Search Engine Optimization
Meta Tags
In the last few years search engines
and webmasters began to question the relevance of meta tags because
they have always been an easy target for BlackHat SEO. In our own
research though it has proven that they still provide a reliable
and useful tool in search engine positioning. Search engines increasingly
analyse and rely on the content within your site but certain meta
tags still have a role. For meta tags to work correctly you need
to place them in the correct format at the start of your html as
shown below.
<head>
<TITLE>SEO Assistance Example Title</TITLE>
<META name="description" content="SEO Assistance
provides example meta tag information.">
<META name="keywords" content="SEO Assistance,
Meta Tags, Meta Tag information, Meta Tag Help">
</head>
As you can see, specific meta tags are perfect for giving search
engines a simple way to know what your site is about, it is the
perfect place to put a lot of targeted keywords and phrases that
will grab peoples attention. If your meta tags correspond to the
rest of the page content some search engines use the meta description
in your website's summary when searched, so keep it targeted! We
have found the keywords to be less important although they sometimes
contribute to your website with keyword density and more obscure
phrases that some people will search for, even if it brings in just
one more visitor it'll be worth it.
You most likely saw the title tag first, this is
an absolutely essential part to your website. Every page should
have its own unique title and you should try to put as many keywords
into it without making it unreadable to visitors. The title of each
page is usually placed before your websites summary on search engines.
It is vital the title of your page gives people the most information
possible, if they dont find the title of your page just right they
will usually skip the summary too. Some other less essential meta
tags you may wish to place on your website are displayed beneath.
<META name="resource-type" content="document">
<META http-equiv="Content-Language" content="en-us">
<META name="copyright" content="Copyright 2005
YourWebsite.com">
<META HTTP-EQUIV="refresh" content="0; url=homepage.htm">
The above meta tags are obselete to all but a few search engines
and offer very little input into your website. The only exception
is the HTTP-Equiv meta tag which allows you an easy way to redirect
to another page. We do not recommend using this though because 301
files are more efficient and will aid search engine bots in visiting
redirected files.
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