How to Optimize the Web Page Meta Tags

There are only three Meta tags that we need to optimize:

• Title tag
• Description tag
• Keywords tag

Title Tag

This is by far the most important tag of the page and should contain your keyword/keyword phrase and as far as possible only your keyword/ keyword phrase.

Example Titles:

1. Computer Consultant Services
2. Jim's Computers Ltd - Computer Consultant Services
3. Computer Consultant Services - Jim's Computers Ltd

The important point is that the Title makes sense to human readers as they will also be reading the page. Where possible start the title with the keyword phrase (1 and 3) above.

HTML
<TITLE> Computer Consultant Services - Jim's Computers Ltd</TITLE>

Description Tag

The page description should accurately describe your Web page and is usually displayed by the search engines on the SERPS, along with the title. The description should be less than 200 characters and ideally less than 140 characters.

 It should contain one or two of you keyword/keyword phrases with the most important one appearing near the beginning. Because it is usually displayed by the search engines it is important that it invites the reader to click.

When searchers view the search results they will quickly scan the description of the top results to check that they contain what they are looking for.

 Example Use:

<META NAME = "Description" CONTENT ="content">

Example:

<META NAME = "Description"  CONTENT = "Looking for a professional computer consultant? Jim's computers provides first class computer consultancy services for small businesses" >

Keywords Tag

This tag was previously used by search engines to determine page relevancy it is no longer used by the major engines (except Yahoo) . The tag is a list of keywords and phrases. Each Keyword or keyword phrase is usually separated by a comma.

Try to limit the length to about 10 words, less is usually better. Don't be tempted to enter 100's of keywords just because you are allowed. Don't repeat your keyword more than 3 times as some search engines and indexes will penalise you for spamming.

I tend to use a 1-4 keywords at most.

Use:

 <META NAME = "Keywords" CONTENT="keyword1, keyword2">

Example:

<META NAME = "Keywords" CONTENT= "computer consultant, services, consultancy">

Meta Tag Summary

Here is the meta tag block.

Mini Course Links

• Keywords research and Selection
• How to Optimize Web Pages
• How to Optimize Web Page Meta Tags
• How to Optimize Site Links

Related Articles:

Meta tags explained.