Keywords

What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence - so unless you can get solid evidence you can neither prove it to be correct or prove it to be incorrect. You can only go on your personal experiences. One person may find meta tags to be beneficial, another may not. End of!

Oh and by the way - meta tags are only really there for google to pick up to show the description of the site that you want.

Proof of that Daniel?

<meta> tags in general are much more abstract than this; they specify meta information.

Don't make the mistake of thinking one <meta> tag is the same as another. They are completely different.

The use of <meta> descriptions can be demonstrated very easily. You can see when Google picks up your <meta> description and displays it under the search results.

But <meta> may also be used to provide a wealth of other meta information, such as the author name and date of the document.

I have no idea why you quoted my post when creating this one. I don't disagree with any of the above? I am super confused!

I think everyone is...lol

My own opinion from years of research is simply there is SEO value to having an optimised title tag however it needs to be kept under 65 characters, including spaces.

The only use, as far as I am aware for the keyword tag (for the main search engines) is to list mis-spelt keywords.

...and even this is increasingly unnecessary. Google, for example, suggests spelling corrections in its searches.

Ahh I didn't think of that Mike!

The only logical conclusion I can form is that there is a correct way to use them, not that they hold no importance.
Every SEO tool can abused. (Apart from good honest content)
It would be unethical of google to penalise those who don't cheat because of those who do.

Considering Google has an ethics committee I doubt they ignore meta data when uncountable web designers have paid great attention to getting them right without cheating.

I am sure they don't hold as much weight as they once did but I believe its best to use a good amount (8/10) and make sure they are relevant to the content.

If doing that can in any way get you penalised or harm your ranking then Google's ethics committee needs review. I doubt this is the case.

Oh, come off it.

This is not an issue of ethics. Google has no ethical obligation to reward designers for slaving over their <meta> keywords.

You're making up an absurd and bombastic argument to justify your long-held superstition.

They do have an obligation not to penalise people who have done nothing wrong. Thats WHY they have an ethics committee.

Also, superstition has nothing to do with it. Neither has being absurd or pretentious (bombastic).

My post is nothing more than my logical conclusion.
Just as yours was yours.

I enjoy your posts Mike but ultimately the whole Google thing is down to the individuals understanding of what information is available.

I don't want to start a flame war but there is no need whatsoever to start calling me absurd, bombastic or superstitious.

I hope we can agree to disagree.

Take offence all you want; it won't make your argument any better.

I do not call you absurd or bombastic -- that would be an unwarranted personal attack. I call your argument absurd and bombastic (I am attacking your argument, not you).

Calling you superstitious is quite another matter; this is a consequence of your choice of argument.

A meaningless statement. How could we not? Can I disagree to disagree? Can I demur to agree to disagree?

But yes, in the sense of "I'll stop criticising you and shut up", we can agree to disagree.

While we are on the Google subject, what do you think to Googles Enterprise Solution set up. For $10,000 you can get a very nice paid link.

This is the internet and that is my opinion.
Calling what I type bombastic is an unwarranted personal attack on me however you try to excuse it.

And while were using words like 'bombastic.'
Read your posts back to yourself for a good example of 'bombastic.'

I disagreed with something you typed and you don't like it.
Tough.

Edit -

I was trying to be polite when I said about agreeing to disagree. Why pull it to pieces?

Thread Closed. Please do not attack each others opinions in this way. People are entitled to have an opinion and face it - you cannot prove your arguments one way or another - do any of you work for Google? Do any of you know what Google uses or does not use meta tags for? No. So you cannot dismiss each others opinions.