keywords still important?

IMHO - It's better off to have and not need than to need and not have. Though word on the street is that they are not needed any more but I think they may be coming back to a certain degree as Google does recognize "news_keywords". [searchengineland.com...]

Also in Schema they have an attribute. [schema.org...]

So, I say all of that to say "I really don't know for certain." It would be nice if we could get an authoritative definitive opinion on this. :)

I tend to agree, how are people supposed to find you without the keyword phrases?

I looked at your article re; news_kewwords" but what about a small business, who has a specific niche, aren't they needed there too?

Ya..ofcourse.....keywords are important. Everything starts with a search in the searchbox and its a 'keyword'.

And if you see in SEO aspect, keywords are really necessary to promote your webpage/website.

Before anyone says that keywords are important, take a look at the SERPs. SERPs talk, everything else walks. Just take a look at the SERPs and let your eyes tell you what is really happening at Google and Bing with regard to keywords. Forget what you think you know about SEO, just take a look at the SERPs and what you thought you understood about keywords might have to be reconsidered.

Many of the sites ranking in the SERPs do not have all the keywords you typed into the search box. The keywords are not always in the title. The keywords are not always in headings (h1). The keywords are often missing from the web page.

Just say what you mean in a way that makes sense for the user. Try not to introduce off-topic phrases.

All search is based on words of some kind or another. Keywords do exist and have some impact, but SEO keywords as we knew it is no longer operative. These days the words need context (some call this a phrase), so the entire page has more relevance than any single word (or series of words).

Keyword do matter at present. But chances are they will always matter to an extent. now the google search engines have become more sophisticated. They have started putting less importance on specific keyword and more importance on the content behind the keywords.

Search term or you can say keyword is very important in your site. If you have not added keywords in your title, description or content so how google will recognize your site for that specific keyword and how google will list your site in SERP for that specific keyword.

So it is very important to add keywords in content or you can add in title & description as well. So, whenever user search for that search query so user can find your site.