What
is a Meta tag?
META tags are similar to standard HTML tags. However, there is one big
difference: You have to insert all META tags between the <head> </head> tags
on your page(s). META tags are used primarily to include information about a
document. The META tags will be invisible to your site's visitors, but will
be seen by browsers and search engines. There are three basic uses
for meta tags:
- To store information about the document, such as author or expiration date, which is
used by the web server for one reason or another. The most common environment for this is
an intranet, where the server expects certain types of meta tag data and is prepared to do
something with this data.
- To make something happen to the page automatically. The most common
application is
to automatically refresh a splash screen with another page.
- To help search spiders index the site. Some of the major search engines use meta tags
when they index a site. Using meta tags can help the placement of your site within these
search directories, but -- and this in an important caveat -- using meta tags doesn't
guarantee that your site will be indexed "correctly" either.
Making Pages Automatically Load
This is a handy application for creating
a splash screen that automatically disappears to be replaced with your home page, or to build a
"slideshow", when you want to automatically cycle a series of separate HTML pages,
one after the other. It's easy to do and, if you use it well, it can be a very effective
presentation method.
How It Works
You create this effect by using a meta tag to force the browser to pull
another page automatically from the server. The new page will replace
the first page.
*Remember, it MUST be between the head tags :
<META HTTP-EQUIV="refresh" CONTENT="5;
URL=http://www.oocities.org/gmcwebclass/newpage.htm">
This meta tag tells the browser to wait 5 seconds and then
automatically load the new page, newpage.html.
View Example
One important point to remember is that it takes time to download your page into
the browser. Make sure you specify enough seconds of delay time between pages. If you
don't leave enough time, a partially loaded page will just disappear to be replaced with
another. If you're setting up a slide show, this sense of timing becomes even more
important.
A good rule of thumb is that on a 56k modem it takes 1 second for every
2K of
information transferred. So, add up the size of all your graphics and the size of your
page and use that as the minimum number of delay seconds.
Slideshows
Picture a small frame along the edge of the screen that displays a series of images
about a social problem on a non-profit page designed to help solve that problem. Or a
series of sketches of an architectural project, showing the project from various angles in
various stages of creation on a page about the building. The replaced pages can loop or
can have a beginning to end path, stopping when a final image, page, or text appears.
The applications for using automatic page replacement go on and on ... and let you add
a sense of motion and interactivity with one simple meta tag -- and without any
complicated coding, animated GIFs, or animation plug-ins.
Example: "I
hate Mosquitoes"
Back to top of
page
Meta
Tags and Search Engines
Several of the major search engines make use of the META Keyword tag, and
virtually all of them make use of the Description tag. These tags can help
the search engine spider determine the content of your web site so that it
can be indexed properly.
This is what they look like, remember, they MUST be between the
head tags :
<META name="keywords" content="widgets, widget guide">
<META name="description" content="The ultimate guide to Widget design!">
There are a couple of common misconceptions about meta tags, and both revolve around
using meta tags to help the search spiders index a site.
First is that your page must have meta tags in order for the spiders to find and index
it. Not true! Spiders can find your page whether or not it has meta tags. The tags do,
however, help some spiders index it in the way you want it indexed.
Second, is that you can control the exact way your site is indexed by using some magic
formula of meta tags. For some spiders the meta tags provide guidelines, but
the content of meta tags is weighed with other factors, and each spider uses meta tag
information a little differently.
Search Spiders, Search Engines, Search Directories
Before detailing the meta tags than can help along the search process, it is helpful to
understand a little more about how searches on the web work. There are five components
that you're dealing with when you are thinking about making your site
"findable."
First, is the search spider. Some of the search/directory services employ spiders;
others don't. The spider is an automatic agent that goes out and searches the web for
anything new. It turns its results into an index.
The index is a listing
of all the content the search service knows about. Some services, like
Alta Vista and WebBot, use primarily spider-generated indexes. Others, like
Yahoo, are primarily directories.
Directories are compiled, organized sets of sites. There is typically some human
intervention which says "swamp-lands real estate is a type of business that belongs
in the regional/business category." Directories don't include every single page on
the web but, by limiting themselves, they can often be more useful, if less comprehensive.
Directories also have indexes but these indexes are guides to the contents of the
directories rather than maps of the entire web.
A search engine is the tool that translates a
visitor's search request into a query that
searches through the indexes and returns a search response. Search engines use all sorts
of technologies including items like keywords, weighting, proximity, and full text search.
Don't drive yourself crazy trying to understand how each works -- just know that none work
exactly the same and there is no tried and true method for making your site hop to the top of
every list.
Finally, the search interface is the layout and tools through which a reader enters his
or her question. Don't underestimate the human factor in searches -- if you know people
refer to your content area by a particular name or description, use that in a meta tag and
in the description of any directory submissions you make for your site. The more you think
like your readers, the more likely potential readers are to find you.
Back to top of
page
The Description Meta Tag
<META NAME="description" CONTENT="a short, but
appealing description of the page, usually less than 200-250 characters long.">
Normally, a search spider will use the first few words on your page as a sample of what
the searcher will find there. However, if you insert a description meta tag the spider
will use the value in the content attribute as the page's description instead. For example, a
description meta tag for a Paso Fino horse ranch might look like this:
<META NAME="description" CONTENT="Bay Meadows is
the premiere breeder and trainer of fine Paso Fino horses on the West Coast.">
Now, the description that appears after your site's name in a search result will be
much more meaningful to potential readers.
The Keywords Meta Tag
<META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="words, simple
phrases, items of interest, possible search terms">
The keywords meta tag lists words or phrases that a searcher might use in looking for
your topic. The more words that match, the better the odds are that your site will be
listed at the top of the results index. For example a keywords meta tag for a Paso Fino horse ranch might look
like this:
<META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="horse,
Paso Fino,
ranch, stable, stallion, breeding, gait, horse show, paint, Peruvian, horseback, riding,
trail horse">
Now, the odds are improved that someone looking for "horses good for trail
riding" will find your site.
The Abstract Meta Tag
<META NAME="abstract" CONTENT="A longer, more
detailed description of your site; an academic style abstract.">
Sometimes a spider will also record an abstract, along with a description. The abstract
is simply a longer description that summarizes the page. For example an abstract meta tag
for a Paso Fino horse ranch might look like this:
<META NAME="abstract" CONTENT="Studies show that
the Paso Fino breed is among the most even tempered and best riding horse ever bred. Their
unique gait lends comfort to the trail and the horses were developed as reliable
transportation, as well as intelligent companions. This ancient breed is growing in number
in North America and ranches like Bay Meadows are leading the breeding and training of
today's finest mares and stallions.">
Now readers who use a service that supports the abstract meta tag have
the ability to see a full and
complete summary of your page.
The Author Meta Tag
<META NAME="author" CONTENT="Your Name">
The author meta tag lets you identify the author of the page. Sometimes this gets used;
most often you'll be including it for your own benefit or for the benefit of anyone
looking at your code. An author meta tag might look like this:
<META NAME="author" CONTENT="Jane A.
Doe">
The Generator Meta Tag
<META NAME="generator" CONTENT="Program
Name">
Like a little advertisement, some HTML page editors automatically include a generator
meta tag in every page they create. A typical generator meta tag might look like this:
<meta name="GENERATOR"
content="Microsoft FrontPage
5.0">
Back to top of
page
Avoiding Indexing
You can also use meta tags to avoid having your page indexed. If your page is created
for a small group of people, if you'd rather not have random browsers hitting your site,
or if your site is live but still under construction or otherwise not ready for *prime
time* viewing, you might not want it to be indexed.
You can avoid indexing by using a meta tag named robots. Not all spiders honor this meta
tag, but several do. Robots looks
like this:
<META NAME="robots" CONTENT="noindex,nofollow">
What the tag above does is tell the spider not to index the page that it
appears on, and not to follow the links on that page. Here's a complete list
of attributes for the robot's tag:
index - the default, the page is added to the search engine database
noindex - the page is not added to the search engine database
nofollow - the spider doesn't follow the links on that page
To use any of these attributes simply replace the "noindex,nofollow" text
in the example above with whatever you want to use. If you need to use more
than one attribute, seperate them with a comma.
Back to top
of page
