Keywords meta gives you away?

Could Google be weighing them against us?

[Shoestring]

It just occurs to me that it would be a super simple way for Google, or any engine, to know the keys you are targeting and effectively weigh them negative when scoring.

I do not have any hard and fast facts to support the theory, but a couple of eye raisers where we mistakenly left them out on a revision that have made me wonder...

Thoughts?

[Beachboy]

Oh I don't think so. Google is aware that the keywords field has been around far longer than they have and that probably 90% of all site owners do something with it. To penalize for using it would yield very bad search engine results.

[Quadrille]

M Keywords got so abused a few years ago that G and others stopped using them for their intended purpose, as that would have been a gift to spammers.

Since then, usage has become so inconsistent, that no-one could rely on them for anything.

That doesn't mean that things won't change tomorrow - but for any chance of value to SEs, the intended use would need to be announced.