Introduction

Getting your website found by search engines and making your way to the top of the rankings is tough—it’s a time-consuming process involving a lot of trial and error, the creation of good, quality content, obtaining quality backlinks from respected sites in your industry, and building and maintaining a site with an easy-to-navigate architecture that allows search engine spiders to move from page to page, indexing the site’s contents properly.

There is a lot of debate about the use of meta tags, and whether or not having keyword-rich meta tags really helps your site. The truth of the matter is, there is no expert consensus as to whether or not Google uses meta data at all, but many SEO experts are sure that meta data is helpful for Yahoo!, and when it comes down to it, including keyword-rich meta tags is easy to do and doesn’t hurt. So we recommend that all sites include the meta description and meta keywords tags, as well as the title tag (not technically a meta tag, but often used in conjunction with them), and we recommend that sites use relevant keywords in those tags.

So, What ARE Meta Tags?

Simply put, meta tags are information that is placed in the “head” area of web pages that is not seen by visitors to your site that are using a web browser. Since the Title tag is visible in the top bar of the browser, it is technically not a meta tag, though it is often considered in conjunction with the meta description tag and the meta keywords tag. The most often used meta tags, and the ones we will discuss, are:

• Meta description tag: <META name=”description” content=”Keyword-rich content goes here.”>
• Meta keywords tag:  <META name=”keywords” content=”relevant keywords separated by commas go here”>
  

Just as it is important to use the Title tag, and include a relevant keyword, it is important to include keywords relevant to the content on the page in your meta description and in the meta keywords tag. With the meta keywords tag, it is easy: just include a comma-separated list of keywords (we recommend two or three per page, so as not to overdo it—you don’t want to look like a spammer!). The meta description can be a bit more tricky.

The meta description should be written in one or two complete sentences. It should make sense when read, because this is often what shows up in search engines to summarize a site that appears in the SERPs (search engine results pages). We recommend including one or two keywords that fit naturally into a one or two sentence description that summarizes the content on your page, or gives a tease that searchers might find enticing when choosing a site to click on from the SERP.

For example: Say your site sells toys for small dogs. You’ve already decided on “small dog toys” and “toys for small dogs” as the keywords to place in your meta keywords tag. A simple description for your Home or About Us page might read:

“Pup Palace offers an extensive selection of toys for small dogs. Shop for small dog toys here.”

It’s short, sweet, and contains two keywords that are relevant to the site.

How Can Meta Tags Help My Site?

Most search engine optimizers believe the title tag is an important ranking factor, but the benefit of meta tags has lessened over the past few years. Initially, the keywords tag was the main way search engines looked to find out what was on a site for indexing purposes. When this led to exploitation of the keywords tag by spammers, the engines found other ways to index. The keywords and description tag can still be beneficial, however, especially if they are used in a way that is relevant to the content of the page on which they are contained.

It is a fairly common belief among SEO experts that Yahoo! still gives weight to meta tags. While no one knows if Google does or not, the description is usually what appears on Google SERPs to summarize the pages that appear in the results. If you don’t use the description tag (and use it wisely) a random snippet of text containing the relevant phrases can be pulled out of context and shown in its place.

Since the meta tags are easily added, and there is no risk in using them, the use is recommended.

Conclusion

Meta tags are just one piece of the SEO puzzle. The world of organic search marketing is constantly changing. Network Solutions’ experts are constantly working to keep up to date on the latest trends and changes. Check back often for more helpful articles.