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<META> Tags

   META Tags help you to control, to a certain extent, the keywords that search engines use to index your site.   They also can help you control the description some search engines use when they display your site information.

   META Tags go in the Header section of the HTML document along with the Title.  They contain information about the web page that the Search Engines use when they index the page.

   There are a bunch of different META tags in use today, but the ones we are concerned about are the "description" and "keyword" tags.  Here is the format.


<META name="description" content="The Webmaster's Resource.  Learn all about Web site authoring, design, and promotion.">


<'META name="keywords" content="Webmaster's Resource, how to create your own web page, HTML, web site design, web page promotions, Jim Meeker, Graphics">

   Ok, so now you have the format for the META tag and you're wondering what to put in them.   In the description tag put a short description of your web site.  This text is what a number of search engines will use to describe your site when someone does a search.

   In the keywords tag list keywords that you think visitors might use when searching for your site.  Use plurals in your keyword phrases if possible.

   For the best results with the search engines, use the key phrases in your Title, META Description, META Keywords, and Body text.   If you can, put the key phrase in header tags like <H1>Web Sight Authoring</H1>.

Some META Tag guidelines:

There aren't any officially set lengths to the contents of the META Tags. Generally stick to 200 characters or less for the description and 1000 characters for keywords.

If you exceed these lengths the search engine may ignore the extra characters or it may exclude your page altogether. It just depends on the search engine.

Remember that it's good to reinforce your keywords by repeating them a few times and also including them in your title, description, and body text. However, over use of these techniques, for instance repeating keywords many times or filling the page with keywords that are the same color as the background, are known as SPAMMING the Search Engines and your submission may be penalized or ignored all together. Repeating keywords, in the description META tag, from three to seven times seems to be a good rule.

Now go out there and submit your site to the Search Engines!

Related Links:

Search Engine Watch. Danny Sullivan's site constantly watches all of the search engines and reports on them. You can subscribe to his FREE newsletter too.

For more on web site creation, design, and management check out the books in my book store.

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E-Mail: jim314@oocities.com ICQ: 724480
Last Updated: 02/16/98 09:12:56 CST