Correct use of meta data keywords

[xshadow]

Hi all,

I've always wondered whether or not this is the correct way to write meta keywords, but maybe someone could help.

If my keyword main keyword is 'party', my meta descriptions are: "party products, party product, party ideas, party supplies, party shop" and so on.

My question is, if I simply put "party, products, ideas, supplies, shop" then which style is best for SEO?

I'd appreciate any comments and advice, or even stories from past experiences!

thanks

[g1smd]

The meta description is much more important.

I haven't used meta keywords for years.

[dstiles]

Read somewhere that Bing looks at meta keywords - low down the chain but could still help.

We try to get our customers to suggest suitable keywords as a way of making them concentrate on what their pages are all about.

[xshadow]

Sorry, I've probably not been clear in my question. My query is that, when many of my customers search, they will search for party pack, or party ideas... Is it necessary to have these two phrases as separate keywords or would google acknowledge the presence of the two separate words party, ideas, so that if I simply added 'pack' to my meta keywords list, google would give the same value to the search if i had added party pack as a phrase?

[phranque]

according to all available evidence it's been a long time since google acknowledged the meta keywords tag

[mikeavery11]

you should be careful about meta description as meta description is much more important.

[freeflyer56]

xhadow, you can use both, or either.

Regarding meta description being dead, yes this is widely accepted. However, savvy SEO's are still using it , selectively, and correctly. Why? well, the simplest method of stopping people abusing something is to tell everyone that that certain thing is no longer being monitored or read.

Does it do any harm to use meta keywords? no. Does it do any good? well, if used correctly, possibly, maybe, who knows. Ergo, there is no reason NOT to use them.