What
are meta tags you ask. Meta tags are the hidden code usually
put at the top of websites designed to perform different functions.
The two most famous, and most debatable meta tags are the
description and keywords
meta tags which you can find somewhere between your <head>
</head> tags and usually look something like this:
| <meta
name="keywords" content="keyword1 keyword2
keyword3 ... keyword25"> |
| <meta
name="description" content=" Volico has
keyword1 and keyword2 in all of its keyword3 keyword4
etc. Volico is the greatest web host in the world so its
hard to describe it in less than 35 words. Volico is also
very modest."> |
They
were originally designed to tell search engines, and other
various programs, what each web page on the internet was all
about. Some search engines, even to this day will use the
meta description tag as the description you
see next to the sites Title in the search engine results pages.
The
Problem: Search engines want to provide the best
search results possible, and these "META" tags can
easily be modified, and jam packed with keywords, and there
were no consequences since they were hidden and the only one
who saw them was the search engines. So the search engines
wised up and realized that to find out what was on a website
you actually had to look at the website which is why the META
DESCRIPTION and META KEYWORDS tags are given very little weight
during the search engine ranking process..
So
Should I Bother Putting The META DESCRIPTION Tag on My Web
Pages?: Yes, this tag is still widely used and accepted
by almost all search engines. The main thing to keep in mind
here is not to use words in your description that are not
on your site itself, and do not expect any miracles. Just
because you have the words "insurance quotes" in
your META DESCRIPTION tag doesn't necessarily mean you are
going to show up on the first page of the search results for
it. The META DESCRIPTION tag is not given much weight in the
ranking process but should still be used when possible.
So
Should I Bother Putting The META KEYWORDS Tag on My Web Pages?:
Short answer Yes, with an IF, long answer NO, with
a BUT. Should you put them on your site? Sure, why not. Every
little bit helps right? IF you have the extra time, and want
to put in the extra effort, go ahead and use this dying tag
to describe your website. BUT many search engines, such as
Google completely discount the tag. If you decide to include
this tag on your web pages you must keep in mind that the
search engines that do consider it, generally verify that
any word in the KEYWORDS tag is actually used in the website
itself, otherwise it is completely pointless.
So
where are meta tags in the whole scheme of search engine importance?
This
is impossible to tell for certain, and it will very from search
engine to search engine, but in my opinion I would focus on
these parts of my website, in this order-
- Title
(<Title>)
- Header
Tags (<H1>, <H2>,
<H3>...)
- Links
(<a href="http://www.volico.com")
- Main
Content (Any visible text on the
web page, bold tags and italics help this)
- Alt
Text (Text used to describe images
<img src="image.gif" alt="Man
Fishing on Boat">)
- Meta
Description
- Meta
Keywords
Consider
reading our Search Engine Optimization Methods Tutorial To
Learn How We Optimize Sites-
Volico
Search Engine Optimization Main Page -
