How to Use Meta Tags for Search Engine Optimizatio

How to Use Meta Tags for Search Engine Optimization

Copyright 2002 Herman Drost



Statistics show that only one of every four Web Sites have

Meta tags. However using these tags can give your site

an advantage over other sites that do not. Meta tags enable most visitors to initially find your site from the search engines.



What are Meta Tags?

These are HTML tags that provide information

that describes the content of the web pages that the visitor

will be viewing. Web Site owners use this resource to control their positioning and descriptions in the search engines. Most search engines incorporate reading meta tags as part of their indexing formula.



Where to Place Meta Tags

They should go in between the

and tags in your html page.



Types of Meta Tags

The Doctype tag The DTD (Document Type Definition) tag precedes the opening tag. It is generally

the first element to be used on any page. It distinguishes the version of HTML in use from other versions of HTML and tells the browser what tags to expect when laying out the page.



{!doctype html public "-//wc3//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en">}



If a browser doesn't understand a tag, it just ignores it. This, in effect, renders useless. For the proponents of strict standardization, a statement like would ensure standardization. If a browser didn't recognize the statement, it could ignore the page.

META Tags and Document Identification

The syntax for the tag is:



{meta name="namevalue" content="contentvalue"} or

{meta http-equiv="namevalue" content="contentvalue"}



The tag requires the CONTENT attribute and adds either

the NAME or HTTP-EQUIV attribute. These define the general

information you are creating or changing in the document, and

the CONTENT attribute defines the value of the general

information.



HTTP-EQUIV Attribute

{META HTTP-EQUIV} tags are equivalent to HTTP headers.

To understand headers, you must understand the process

that occurs when you use a Web browser to request a

document from a Web server. You request information using your

browser and the Web Server receives your request via HTTP, the

standard Web protocol. When the server finds the page you

requested, it generates an HTTP response. The initial data in

that response is called the HTTP header block. This header gives

the Web browser information useful for displaying the page.



Common Examples of the HTTP-EQUIV Attribute Value

Language META Tag

This is an optional tag. It declares to users

the natural language of the document being indexed. Search engines

which index websites based on language often read this tag to

determine which language(s) is supported. This tag is

particularly useful for non-english and multiple language

websites.



{meta http-equiv="content-language" content="en"}



Content-type Tag

The Content-Type entity-header field indicates the media type

of the entity-body sent to the recipient. This is an optional tag.



{meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;

charset=windows-1252"}



Expires META Tag

An optional tag that defines the date when the file will be considered

expired in cache and a new page will be generated. Only use when

your website is running a limited time event or there is a preset date

when your document will no longer be valid.



{meta http-equiv="expires" content="Tue, 04 Dec 1993 21:29:02 GMT"}



Refresh META Tag

An optional tag used as a way to redirect or refresh users to another

web page after X number of seconds.

This META tag is often used as a "bridge" page which is accessed

first by users and are then redirected to another web page.



{meta http-equiv="refresh"

content="seconds;url=

http://www.website.com/index.html"}



NAME Attribute

tags with a NAME attribute are used for

information types that do not correspond to HTTP headers.



Common Examples of the HTTP-NAME Attribute

Keyword Tag Search

Engines that support META tags will often use the keywords found

on your pages as a means to categorize your website based on the

search engines indexing algorithms (proprietary algorithms which

index your website in search engine databases).



Ensure you choose keywords that are relevant to your site. Avoid

excessive repetition as many search engines will penalize your

rankings for attempting to abuse their system. Search engines

give priority to the first few words in your description, so

focus on your main keywords and then elaborate further by using

synonyms or other related words.



{meta name="keywords" content = "keyword1,keyword2,keyword3"}



Keyword values are usually separated by commas. The maximum

keyword allowance is 1000 characters, however, it is believed

that anything over 255 characters is ignored.



Description Tag

Search engines that support META tags will often display the

Description META tag along with your title in their results.

When creating your META tags, make the first sentence

of your description field capture the attention of a user and

use the rest of the description tag to elaborate further.







Keep this description to no more than 25 words (maximum

allowance is 150 characters). Not all search engines recognize

this tag.



Conclusion

Don't let your site be one of the four web sites on the Web that

do not have Meta Tags. Optimize it now, so you have

a greater chance to be listed in the search engines. Getting

listed, will bring more traffic which may mean more sales