Search Engine Optimisation
Website Marketing and Promotion

Website Search Engine Optimisation Tips

The HTML Meta Tags

A Meta tag is an HTML tag that describes the contents of a Web page. Meta tags appear in the first couple of lines of an HTML page, as a directive to the Search Engines. The Meta tags can affect the way Search Engines treat a web site. The Meta Tags are not visible in the web browser.

The most important of the Meta tags for Search Engine Optimisation is the Meta "Description". It is recommended that the Meta Description tag be included in each and every HTML page.

The Meta tags for a Website can be viewed with the Web Page Analysis.

The Meta Description Tag

After the page Title, the Meta Description Tag is next in importance for Search Engine Optimisation. This tag contains a snippet of information that has a high impact on the volume and quality of traffic that a Website receives. It is a marketing message solely to attract quality visitors – but it can affect the ranking in Google's personalised search results. All the Search Engines provide some support for the Meta Description, some more than others.

The Meta Description Tag is read by the Search Engines and may be shown in the search engine results page. The Meta Description appears (when it does appear) as two lines directly under the page Title heading in the Search Engine results. Without a Description Tag, the Search Engine will use the first few words it sees on your page, which may be irrelevant.

The Meta Description Tag:

• Should accurately summarise the main theme or content of a Web page.
• Should expand on the page Title.
• Should not duplicate the wording of the Title.
• Should be different for each page.
• Could include a few targeted Keywords – but it must read well.
• Should be brief, informative and attractive.

Keep the Meta Description tag as comprehensive as possible within about 160 characters. Check the Search Engine listing that there is no truncation or wasted space. Potential customers have found the URL, and hopefully they will be attracted to the site by the Title and the Description. The average viewer will spend less than one second to glance at the Description – so it should be attractive enough to entice the viewer to visit the Website.

The Meta Keywords Tag

There is no search engine that currently uses the keywords Meta tag. MSN used to give some weight to it, Google not at all.

But include the Meta Keyword tag just in case. The Meta Keywords can be up to 160 characters. It is meaningless if the Keywords contained in the tag are not used throughout the Web page.

The Meta Keywords tag is of great value to the copywriter when constructing a web page. The Keywords should be well chosen, and based on statistically proven web searches. The copy of the web page is then built around the chosen Keywords, ensuring that they are repeated frequently and naturally. When the targeted Keywords and their synonyms have been inserted, each page should be made an easy and meaningful read for the viewer.