Guide to Using Meta Tags

By: Shawn Donovan

How does using meta tags help improve your Web site? Meta tags are HTML code embedded at the top of a Web page's source code. They are used for meta marketing of Web sites for search engine optimization. If you write your meta tags with an eye to style and substance, you can use these tags to your advantage and perhaps draw more visitors to your Web page.

Meta Tag Syntax
Creating a meta tag isn't that different from creating any other HTML tag. You'll want to place the meta tag in the header section of your code, between the tags. The tags themselves are going to contain two parts, one being a description of the Web site and the other containing keywords that are relevant to your site. The tags should look like the following:

If you had a fan page dedicated to Warren Zevon, you might want to fill in "Fan page dedicated to the memory of Warren Zevon" in the description tag. Whatever you write, keep it short because some search engines will truncate excessively long description tags, which means potential visitors might not realize what the site is about before the words get cut off.

As for the keywords, you'd want to put in keywords that have to do with Zevon and his music, such as titles of his hits, like "Werewolves of London" or "Excitable Boy." The meta tags won't appear as text on your Web site. However, the tags work best for search engine optimization when those words and phrases also appear in the text of your Web site.

Meta Tags And Search Engine Success
It's important to note that just using these tags doesn't necessarily mean that your Web site will move up any higher on meta search engine results. In fact some search engines don't even read meta tags when a query is entered. Google, for example, doesn't include meta tags in its search. However, having meta tags on your Web site won't hurt. There's really no way to guarantee your Web site will get priority listing in search engine results, unless of course you have the dough to pay for sponsored results. That said, search engines often change their strategies, and you can be ready for them with good meta tags.

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