As already mentioned, the opening page (alias index, homepage, default) is critical to proper placement in the search engine directories. We've discussed the general structure and viewable contents of a "Splash page" and the homepage. Now we will go into some important things to code into these pages that are not viewable. Metatags are primarily for the benefit of the search engine spiders/ robots that many directories use to analyze a web site to determine it's content/ purpose. All metatags are placed in the section of a web page. Two of the most important metatags are Keyword and Description. Below is a copy of the metatags I have listed in my resume page located at http://vene_thomas.tripod.com

You'll notice that I used multiple ways of spelling FrontPage. That is because it may be listed in these different ways through the search engines. I will shortly be adjusting this list to reflect some new keywords and will eliminate the capitalized version of Frontpage because some listing services may consider this "spamming" and will demote my listing as a result.

Another tag a web consultant/ designer may want to consider using provides a way for you to identify your work without intruding on the visual portion of your client's web site:

META NAME="author" content="Vene Thomas Web Designs"

Pragma and Expires are useful tags especially if you are in the process of doing a site makeover. What these tags do is control the browser caching of a page. I would suggest placing these tag on the existing index page and on some of the other potential entrance pages that may currently be in use that you will be changing. Do the same on the pages you are creating. This way, as you upload the new pages and ask your "less-than Internet Savvy" client to go look at the new page, you won't have to explain to them about hitting the Refresh button. For more details on these tags, check out Scott Clark's Article at http://webdeveloper.com/html/html_metatags_part2.html

One final note, if you are working on a site that is designed for children or users that may be using site blocking software, do yourself and your client a favor. Go to PICS-Label generator site and fill out the form to create a rating label Meta http-equiv tag for your home page. Copy the label generated and place it in the section of your page. Now a browser with site blocking has something to look at to determine your rating and it will allow your viewer to see it without having to get parental permission. It's surprising how many educational sites (i.e. your child's school) have not done this. I have done this for the Closing The Gap web site.

 

Helpful Links:

Phil Bradley's Metatag page
http://www.philb.com/metatag.htm

How to Use HTML Metatags
by Danny Sullivan
http://searchenginewatch.com/webmasters/meta.html

Vancouver-wedpages - PICS Rating Label Generator
http://vancouver-webpages.com/VWP1.0/VWP1.0.gen.html

Meta Medic
http://www.northernwebs.com/set/setsimjr.html

Submit a page with meta tags on it, and Meta Medic will check to see if the tags are valid. It will also check the length and warn of possible problems.