To understand the role of meta tags, you need to first understand what they are all about. Title, Description, Keywords, and Robots are four of the most commonly used tags. These tags are simple HTML elements inserted in the 'head' area of your pages' coding. Apart from the Title tag, a human visitor will not be able to view any other meta on your web page. This is because, all the other info is meant only for the purpose of search engine indexing.
Title Tag It is the text displayed on reverse bar of an Internet browser window when a page is viewed. It is also the text that gets bookmarked when a user adds a web page to his 'favourites' list. Usually taken as 60 characters, it plays a big role in determining the success of your web site's optimization campaign. Most search engine crawlers take the Title tag as the title of your page in their result listings. Therefore, you should incorporate your main keywords and briefly define your web page through this tag.
Meta Description Tag It is the description of a web page that is shown in result listings on an SERP. Although search engine crawlers index about 250 characters in a description, they usually display only a few words. It is imperative to remember here that not all search engines read the description tag as presented by you. Some, like Google, pick the description from the content of the page in question. Therefore, you should judiciously use your essential keywords all across the content of your site.
Meta Keywords Tag This is the additional text that is crawled with the main content of a web page. The words or phrases used in this tag should be competitive and traffic oriented. This tag helps you in catering to keywords that are indirectly related to your page.
Robots Tag This meta tag allows you to control whether search engine spiders can index a web page or not. The 'NoIndex' and 'NoFollow' attributes respectively indicate that a page is not to be indexed and a link is not to be followed by search engines. This affordable technique helps you keep certain sections of your web site private and inaccessible.
Meta tags cannot guarantee top rankings in search engine indexing. But, they do influence the way your web pages are described. In fact, they give optimizers the control to determine the same.
In my previous Title Tag article, I introduced the title tag and told you what it is and why it's so important. Now let's discuss how to write a tag that Search Engines (and your customers) will love. There are two competing forces pulling for your title tag's attention. First, the search engines use your title tag to help determine where in their engine your website fits. Second, your customers will see and use your title tag to help them determine if your site has what they're looking for and to remind them what your site is about when they see it in their bookmark list. A good title tag takes care of both. In my previous Title Tag article, I introduced the title tag and told you what it is and why it's so important. Now let's discuss how to write a tag that Search Engines (and your customers) will love. There are two competing forces pulling for your title tag's attention. First, the search engines use your title tag to help determine where in their engine your website fits. Second, your customers will see and use your title tag to help them determine if your site has what they're looking for and to remind them what your site is about when they see it in their bookmark list. A good title tag takes care of both. So, assuming you've got the best keywords, you just put that as the title and your done...right? If that's all you did then you'd be OK but you'd miss out on the full value that a title tag can bring. Let's start with that, though. Our title tag looks like this: Austin Texas Mortgages Now, that works for search engines but not so much for customers. Sure, they'll know that you sell mortgages but they may not remember which company. You always want them to remember who you are. So, you could do this: My Mortgage Co | Austin Texas Mortgages OK. That's Good for your customers but it moves the really good keywords out of the first position. (Search engines assume that the most important words come early in the title tag.) So, how about this?:
Get Austin Texas Mortgages at My Mortgage Co Well...now you're optimizing for the word "Get". Not so good. How about this:
Austin Texas Mortgages by My Mortgage Co That's pretty good. The keywords are front and center and the company name is right out there where everyone can see it. You could also put a separator of some kind instead of the word "by". Like | or - . I think it's more of a personal preference than an important SEO point. Now, go write your own!
Both Aisha Danna & Ben Finklea are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Aisha Danna has sinced written about articles on various topics from Computers and The Internet, Interview Questions and Search Engine Marketing. Aisha Danna works for ePurple Media, an Internet marketing company that provides services like ,. Aisha Danna's top article generates over 27100 views. to your Favourites.
Ben Finklea has sinced written about articles on various topics from SEO Search Engine Optimization. Ben Finklea is the CEO of Austin-based SpryDev SEO & Web MarketingAbout the Author - Text: Ben Finklea is the CEO of Austin-based SpryDev SEO & Web Marketing. Visit SpryDev at