You can add meta keywords to WordPress in about two minutes, and this guide shows three ways to do it. Before you spend those two minutes, one fact should shape your expectations.
Google has ignored the meta keywords tag for ranking since 2009 and has said so publicly. Adding it will not move you up the results. There are still legitimate reasons to want the tag, and they are covered below, but ranking is not one of them.
The quick answer
The fastest route is an SEO plugin that exposes a keywords field, which today means Rank Math or All in One SEO rather than Yoast, since Yoast removed the field deliberately. Install the plugin, enable the keywords setting, and fill the field on each post.
If you do not want another plugin, a short snippet in functions.php pulls your existing WordPress tags into a keywords meta tag automatically. That method is in section three.
Should you add meta keywords at all?
For Google rankings, no. The tag was abused into uselessness by the mid 2000s and Google confirmed in 2009 that it does not use it. Bing has treated stuffed keyword tags as a spam signal rather than a ranking input.
There are three cases where the tag is still worth adding. Some internal site search plugins read it to improve on site results. A few non Google search engines and regional crawlers still parse it. And some clients, agencies or compliance checklists simply require it, which is a business reason rather than a technical one.
If none of those apply to you, skip to the last section, where the effort is better spent.
Before you start
Back up your site, or at minimum your theme files, before editing anything. Use a child theme for any change to header.php or functions.php, because a theme update will otherwise erase your edit without warning.
If you are not comfortable editing PHP, use method one. It does everything the code methods do with no risk of a white screen.
Method 1: an SEO plugin
Rank Math includes a keywords field out of the box. Install and activate the plugin, then open Rank Math, go to Titles and Meta, and turn on the setting that adds keyword meta tags. Each post then shows a field where you enter comma separated terms.
All in One SEO works the same way through its General Settings, under the advanced meta options. Both plugins output a proper tag in the page head with no code from you.
Yoast is the exception worth knowing about. It removed the meta keywords field years ago and will not add it back, on the grounds that the tag does nothing for ranking and invites keyword stuffing. If you use Yoast and need the tag, add it with method two or three rather than switching plugins.
Method 2: a snippet in functions.php
This generates the tag automatically from the tags already on each post, so you never fill in a field. Add it to your child theme's functions.php, or to a code snippets plugin if you prefer not to touch theme files.
function add_meta_keywords() {
if ( is_single() || is_page() ) {
$tags = get_the_tags();
if ( $tags ) {
$keywords = array();
foreach ( $tags as $tag ) {
$keywords[] = $tag->name;
}
echo '<meta name="keywords" content="' . esc_attr( implode( ', ', $keywords ) ) . '">' . "\n";
}
}
}
add_action( 'wp_head', 'add_meta_keywords' );The advantage is that it stays current on its own as you tag posts. The limitation is that your keywords are then only as good as your tags, so a post tagged with three vague words produces three vague keywords.
Method 3: editing header.php directly
Open your child theme's header.php, find the section, and place the tag before the closing . This is the least flexible option because the same keywords then apply to every page on the site.
It is only appropriate for a small brochure site where one set of terms genuinely describes everything. For anything with a blog, use method one or two.
How to check it worked
Load any page on your site, right click, and choose view page source. Search the source for name="keywords" and confirm the tag is there with the terms you expect.
Two problems show up at this stage. A duplicate tag means two systems are both writing it, usually a plugin and a snippet, so disable one. A missing tag on a cached site usually means you are looking at an old copy, so clear the cache and any CDN and look again.
Best practices if you use the tag
- Keep it to five or ten terms, because long lists read as spam to anything still parsing them
- Use terms that genuinely appear in the page content
- Write unique keywords per page rather than one site wide list
- Never repeat the same term in variations to pad the list
- Revisit them only when the page's topic actually changes
What to do instead
The effort people spend on meta keywords pays far better in three other places. The title tag is a real ranking factor and the first thing a searcher reads. The meta description does not affect ranking directly but decides click through rate, which is the difference between position five earning traffic and earning nothing.
The third is choosing the right target in the first place. Most WordPress sites are not held back by their tags, they are held back by writing about terms that are far too competitive. Our guides to finding low competition keywords and automating keyword research cover that properly, and the wider automated SEO software overview covers the tools that handle the repetitive parts.
For a broader read on Google's position, the Search Central documentation on meta tags lists which tags Google actually reads.
Frequently asked questions
Does Google use meta keywords in 2026? No. Google stated in 2009 that it ignores the tag for ranking, and nothing has changed since.
Will adding meta keywords hurt my site? Not on its own. A short, honest list is harmless, though stuffing dozens of terms can look like a spam signal to some engines.
Why does Yoast not have this field? It was removed on purpose because the tag does not help ranking and encourages stuffing. That is a defensible decision even if it is inconvenient.
Can competitors see my meta keywords? Yes, they are visible to anyone viewing the page source, which is one more reason not to put your keyword strategy in them.
Do I need a plugin at all? No. Method two adds the tag with a few lines of PHP and no plugin.
The bottom line
Adding meta keywords in WordPress is easy, and doing it will not improve your rankings. Use a plugin if you need the tag for internal search, a client requirement or a non Google engine, and keep the list short and accurate.
Then move on to the work that does move rankings. If the real blocker is that nothing gets published consistently, Distribb researches, writes and publishes straight into WordPress, which is a different problem from the one this page solves. If you are still choosing a platform, our WordPress, Squarespace and Wix comparison is the place to start.