Tags & Website Optimization
There are several types of tags that are used in the website optimization; title tags, meta keyword tags, meta description tags, alt tags and title attributes are the main tag types. Most of these tags are visible only to the search engine robots and are used in the process of indexing your web site.
Meta tags are located in the <head> tags, located at the top of your web page. While you can't view them on a web page, they can be seen if you take a look at the source code of that page in your web browser.
Meta tags are used in conjunction with the keyword search phrases you have researched for your site optimization strategy. They should only be considered once you have decided on which keyword search phrases you will be using on the web pages throughout your site. Different web pages on your site have different content, so each page on your site should have a different keyword strategy and meta tag strategy that concurs with the content on that page.
The Evolution - or Devolution - of the tag
Back when search engine algorithms were simpler, meta keyword tags and meta description tags used to have a lot of bearing on web site ranking on the search engine results pages. Unfortunately, these tags were abused with instances like placing keywords that had nothing to do with the content of the web site into these tags.
These days meta tag strategy is reviewed along with a web page's title tags, content, navigation and link popularity, but is given less weight then in the past. However, it is still important to include a meta tag strategy while optimizing your site for the search engines.
Below is an example of title and meta tags located in the source code at the top of a web page.
-
<HEAD>
<TITLE> A Title based on your keyword search phrase goes here </TITLE>
<META NAME="DESCRIPTION" CONTENT="A description of your web site interwoven with your keywords from your search phrase goes here here">
<META NAME="KEYWORDS" CONTENT="keyword search phrases go here">
</HEAD>
This is usually the order in which you will see these tags are placed. However, order does not matter to the search engines.
Title Tags
Title tags, which are not meta tags, are given a considerable amount of weight in search engine optimization. These tags are usually placed above the meta tags, and are viewed in the title bar of the window that your web page sits in. 
Next time you do a search, take a look at the web sites listed on the search engine results page. You will see a one line description of a web site, followed by a slightly longer description, with the web page listed below the second description. When you click on that top line of the search results, it takes you to the web site. That top line, which links to the web site, is based upon the content of the title tag.
The search engines give a lot of weight to these tags because they use them to describe the web site in the search engine results pages.
- These tags should reflect the same keyword search phrase(s) that you are featuring on your chosen web page.
- Each page on your web site should have its own unique title tag. Especially since each page should be featuring its own keyword search phrase strategy.
- It is OK to include the name of your company, but unless you are very well known, it is best to feature your keyword search phrases along with your company name.
Meta Description Tags
When your web site appears on a search engine results page, the meta description tag dictates the descriptive text that appears under the title tag based link to that web page.
This tag is not given as much weight as the title tag in actual search engine ranking, but it is important for other reasons. With the meta description tag, you have the opportunity to enhance the description of your site when it shows up on the search engine results page.
When a member of your target audience is deciding on which link to click, your cleverly worded description might indicate that your site is what he or she has been looking for.
- The verbiage used in the meta description tag only shows up if the exact keyword search phrase entered is included in that tag.
- If your page comes up as a result of a keyword search phrase that is not located in your meta description tag, a section of your copy containing those keywords will appear in the description section of the search engine results page instead.
- Do not create a verbose meta description tag filled with multiple variations of keyword phrases. It is better to ensure that the first mention of any keyword phrase written in your copy is placed in a well constructed sentence that would also serve as a good mini description.
- How are you going to know what types of keyword search phrases might be used to locate your site in addition to the ones you have researched? You can find out this information over time by periodically checking your web site logs.
Meta Keyword Tags
This was the original meta tag, but is no longer a strong factor in search engine optimization. For many of the search engine robots, it is not a factor at all.
However, having keyword meta tags doesn't hurt anything. You can continue with your featured keyword search phrase strategy, and put those keywords and other relevant keywords into this tag. It is not a good idea to stuff this tag full of any keyword you can think of with multiple repetitions. This type of thing is what diluted the effectiveness of this tag in the first place and is a waste of time.
- Meta keyword tags are no longer supported by most search engine robots.
- The meta keyword tag is a good place to list misspelled variations of a keyword, synonyms and unusual phrases that someone looking for that page might use.
Meta Robot Tags
The robot tag alerts the search engine robots whether or not they should crawl a page. There are two directives to this tag that will keep the robots out: NOINDEX and NOFOLLOW
NOINDEX tells the crawler not to stop at that page, and to move on, but to follow the links on that page to the other pages
NOFOLLOW tells the crawlers not to follow the links on that page
-
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Search Engines Keep Out</TITLE>
<META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="NOINDEX, NOFOLLOW">
</HEAD>
Other Helpful Tags & Tips
There are other tags that reside in the body of a web page that you can use to contribute to your SEO strategy.
- Alt tags describe a gif or jpeg file
<img src="images/graphic_file.gif" ALT="description with keywords goes here">
They are not given as much weight by the search engines as other optimization factors, such as title tags or relevant content, but they are still a factor. Alt tags were not invented for search engine optimization purposes, their original use is for making your site more accessible to the visually impaired, who use text readers. - Heading Tags are used to emphasize text
on a page. They come in 6 sizes, with H1 being
the largest:
<h1>Descriptive Heading with Keywords Goes Here</h1>
When the search engines pay special attention to the words within a heading tag, because they take it as an indicator that this text is more important than that other text on the page, and will give a description of that page's contents. - Link Text is the descriptive area that you click on to view the referring page defined by the anchor, or link tag.
<a href ="filename.html">Link text should contain descriptive keywords</a>
Links are more effective when the link text reflects the keyword search phrase used in the page that the link is pointed toward. - File Names are another place where you can optimize your site for the search engines.
<a href ="descriptive-filename.html">
Give your html files a name that follows your keyword search phrase strategy for that page. Remember not to use spaces in your file names!
