Meta Tags
Meta Tags are bits of code that are
seen by the search engine and browser, but not by
the site viewer.
Only a few of the search engines
actually rely on metatags to tell them what the site
is about. The rest either ignore them, or use them
in combination with other factors. They are worth
doing well, just for the ones that do pay attention,
and because they can reinforce a message.
A search engine looks for text in
your site. It also looks at metatags. If there are
no metatags, it uses part of the text in your site
for the description - this can have unpredictable
results! But even if you DO have metatags, some
search engines quote parts of the text. And search
engines will not pay much attention to keywords if
they do not correlate with the site content. So
while metatags can help, they are far less important
overall than good content. We do them because they
are a relatively easy thing to do, and they are
worth doing for the few times they do matter.
Don't worry about overanalyzing
your keywords, just pick the most important ones,
and use them where it matters most.
Metatags can do a lot of things,
but the two that we are concerned about are the
Description and Keywords tags.
A good site description will be
informative, but not too long. It will describe key
features using keywords. The keyword tag will
contain words that tell the search engine what your
site is about. A description tag should not be
longer than a short paragraph. A single sentence is
best.
The description should read well,
and it should not repeat keywords. It should contain
2-3 of the most important keywords for your site.
The keywords tag should contain a
listing of words - usually 8-15 is plenty! A keyword
can be a phrase, or a combination of words, not just
a single word. Each word or phrase should be
separated from the others with a comma. Repeating
keywords does you no good, and can be viewed as
black hat, so use a variety.
Most HTML programs have a simple
way to insert Description and Keywords - sometimes
under Document or Page Properties, sometimes under
its own heading of Meta Tags. If your program does
not have that, then you can put them into the code
yourself. They look like this:
<head>
<title>Simple Search Engine Optimization that Really
WORKS</title>
<meta name="GENERATOR" content="Namo WebEditor">
<meta name="description" content="Simple and
Effective Search Engine Optimization Tactics">
<meta name="keywords" content="seo, search engine
optimization, pagerank, duplicate content, sandbox">
<link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="style.css">
</head>
The metatags you want are in bold.
Some programs put in other metatags, which you can
ignore. You can see that mine puts in a "generator"
tag. There are LOTS of other kinds, most of which
you can ignore. Just make sure that if you make your
own description and keyword tags, that you put them
in between the "head" tags. You can copy and paste
my metatags, and then just change the part between
the quotes.
Do not use keywords that are not
appropriate for your site. Keep your description to
the point and do not be misleading with it. Do not
use a metatag generator that creates 10 different
kinds of metatags - some of those will introduce
errors into your site. Just worry about the
Description and Keywords.
I usually create a site with the
metatags, title tag, and alt tags for site-wide
images in place. Then I replicate the site, and go
in and customize the title and metatags for the
individual page. Sometimes I don't have time to do
that until months later though. The advantage to
putting the keywords into the template is that at
least the pages have something relevant in there,
even if it isn't the best option.
Choosing the description and
keywords for a home page can be difficult because
you may have many different things you are doing.
Just pick the ONE most important thing to emphasize.
See, when the search engines index
your site, they are going to dive in deeper each
time. Your other pages will get indexed in their own
right. Your home page is NOT where the majority of
your site visitors will come in from. So if you
optimize the home page for one thing, the rest of
the things you do will be found through their
individual pages. Try to do too many things on your
home page though, and it will get lost in the
shuffle. We tend to think of the home page as the
most important page, but in reality, it isn't much
of the time.
Be reasonable, do what you can,
and don't obsess about the rest. Metatags are
nudges, not huge influencers.
Only a few of the search engines actually rely on metatags to tell them what the site is about. The rest either ignore them, or use them in combination with other factors. They are worth doing well, just for the ones that do pay attention, and because they can reinforce a message.
A search engine looks for text in your site. It also looks at metatags. If there are no metatags, it uses part of the text in your site for the description - this can have unpredictable results! But even if you DO have metatags, some search engines quote parts of the text. And search engines will not pay much attention to keywords if they do not correlate with the site content. So while metatags can help, they are far less important overall than good content. We do them because they are a relatively easy thing to do, and they are worth doing for the few times they do matter.
Don't worry about overanalyzing your keywords, just pick the most important ones, and use them where it matters most.
Metatags can do a lot of things, but the two that we are concerned about are the Description and Keywords tags.
A good site description will be informative, but not too long. It will describe key features using keywords. The keyword tag will contain words that tell the search engine what your site is about. A description tag should not be longer than a short paragraph. A single sentence is best.
The description should read well, and it should not repeat keywords. It should contain 2-3 of the most important keywords for your site.
The keywords tag should contain a listing of words - usually 8-15 is plenty! A keyword can be a phrase, or a combination of words, not just a single word. Each word or phrase should be separated from the others with a comma. Repeating keywords does you no good, and can be viewed as black hat, so use a variety.
Most HTML programs have a simple way to insert Description and Keywords - sometimes under Document or Page Properties, sometimes under its own heading of Meta Tags. If your program does not have that, then you can put them into the code yourself. They look like this:
<head>
<title>Simple Search Engine Optimization that Really
WORKS</title>
<meta name="GENERATOR" content="Namo WebEditor">
<meta name="description" content="Simple and
Effective Search Engine Optimization Tactics">
<meta name="keywords" content="seo, search engine
optimization, pagerank, duplicate content, sandbox">
<link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="style.css">
</head>
The metatags you want are in bold. Some programs put in other metatags, which you can ignore. You can see that mine puts in a "generator" tag. There are LOTS of other kinds, most of which you can ignore. Just make sure that if you make your own description and keyword tags, that you put them in between the "head" tags. You can copy and paste my metatags, and then just change the part between the quotes.
Do not use keywords that are not appropriate for your site. Keep your description to the point and do not be misleading with it. Do not use a metatag generator that creates 10 different kinds of metatags - some of those will introduce errors into your site. Just worry about the Description and Keywords.
I usually create a site with the metatags, title tag, and alt tags for site-wide images in place. Then I replicate the site, and go in and customize the title and metatags for the individual page. Sometimes I don't have time to do that until months later though. The advantage to putting the keywords into the template is that at least the pages have something relevant in there, even if it isn't the best option.
Choosing the description and keywords for a home page can be difficult because you may have many different things you are doing. Just pick the ONE most important thing to emphasize.
See, when the search engines index your site, they are going to dive in deeper each time. Your other pages will get indexed in their own right. Your home page is NOT where the majority of your site visitors will come in from. So if you optimize the home page for one thing, the rest of the things you do will be found through their individual pages. Try to do too many things on your home page though, and it will get lost in the shuffle. We tend to think of the home page as the most important page, but in reality, it isn't much of the time.
Be reasonable, do what you can, and don't obsess about the rest. Metatags are nudges, not huge influencers.
