Meta Tags: What They Really Do for Your Site?
Meta tags once played a lucrative role in the position of a web site within the search engine. In order to achieve high rankings, search engines look for keywords within the tag, as well as on the actual page.
There are two types of meta tags that are used within the heading and title of a website’s content page: meta keyword tags and meta description tags . Meta tags are small pieces of HTML code that belongs inside the heading section of a web page: <Head> </Head>, and are usually located right after the title. The following is an example of how meta tags are used:
Meta Description Tags:
<meta name=”description” content=”Up-scale building and development in Orange County California for both commercial and residential real estate customers” />
Meta Keyword Tags:
<meta name=”keywords” content=”up-scale developers, high-end real estate, commercial building contractors, residential building contractors, orange county contractors, orange county builders” />
The success rate of meta tags has slowly diminished throughout the years and continues to decline, forcing users to invent more creative ways to gain desired results. But, what has caused this deterioration? Abuse!
Meta Tags, High Rankings, and Abuse
Search engines can easily recognize when people are manipulating the use of meta tags. They look for clues that identify the intentions of the author. If keywords are repeatedly being used or if words do not appear on the pages that are in the meta keyword tag or meta description tag, then the web site will be penalized with a lower ranking.
The Internet has become a powerful marketing tool for both big and small businesses. Competition to obtain the highest rankings has led to abusive behaviors regarding the proper usage of meta keyword tags and meta description tags. Spammers- people who use dishonest tactics to attain high search engine rankings- were using keyword stuffing to manipulate their search engine results. They used keyword meta tags within their code that had nothing to do with the actual page content. The goal was to increase traffic to the site, whether or not people were searching for that particular information.
Over time, this type of abuse has become more prevalent within the cyber world. Search engines began penalizing and blackballing spammers who were manipulating their websites under false pretenses. As a result of this, keyword meta tags and description meta tags no longer computes to high rankings results when it comes to Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Major search engines such as Google, have made modifications to their indexing to compensate for this deception.
Meta tags are no longer an excellent source for achieving high rankings due to the misuse by spammers. Now, the content that is found within the web pages helps generate more successful rankings. However, many wonder if the use of meta tags are obsolete? The answer is no!
Should Meta Tags Be Used?
There are a variety of different techniques to help any web site formulate a proper SEO web page. To do so, is a collective effort and requires a surmountable amount of thought. Though much less than in the past, using meta tags and keyword meta tags can still help with rankings on some search engines. Some tips on how to use meta tags are:
- Avoid repetition of words more than two or three times.
- Top search terms should be as close as possible to the beginning of each tag.
- Use well written description tags in the main pages that have little text.
This practice should not be the only method used. Other options that can be of help to develop high rankings are:
- Place key phrases throughout the paragraphs of the page.
- Use keywords that are in the title in the meta keyword tag.
- Create some misspellings of commonly used words or synonyms to help direct traffic to the web site.
- Write the content of the site based on relevant keywords.
Since the beginning of “internet time” people have used meta keyword tags and meta description tags to help optimize their search engine rankings. Unfortunately, there is always the small sum of individuals who improperly use successful tools for their own agenda. The good news is meta tags are not something that should be thrown out completely. They can give pages a slight increase in some search engines. However, using descriptions that are very well written and are functional have the potential to help a web site achieve even high rankings. The best option for any web site is to utilize every method possible.
Casey Mauldin
CEO
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A good seo list for reference. Thanks a lot.
Thanks for the article. I never knew how far things had progressed. Pretty amazing.
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