SEO : Step Two : Meta Tags at STCFX

Apr 24

SEO : Step Two : Meta Tags

Now that you have selected your keywords in step one, today we will begin using them. There is no better place to start than at the top. So lets take a look at meta tags. What are meta tags? Why use meta tags? Are meta tags dead? How to use meta tags?

What are meta tags?

Meta tags are a collection of information placed in the header of a web page providing information that is not visible to browsers.

Why use meta tags?

Meta tags have a variety of uses, but one of the most common is to convey information about your document that can’t be found anywhere within it. Most sites use meta tags to add keywords to their pages, which helps control how the page is indexed by search engines. Now this does NOT mean if you put a keyword in your meta tags that you will magically rank high for that keyword. However this does tell the search engines what keywords on your page are most important.

Are meta tags dead?

No. Meta tags are far from dead, and the common thought that they are no longer useful is just plain bad thinking. Now I will admit that meta tags do not hold the extreme indexing power that they once had, but they are still important. Meta tags convey important indexing information and control how your site is displayed in search engine results.

How to use meta tags?

Meta tags are placed within the <head></head> tags of your page. Below is an example of what they look like.

<HEAD>
<TITLE></TITLE>
<META name=”description” content=”">
<META name =”keywords” content=”">
</HEAD>

Today we will focus on the three most important meta tags.

Title Tag

The title tag looks like this <TITLE></TITLE>. You will place the title of your page within these tags. This tells the search engines what to name your page and how it should appear in their results. You can also add in a keyword here.

<TITLE>Bird Watching Supplies</TITLE>

Now when your page is shown in search engine results it will be shown as “Bird Watching Supplies”.

Description Tag

The description tag is used by almost all search engines to explain briefly what your page is about. The description tag looks like this <META name=”description” content=”">. You will place your description between the content quotes. You can sneak in keywords here too.

When your page is shown in search engine results, the description will be “Find everything you need for bird watching. From bird watching supplies to bird watching tips.”

Keywords Tag

The keywords tag is where you want to put your keywords obviously. The keywords tag looks like this <META name =”keywords” content=”">. You will want to place your keywords withing the keywords tag content quotes.

Now why wouldn’t we just use bird watching, supplies, tips? Simple it is search bots that are viewing these tags and not real people. To you, the above is the very same as the keywords we used, but to bots they are each separate words and they do not make the association.

To a bot they would see it like this:

bird watching
supplies
tips

Each keyword is its own. Supplies, what kind of supplies? Tips, what kind of tips? See the difference? You must use your full keywords in the keywords tag.

We have now told the search engines which keywords on our page are most important.

Congrats! You made it through the basics of meta tags!

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About The Author

Written by MissDanni
MissDanni is a jill of all trades, from web design to web promotion and everything in between, you might just say web everything. Working in the web industry since 2000 she continues to learn new things everyday. "Nothing is impossible if you are willing to take the time to learn and make mistakes."

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