Although many of the larger search engines do not 'spider'
the keyword Meta Tags on your page, and in some cases ignore these
completely, the use of Meta Tags on your page still serves an important
purpose. There are literally hundreds, even thousands of smaller search
engines scattered all across the Internet. Whilst the bigger engines tend to
'spider' whole pages instead and obtain their results from that, these
smaller search engines don't have as much physical space to work with and
must do things differently. It is in these particular engines you will find
that Meta Tags are still very important.
Example:
<html>
<head>
<title>Put the title of your page here</title>
<Meta name="keywords "content="put,your,keywords,here">
<Meta name="description" content="put a short description here">
</head>
<body bgcolor=#FFFFFF>
Put the page contents here ....
</body>
</html>
The above layout provides a basic template for the creation of correctly
formatted Meta Tags, and can be used for all pages contained within your
website. If you are not showing up in a lot of the smaller engines, lets say
the first 200 or so entries under your chosen keywords, then you may need to
re-design your page and Meta Tags. This will need to be done to ensure that
users have a better chance of finding you under the keywords you wish to be
found under. It is not always a big change in your page that results in your
position moving up, it can be subtle changes that have the greatest effect.
What matters the most with any creation of Meta Tags is to create a great
Description Tag, one that not only includes your keywords but one that also
includes well-written text that sells. It is a well designed Description
that ultimately attracts the web surfer in the long run.
It seems to be a popular trend for web surfers and site-submitters these
days to focus largely on the larger traffic bringers (such as Google, Yahoo,
etc) at the expense of the more smaller, less visited search engines. Of
course, if that traffic source is broken for any reason then so is your
business. If you concentrate on the other sources, who may bring less
traffic, then you get a broader spectrum of referrals and can easily weather
any particular search engine storm that comes up. It is for this reason that
we shouldn't forget the humble Meta Tag.
Meta Tag Optimization
You should make sure that all important entry pages to your web site have
at least the KEYWORDS and a DESCRIPTION Meta Tags included in the Header
section of the HTML code. This should be done BEFORE a submission. Without a
good set of Meta Tags, some search engines may not index your web site
correctly and may even downgrade your ranking quite considerably.
Even though there are many methods you may use in order to help you improve
the effectiveness of your Meta Tags, you should always pay careful attention
first to the most common mistakes that people make, even after following any
sound advice on improving your web page. You should check your pages for the
following:
· Always include the most relevant keywords in the Meta Tags section first.
The relative position of your keywords can greatly influence the ranking of
your page on some engines.
· Avoid repeating keywords in your Meta Tags, eg:
genealogy,genealogy,genealogy,genealogy. This type of practice is regarded
as SPAMming by most of the search engines and can result in the eventual
banning of your site altogether.
· DO NOT try to include every possible keyword in the dictionary. The more
keywords that you include, the more chance you have of 'diluting' the
perceived relevancy of these words. This kind of practice may result in a
downgrading of your web page ranking on some important search engines.
· Aim to use more grammatically correct sentences in your Meta Tags, ie: in
your Page Title and Description, rather than just a simple list of keywords.
· Some search engines do not employ the use of Meta Tags, so try and have
the most important keywords appear elsewhere in the visible text portion of
your page.
If you wish to include an additional list of keywords in the visible text of
your page, then it would be a good idea to use them in grammatically correct
sentences.
Example:
"A broad range of computers and software for sale. We stock monitors and
games or printers. Best place for hardware shopping on the internet."
Simple MetaTag Rules
Some people spend the time turning MetaTag optimization into an art.
However, most of us don't have the time for that. The countless hours that
can be spent on adjusting and re-adjusting Meta Tags could be better spent
creating new content. After all, it is the content that search engines are
"really" looking for. The Meta Tags just help the search engines to find it.
So, the best thing that you can do is to create a sensible set of Meta Tags
which will be friendly to most of the major search engines, then MOVE ON.
However, Meta Tags are quite important, so you should go about making them
correctly the first time around. There is no such thing as a "magical" set
of Meta Tags that will instantly explode your web site statistics and search
engine rankings.
Example:
You could go to a site that has a #1 ranking for a great search term and cut
and paste the Meta Tags into your site, but you will not get a #1 ranking
out of it. There are many factors that determine how search rankings turn
out, such as site popularity, page-loading speed and content. What you need
is a set of Meta Tags that will match your site as best as possible. And
remember, it is far better to have too few than too many.
· Rule 1: If a keyword is not on your page then try to avoid putting it in
the title, description or keywords. Many unwitting people seem to do this,
and can be extremely damaging to your promotional efforts. All it will do is
water the theme of your page down, and the search engines will be wondering
who and what to show your page to.
Note: If you do know a word or phrase that is very common, and you want to
use it, then you need to make sure that it is in your title, description and
keywords 'as well' as on your page several times. Therefore you will most
likely need to re-edit your content as well, (not just the MetaTags).
· Rule 2: Don't try to trick the search engines. Search engines are getting
smarter every day, and if you think you know of a way to deceive them then
chances are... they already know about it.
Example:
Avoid repeating text hundreds of times, and be careful not to make it the
same color as the background. Search engines woke up to this a long time
ago. This is usually referred to as 'invisible text', and was originally
invented as a way to artificially 'boost' the ranking of a website. Search
engines know this trick inside-out, and would simply place your page at the
bottom of their index. The time you waste trying to be "tricky" would be
better spent working on your site, your site-content and REAL promotional
efforts.
· Rule 3: Keep your title, description, keywords and content as specific as
possible. Many people try to add too many words and phrases all over their
webpage, thus making it difficult for any search engine to categorize and
index your site...
Example:
Imagine for a moment that you are lost and you need to ask for directions.
If you were told to "drive under the bridge, past the green house on the
left, over the little bump, past the red mail box, you'll see a house with a
white gate and then you'll need to pass a school crossing and then turn
left"... you would most likely stare blankly at the person in question.
However, if the person simply says: "Take your next left" it would be much
more helpful.
In summing up the above information, you must make all attempts to keep as
specific as you possibly can. All you need to remember is to use as many
informative words as you can to keep a "theme" on your page. By all means,
use as many keywords as is necessary, but avoid going overboard with these
at all costs.
(This information is part of the Trellian SEO Toolkit Knowledge Base.)
|