword1, keyword2, keyword3, keyword4 ....

One of my competitor currently has the following format:
keyword1 keyword2, keyword1 keyword3, keyword1 keyword4...

Is keyword1 keyword2 different than keyword1 keyword3? If yes, then can I repeat the keyword1 as much as I like or is there any restriction?

Thank you

[sem4u]

Most search engines do not place much emphasis on the meta description tag, but some do use them as the description under your link title in the SERPs. I would concentate on making a sentence make sense than trying to stuff it with keywords.

[tomda]

Oups, so sorry!
I meant meta keywords tag...

Surely, meta description should be a sentence.

[larryhatch]

Are you asking if commas with spaces are differently treated than just spaces?
If so, and as far as I know, both methods are OK and should make no difference. - Larry

[larryhatch]

Oops! I should have read your message more carefully.

I think you are asking which is preferable:

a) widget, parts, sales, service ... or
b) widget parts, widget sales, widget service ..

Good question! I used to do b) but switched back to a).

Why? I wanted to avoid any hint of KW stuffing, that's the only reason for me.

Anyone else? - Larry

[buckworks]

then can I repeat the keyword1 as much as I like

Once a keyword/phrase has been mentioned once in your keywords tag, there's not much to be gained by repeating it, especially not multiple times. Few search engines pay much attention to the keywords tag these days, and some of the smaller ones that do are reputed to penalize you for excessive repetition.

Suggestion: Craft a basic set of keywords that relate well to your on-page content, then leave it at that. It's likely more productive to turn your attention to finding smooth ways to weave a few more keywords into the page's visible content.

[sharbel]

I agree. Making sure your web-copy is crafted nicely with coherant sentances that have your keywords in them is much more effective than keyword tags.. Dont forget the Title tag too..

[tomda]

Thanks for your comments!

Most of the things needed for good ranking are in my webpages : good title, H1 to H5, alt/title in img/anchor, good content, daily feed, etc...

Nonetheless, I am planning to go to the b) model.

Why?
Just because my main keyword is non competitive so only two or three combinaisons have high search. So I though that I could do something like :

key1 key2, key1 key3,
key2 key3, key2 key1,
key3 key2, key3 key1, etc..

I know this is "word stuffing" as you said and that I should take care not to exceed a certain percent of word repetition.

Is this justify and is it really playing with fire?

[kosar]

i thought there wasnt much emphasis on the meta keywords tag any longer?

[tomda]

May be for Google... But I don't know about Yahoo and MSN.

Because all bots are currently doing deep crawling, I though it would be good to enhance my keywords!

Any comments welcome

[sadelb]

what are the top 3 things that search engines look at for good rankings...

[tomda]

I would say:
1/the title;
2/the header tags (h1, h2 ... h5); and
3/anchor title.

[larryhatch]

I put up the best meta keyword set that I can, even if Google doesn't look at it.
Other engines might or do, and Google could change in the future.

Doing so, I make sure that

* Every meta kw is present somewhere in the visible text.
* List of keywords is not to short or too long.
* No word is repeated exactly, singular and plural kws at most.
* The most important / relevant kws come first.
* Some kws are unusual, little used or rare. Must also be in the text again.