| There are
still a surprising number of search engine optimization
"experts" who will tell you that optimizing your meta tags and
submitting your site to the search engines is all you have to do
for top rankings.
Hopefully, most of you are saying "poppycock" to that old
yarn. A full bodied SEO campaign is multi faceted, involving
many complex and not-so-complex techniques for attracting search
engine traffic.
But don't underestimate the importance of meta tags to your
search engine optimization plan, either. Let's clear up some
questions about them.
First of all, what are meta tags?
- Meta tags are information inserted into the "head"
portion of your web page code. Unlike the Title Tag (which
is not a meta tag), SEO meta tags are invisible to your site
visitors but lurk behind the scenes, where they share their
information with search engine robots and anyone else who
goes poking around your HTML code.
Which tags are considered SEO meta tags?
- There are many meta tags but only a few that have
relevance in search engine optimization: the description
tag, the robots tag, and the keyword tag. And these days,
the keyword tag is ignored by the engines so you can too.
What is the Description Tag?
- This SEO meta tag is often the one that appears, either
in full or in part, in certain search engines' results
pages. It's a concise summary (about 200 to 250 characters)
of that page's contents. Not all engines treat this meta tag
equally but it's important to write it well and optimize it
with the top keywords for each given page.
What is the Robots Tag?
- Not as commonly used as other SEO meta tags, the robots
tag simply tells search engine robots which pages not to
index. If you want all your pages indexed, the robots meta
tag isn't needed.
So in summary, DO concern yourself with the description tag
but DO NOT be overly concerned about the keyword and robots meta
tags.
If you're in the market for a search engine optimization
company, DO ensure they have a healthy respect for SEO meta tags
and all the other important elements of a robust SEO strategy,
from keyword selection to
link building to
content writing and
beyond – with the goal of creating an online presence that
attracts relevant traffic and sells to it.
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