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Meta tags
were originally created
to help search engines
find out important
information about your
page that they might
have had difficulty
determining otherwise.
For example, related
keywords or a
description of the page
itself.
Many people incorrectly
believe that good meta
tags are all that is
needed to achieve good
listings in the search
engines, which is
entirely incorrect.
While meta tags are
usually always part of a
well optimized page they
are not the be all and
end all of optimizing
your pages. In the early
days of the web people
were able to get great
listings from optimizing
just their meta tags,
but the increasing
competition for good
search engine listings
eventually led to many
people spamming the
search engines with
keyword stuffed meta
tags. The result is that
the engines have changed
what they look at when
they rank a web page.
The
search engines now
usually look at a
combination of all
the best search engine
tips to determine your
listings, not just your
metas - some don't even
look at them at all!
What this means is that
your page should have a
combination of all our
tips implemented on your
page - not just meta
tags. That being said,
there are two meta tags
that can help your
search engine listings -
meta keywords & meta
description.
What
they look like:
-
Description Meta:
<META
NAME="description"
content="This would
be your description
of what is on your
page. Your most
important keyword
phrases should
appear in this
description.">
-
Keywords Meta:
<META
NAME="keywords"
content="keywords
phrase 1, keyword
phrase 2, keyword
phrase 3, etc.">
Where
they belong:
The
correct placement
for both meta tags
is between the
<HEAD> and </HEAD>
tags within the HTML
the makes up your
page. Their order
does not really
matter, but most
people usually place
the description
first then the
keywords meta.
Tag
limits:
Meta
description tips:
-
Make
sure you accurately
describe the content
of your page while
trying to entice
visitors to click on
your listing.
-
Include 3-4 of your
most important
keyword phrases.
Especially those
used in your title
tag and page copy.
-
Try
to have your most
important keywords
appear at the
beginning of your
description. This
often brings better
results, and will
help avoid having
any search engine
cut off your
keywords if they
limit the length of
your description.
Meta
keywords tips:
-
Aside
from what we mention
in the other tips
below you should
only use those
keyword phrases that
you also used in the
copy of your page,
title tag, meta
description, and
other tags. Any
keywords phrases
that you use that do
not appear in your
other tags or page
copy are likely to
not have enough
prominence to help
your listings for
that phrase.
-
Don't
forget plurals. For
example, a travel
site might have both
"caribbean vacation"
and "caribbean
vacations" in their
keyword meta tag to
make sure they show
up in both searches.
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If
you know of a common
misspelling of a
popular keyword that
could be used to
find your site you
should enter it in
your keywords meta
tag. For example, a
travel site might
use "caribean " in
their keyword meta
since it is a common
misspelling for "caribbean".
-
Watch
out for repeats! You
want to include your
most important
phrases, but when
doing so it can be
difficult not to
repeat one word many
times. For example,
"caribbean vacation"
and "caribbean
vacations" are two
different phrases,
but the word "caribbean"
appears twice. This
is okay to do in
order to make sure
you get the phrases
you need in there,
but becareful not to
repeat any one word
excessively. There
in no actual limit,
but we recommend
that no one word be
repeated in the
keyword meta more
than 5 times.
-
If
your site has
content of interest
to a specific
geographic location
be sure to include
the actual location
in your keyword
meta.
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