How to Add Meta Keywords in WordPress (And Whether You Still Should)
Meta keywords were once a staple of SEO strategy. Today, their role has changed significantly — but understanding how to add them in WordPress, and what actually happens when you do, helps you make smarter decisions about your site's setup.
What Are Meta Keywords?
Meta keywords are HTML tags placed in the <head> section of a webpage that list short phrases describing the page's topic. They look like this in raw HTML:
<meta name="keywords" content="wordpress SEO, meta tags, keyword optimization"> They're invisible to visitors but readable by search engine crawlers — or at least, they used to be crawled meaningfully. Google officially stopped using meta keywords as a ranking signal in 2009. Bing followed suit shortly after. Neither major search engine gives them ranking weight today.
That said, some site owners still add them for internal organization, legacy CMS compatibility, or niche search engines that may still parse them.
How WordPress Handles Meta Keywords by Default
Out of the box, WordPress does not generate or output meta keywords automatically. The core platform focuses on content structure, titles, and descriptions — leaving the meta keywords field to plugins or manual code additions.
This is actually intentional. The WordPress development team has aligned the platform with modern SEO standards, which treat meta keywords as largely irrelevant to ranking performance.
The Two Main Methods for Adding Meta Keywords in WordPress 🔧
Method 1: Using an SEO Plugin (Most Common Approach)
The most widely used approach involves SEO plugins, which typically include a meta keywords field in their settings — even if the field is deprecated or optional.
Popular SEO plugins that offer this functionality include:
| Plugin | Meta Keywords Field | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Yoast SEO | Removed in newer versions | Was previously available; removed due to irrelevance |
| All in One SEO (AIOSEO) | Available | Found under Advanced tab per post |
| Rank Math | Not included by default | Can be added via custom fields |
| SEOPress | Available | Included in free and pro versions |
To add meta keywords using a plugin like AIOSEO or SEOPress:
- Install and activate the plugin from your WordPress dashboard
- Open any post or page in the editor
- Scroll to the plugin's SEO settings panel below the content editor
- Locate the Advanced or Meta Tags tab
- Enter your keywords in the Meta Keywords field, separated by commas
- Save or update the page
The plugin handles the HTML output automatically — you never need to touch the theme files.
Method 2: Manual Code Addition via functions.php
For developers or those who prefer not to use plugins, meta keywords can be added by editing the theme's functions.php file or through a custom plugin. This approach involves hooking into WordPress's wp_head action to inject the meta tag directly.
A simplified version looks like this:
function add_custom_meta_keywords() { if ( is_single() || is_page() ) { echo '<meta name="keywords" content="your, keywords, here">'; } } add_action( 'wp_head', 'add_custom_meta_keywords' ); This outputs the same HTML tag a plugin would generate. The difference is control and maintenance — manual code requires you to update it directly every time your keyword strategy shifts, with no user interface to simplify the process.
⚠️ Editing functions.php incorrectly can break your site. Always back up before making changes, and consider using a child theme so updates don't overwrite your edits.
What Actually Affects SEO in WordPress Today
Since meta keywords carry no ranking weight with Google or Bing, the tags that genuinely influence search performance are:
- Meta title (
<title>tag) — directly affects ranking and click-through rate - Meta description — doesn't affect ranking directly, but influences CTR
- Structured data / schema markup — helps search engines understand content type
- On-page content quality — headings, keyword usage in body text, internal links
- Page speed and Core Web Vitals — technical performance signals
If you're spending time on meta tags, these are where measurable results live.
Variables That Determine Whether Meta Keywords Are Worth Adding
Not every WordPress setup has the same needs. A few factors shape whether adding meta keywords makes practical sense for your situation:
Your target search engines. If your audience primarily uses Google or Bing, meta keywords have no functional SEO impact. If you're targeting platforms like Baidu (China's dominant search engine), meta keywords may still carry some relevance.
Your CMS workflow and team. Some editorial teams use meta keywords as an internal tagging system — not for search engines, but for their own content organization. In that context, the field has operational value even without SEO benefit.
Your plugin stack. If you're already running an SEO plugin that surfaces the keywords field without extra configuration, there's minimal friction in adding them. If you'd need to install additional software or write custom code purely for this feature, the cost-benefit shifts.
Your site's legacy. Older WordPress sites migrated from platforms that required meta keywords may have existing data in those fields. Understanding whether that data is still being output — and whether it's accurate — matters more than adding new entries.
The right answer for your site depends heavily on which of these scenarios applies to you, and whether the effort involved matches what you're actually trying to accomplish.