While this may be old news for some, there are still plenty of people who believe Google uses “Keyword” meta tags for ranking purposes. According to the latest video released on Google’s Webmaster Central this is simply not true.

Google does however use the “keyword” meta tag for their Search Appliance. This matches keywords, but it is not related to their main search. They go on to explain that if someone has stolen your “keyword”meta tags don’t worry about it. That person is not going to rank any higher because they are using your “keyword” meta tag. There have even been law suits for people stealing “keyword” meta tags. There is no reason to take such a drastic measure.

There may be a few search engines that do use the “keyword” meta tag but Google is not one of them. Since Google is where most people are searching it is wise to follow their advice about what works and what does not.