Jan 16 2009
meta tags - part one
I am going to say something that will disappoint many readers. It will also go against much of what has been said on other websites concerning Search Engine Optimization. There are lots of myths concerning Search Engine Optimization, and lots of old information.
Search Engines change how they rate and rank sites on a regular basis. They are always trying to Optimize their algorithms to list the best sites for their Searches. One of the more recent changes has been regarding Meta Tags.
Meta Tags are a way of attaching a note to your site specifically for the Search Engines but invisible to human readers. The tag is written into the code of the site, the theory being that the meta tag will help the Search Engine to understand what your site is all about.
Meta Tags are not as important as they used to be. Major Search Engines like Google no longer pay as much attention to them as they used to.
Why are Meta tags are not so important any more
Meta tags are easy to abuse. Site designers and ‘SEO Experts’ were stringing hundreds of keywords together to try and cheat their way to the top of the Search Engine listings by fooling the Search Engines. So it was only ever going to be a matter of time until the Search Engines filtered out this method almost entirely.
But that’s not to say that meta tags are useless. They do help with Search Engine Optimization, but their significance is not nearly as important as many people would have you believe. Abuse of meta tags has the same affect as abuse of keywords – your site will be heavily penalised. And good use of meta tags has the same effect as using your keyword – but only once.
So how do I use meta tags correctly?
Meta tags are a list of the keywords for your site – these are the same keywords that you are trying to embed in your text (as outlined in all my keyword articles) – these should be written into the html code of your site. Correct usage of meta tags will consist of each keyword once. If you start embedding the same keyword many times then you may find your site penalised. Remember the key to Search Engine Optimization is organic flow. Meta tags have their place, but it is not essential to use them. The Search Engine crawlers will read them but only in the same fashion as the other keywords on your site.
