Writing Meta Tags
There is much debate about the current value of meta tags. I still find them very effective
– both as an end in themselves and also as a guide to producing better and more search
friendly content. Although Google apparently ignore their contents, MSN and Yahoo both still utilise the site title and description meta tags in their search algorithms. MSN’s
newly launched web site still makes reference to the value of the key words meta tag.
Meta tags are so called because they sit above the site – in the “Head” section – and are
not visible to the casual site visitor. The meta tags can be found between the <Head> and
</Head> lines of HTML code, as the description suggests, at the top of the page.
Meta Tag Priorities
The Site Title Meta Tag
The site title tag is the most important meta tag. The site title meta tag is still read and
indexed by all the major engines. How do we know this? Because it appears at the top of
each organic search entry in the search engine results pages. However, some SEOs
dispute whether it is really a meta tag at all – because the information the tag contains is
clearly visible in the top left corner of the blue area surrounding the screen. The
recommendation of RFC 1866, the international standard for HTML, is that the tag
should contain no more than 64 characters, including spaces. There is nothing physically
stopping you exceeding this limit. I have seen some major sites with 150 characters in
this tag. However the typical, browser can only show 70 or so characters and secondly,
and with more characters, the impact of keywords within the tag is progressively diluted.
From my experience the keywords in the early part of the tag carry more weight. I
personally prefer a limit of 50 to 55 characters. Checking the quality of the title meta tag
is the quickest way of assessing whether a site has been optimised.
A key debate, given the character limitations, is whether you should include the
organisation’s name in the title meta tag. Much depends on the names length and whether
it includes desired keywords. My view is that with limited space, you are wasting a
valuable resource if you use your organisation name here.
The Site Description Meta Tag
The site description is the second most important meta tag. It is read by the engines
Yahoo and MSN and still plays a significant role in their searches. The site description
should tell the engine about the nature of the web site. It is recommended that this is done
in no more than 200 characters including spaces. It should be presented using good
grammar and avoiding repetition. The site description should include relevant keywords.
Keywords Meta Tag
You would have read in the previous section on search history that the keywords meta tag
is, today, ignored by most of the search engines. So, if the spiders do not take them that
seriously, why do we still have them? In my opinion the main role they perform is one of
internal guidance and discipline for the web master. If you know what keywords you are
looking for it is easy to test your content to ensure there’s a match.
Writing Content
Content is deemed to be increasingly important by many in the SEO field. This is
apparently because with all the spamming and other optimisation techniques becoming increasingly sophisticated, only content can give the search engines a true indication of a
site’s content. There are some general rules, amongst them is the more copy the better –
aim for 250 words. Secondly look to use the keywords in two or three word phrases.
Content Location
Where should content with keywords be located? High up on the first page is the general
rule. Certainly get keywords into the opening sentence or paragraph. The latest MSN
engine picks out and uses a selection of text from the opening paragraph in their site
description. This implies that the MSN algorithm is placing additional emphasis on this
text. Keywords should then be spread throughout the first page and the rest of the site.
Content Relevance
Keywords and their surrounding copy should be relevant to one another. Certain words
and combinations of words go together and the search engine algorithms know this. So
advertising goes with marketing. Food with drink. Photographs with film. Also derivative
words with different utilisation go well. So market and marketed with marketing etc.
Content Density
There is much debate about density. Too little and the keyword or phrase won’t be picked
up. Too much and your site may fail the spamming test. Some SEOs suggest repeating
keywords no more than 7 times on any one page. Density is always measured in relative
terms. A page with a lot of copy will have more word repetition than one with few words.
Titles
Text within title tags has a greater weighting than ordinary copy. Within HTML code
titles are marked up <H1>, <H2>, <H3> etc. Therefore whenever a paragraph title is used
it is wise to use a keyword or keyword phrase.
Alt Tags
Search engines can read the alt tags that accompany JPEG, and GIF images. Every
relevant image should have an alt tag and this tag should be written to comply with your
keyword objectives. The text in an alt tag is believed to be given additional weight.
Bold and Cursive Script
Both bold and cursive script are given extra emphasis by the search engines. A subtle use
of bold or cursive script, when using a keyword, will enhance its presence.
Internal Links
Inbound links are important for two reasons. Firstly, their content is highlighted with a
hyperlink and this is given special emphasis by the search engines and secondly it is a
way of ensuring the engines can navigate and deep crawl into a site.
Outbound Links (Forward)
These are apparently growing in influence as the engines realise that inbound links (IBLs
– see below) are being widely spammed. Rather link internal links, external links provide
the opportunity to include keywords in the hyperlink text.
Site Map
Engines respond positively to site maps especially on larger sites with several levels. The
site map is also a useful way of aiding the navigation of a spider for deep crawl purposes.
Content Change
Engines apparently respond positively to a degree of content change – this is why some
blogs appear high in the rankings. Apparently, Google responds positively towards
“fresh” web sites and negatively towards “stale” web sites. If content has changed
between crawling cycles it signals to the spider to return again at more frequent intervals.
Business Address and Telephone Number
It is believed that engines give an additional weighting to sites that carry an address and
telephone number. In many categories there are a large number of searches made using a
national discriminator in the search term, so include your country in the address.
Technical Issues – Site Design and Construction
This section is about avoiding the technical mistakes or pitfalls that may hamper search
engine visibility.
HTML Code
As has been explained previously, search engines were originally designed to read via
HTML code or code related to it such as XHTML and PHP.
Other File Formats
As at May 2005, Google claims that it is able to read 13 different file types apart from
HTML. The most common non-HTML formats are PDF and MS Office files. From my
experience documents in these two formats can all rank highly. I do, however, have
reservations about some of the other formats and, as mentioned above, particularly Flash.
Frames
Frames cannot be read by the major engines. So in terms of search they are an absolute
no. To find out if your site is utilising frames carry out the cache test on Google.
File Size
Do not make your opening page too large. Even if an engine can read your site many
internet users are still on a dial up connection.
CSS Format
CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheet. It is a way of compressing HTML code, allowing
a site to load faster and, in the SEO context, improves the density and priority of
keywords.