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Search Engine Optimization Articles & Tips
SEO - Are META Tags Dead?
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Are META Tags Dead?
I guess that all depends on who you speak to. The generally consensus is that search engines still use Meta tags, but do not rely solely on them to index or rank your Webpage.
For those of you who don't know Meta Tags are a way of informing Search Engines about the content on your Webpage. META Tags are small snippets of code that are placed within the HTML "Head" section of your source code.
However, how much weight they actually hold is now very much debatably, especially with modern Search Engines like Google becoming more and more savvy when it comes to performing searches..
So should I use META Tags or not?
Well, I'm of the opion that YES you should. META Tags may not hold the weight they once did but they are still relevant. Think about this for a minute, META Tags give you the opportunity to tell Search Engines about your Website, so why would you not want to do that? The purpose of SEO is to modify your Website so that it ranks higher in Search Engines and using META Tags may just help you do that. Together, with other on page Search Engine Optimization techniques already discussed in article 1 and article 2 I'd say it can only help?
Popular META Tags you may want to add to your Webpage:
There are plenty more, but these are arguably the most popular META Tags. For Search Engine Optimization. I suggest you use the "description" and "keywords" Tag.
By using the description META Tag you are given the opportunity to tell the Search Engine's what your Webpage is about. This is the text below the hyperlink that is returned when somebody performs a search and is your potential visitors first glimpse of the content of your Webpage. Keep your description short and relevant. You can put some keywords in here too, but don't overload it, just write a sentence or two explaining what your Webpage is all about.
By using the keywords META Tag you are given the opportunity to tell the Search Engine's about your chosen keyword phrases. Here you should make sure that the keyword phrases that appear throughout the body of your Webpage also appear within this Tag. It's also a good idea to list other keywords that maybe a bit off topic but still relevant. You can also include misspelt words too, you wouldn't what to include these within the body of your text as that wouldn't look very professional, but as META Tags are contained within the source code of your Webpage they'll be hidden from immediate view. Again, don't be tempted to spam your keywords. If you do you'll undermine the already good Search Engine Optimization already achieved.
By using the copyright META Tag you are given the opportunity to tell the Search Engine's the copyright information relating to your Webpage. This will not help with indexing are ranking of your Webpage but still useful to use.
By using the robots META Tag you are given the opportunity to tell the Search Engine's which Webpages you would like indexed and which you wouldn't. Again, the robots META Tag will not help with Search Engine Optimization but is useful in controlling the indexing of your Webpages.
<META name="robots" content= "ALL"> - All Webpages To Be Indexed <META name="robots" content="INDEX,NOFOLLOW"> - Only This Webpage To Be Indexed <META name="robots" content="NOINDEX,FOLLOW"> - Don't Index This Webpage
Regards Rob Godrob's eBooks The Home Of Quality Cheap e-Books
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