Matt Cutts, the newly bald, Google employee (not sure of his actual title) recently announced that the Keywords meta tag is not used for optimization by Google. This, of course, sent the SEO world into a tizzy. Every SEO “guru” came out of the woodwork on Twitter to proclaim that they “knew this for years.”

My stance: I still use it and will continue to use it. Why? I’m not saying.

Of course, people have asked me, “but Dan, now your competitors know what terms you are targeting.” My response has always been, “If they are looking at my meta tags in order to optimize their site they obviously lack the SEO skills to actually rank on those terms.”

Just keep making good content and having a well-structured website and you will rank. Hard work pays off. Trust me.

Google Japan vending machine image courtesy of Gyazickr.