Meta Tags Explained And How To Use Them For Ranking
|
|
The META tags are used to provide extra information about a web page. There was once a time where a good search engine ranking could be achieved by simply changing the value of the META tags. However these days are long gone. Nowadays the META Tags are decreasing in importance in the eyes of the search engines who are using more sophisticated methods of ranking pages (namely link popularity, optimized anchor text).
There are many different types of META tags but the one that can affect ranking are the Keywords META tag and the Description META tag.
Keywords META tag:
This tag contains keywords relevant to a page. In the past search engines referenced this to determine how to rank a particular page. However many people started to abuse this and stuffed the tag with keywords that were not relevant to the content of the page. This confused search engines and subsequently returned weaker search results. To combat this less and less emphasis has been placed on the Keywords META tag. However this does not mean that it is entirely useless. Here are some reasons to still include it:
* Some search engines still use it
Although most search engines do not use the tag there are undoubtedly still some that do. For this reason place around 15-20 keywords relevant to your site or page into the tag. Do not attempt to cheat the search engines by repeating keywords as this is considered spamming and they may look unfavourably on this.
* Account for misspellings of keyphrases
People can misspell certain keyphrases that you may be optimizing for so it is common to place these misspellings into the Keywords META tag. This allows you to rank in search engine results for misspellings without having to represent them on the actual content of your page.
Description META tag:
In the past this tag was used to specify the text that would appear in search engine results alongside the link to your site. Keywords could be placed into this text to influence ranking. However it was abused similar to the Keywords META tag and has befallen the same fate, meaning it is not as useful as it once was. Some search engines do not display it in their results (most notably Google, which retrieves the text from content on your page) and do not use it to rank a site. Having said that some search engines do still use it so again it is a mistake to ignore it completely.
Descriptions placed into this tag should, strangely enough, be very descriptive of the page or site they reside in. Include a few relevant keywords/keyphrases that you are optimizing for in the description and try to limit its length to 25-30 words. Also try to use no more than two sentences.
Summary:
Although not as important as they once where, the META tags can still influence a search engine when it comes to deciding whether your web page is relevant or not.
Keywords META tag:
15-20 keywords, include misspellings of keywords/keyphrases
Description META tag:
Include keywords/keyphrases, 25-30 words, no more than two sentences.
Frank Kilkelly is a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Expert and Webmaster at http://www.seo-ireland.com/, a complete search engine optimization resource. The highlight of the site is an SEO forum http://www.seo-ireland.com/forum/ for discussion of the latest techniques and tips to improve the ranking of your web site.
|
|
|
Created & Maintained by Empower! CMS Web Sites
Host2Sell Web Hosting | Emarketing Workshops | Site SEO Review | FREE NewsletterCreative Search Engine Optimization ? A Case Study
Search engine optimization this and search engine optimization that. You read and hear about it all day, but what about your site? While there are plenty of articles providing useful information, this article shows you how a real world example met with success. The point of this article is to emphasize creativity when approaching tou...(related: Search Engine Optimization)
Playing In Googlebots Sandbox With Slurp, Teoma, & Msnbot - Spiders Display Differing Personalities
There has been endless webmaster speculation and worry aboutthe so-called "Google Sandbox" - the indexing time delay fornew domain names - rumored to last for at...(related: Search Engine Optimization)
Getting Listed In The Odp, Google Directory
First of all, the Google directory is really just the open directory project (ODP: url here) with a few adjustments. While listings on DMOZ.org are arranged within their category according to simple alphabetic order, listings in the Google Directory are based upon PageRank [link]. Thus, sites with higher PageRanks will show up higher on the list of sites under any given category. You can see the PageRank of a site pictorially by looking at the little green bar off to the left of each listing. The other major difference is that the Google Directory updates its listings only once every few months. Therefore, a website that is accepted into the ODP today may have to wait 3 months or more before it is listed in the Google Directory. If you go to DMOZ.org, you can see...(related: Search Engine Optimization)
How To Build Massive Keyword Lists
As keyword marketing becomes more and more expensive and competitive, it has become essential when building your lists to focus on the maximum number of phrases and their variations that a surfer might enter into the search engines.Why?Because according to Amit Singhal, principal scient...(related: Search Engine Optimization)
The Seo Gurus Poem
Am I alone as I survey that vast wilderness outside,Sat at home every day fettered by my own fool...(related: Search Engine Optimization)
Does Javascript Affect Ranking?
Almost all SEO's agree that using too much javascript can harm your rankings and might confuse the search engines. Is it true? We decided to answer this extremely simple question for the two leading search engines using a simple statistical analysis.The methodology: I gathered the results of the queries that were naturally performed last month by myself and three associates using the two leading search engines and analyzed them. I had to visit each page and...(related: Search Engine Optimization)
Learn About The Google Search Engine Tools
Think you know everything about searching with Google? Think again. Believe it or not, there are many tools and features available on Google that can be useful for marketing research as well as wasting time. Learn more below about Google's coolest features.What are people saying about your site?Find out what people say about your site or anything else with Google WebQuotes. A Google Lab experiment, Google WebQuotes annotates the results of your Google search with comments from other websites. This offers a convenient way to get a third party's opinion about each of the returns...(related: Search Engine Optimization)
The 7 Best Stealth Techniques To Improve Your Google Rankings
Stealth as in Spying. But Knowing What your Top Competitors are Doing and how they are doing it you can greatly improve your very own search Engine Rankings.Step 1 Do A Google SearchThe First Step is to do a Google Search and Identify your top 5...(related: Search Engine Optimization)
Search Engines: Different Types, Different Strategies
There are four basic types of Search Engines:
- Free Search Engines
- Pay-For-Inclusion Search Engines ...(related: Search Engine Optimization)
An Easy Way Not To Get Banned By Google
Strategic search engine optimization involves far more than keyword research, META tags and content.If you want to mange an SEO program, you need to be aware of any issue that can affect your success.Domain name management is one of the big factors. Effective domain name management is critical because you could end up getting banned from Google and other search engines if you take the wrong approach.Why would Google ban you?In the spirit of fair play and ...(related: Search Engine Optimization)
site-map - Copyright © 2006 Empower! Web Design | All Rights Reserved. | Search Engine Optimization