Most major search engines still use the copy in your description tag as the copy in your search listing, so you'll want to create one that attracts visitors. In fact, there are three good reasons why it's still smart to create proper meta tags.

• Boost Your Rankings: Many search spiders still read meta tags to gather the data from your pages. Well written, relevant meta tags will boost your rankings in search engines like Alta Vista, Google, Lycos, AllTheWeb, and Inktomi-powered sites.

• Drive Traffic to Your Site: Most search engines and directories will use your title tag as the title link and your description tag as the site description displayed in their search results. When the copy in these tags contains strategic keywords in a compelling, relevant message, users will click to your site.

• Create Free Branding: Research by NPD Group shows that search engine listings provide better branding than banner ads. For this reason alone, it pays to create killer copy for your title and description tags.

What are Meta Tags?

Your meta tags are the HTML elements that Webmasters can include within your Web pages to provide information about your documents (author, title, description, etc.). Meta tags aren't visible to users viewing a page unless they click the "View" menu, then click "Source" (using Internet Explorer), which opens a window displaying your meta tag copy.

In search engine optimization, the most important meta tags are the Title Tag and Meta Description Tag. Your site can be at a disadvantage for not displaying these tags.

• If your Web page lacks a Title Tag, some search engine results will display the phrase "No Title" in the first line of your listing. That can limit your search engine traffic.

• If your Web page lacks a Meta Description Tag, some search engines will display the first few words on the page as your listing description. That might not be your most compelling copy for driving visitors to your site.

To boost your rankings, drive traffic, and improve branding, you might try creating the meta tags described below.

Title Tag

Every HTML document must contain a Title element in the Head section at the top of the page. The title identifies the document's overall content. The title tag generally precedes the meta description tag and meta keywords tag. Below is an example of a title tag for a page selling digital cameras on a fictitious photo site.

<title>The ABC Digital Camera Store - digital cameras, audio, video and photographic equipment</title>

Meta Description Tag

The meta description tag is important because it's often used by search engines to describe your site in search results. It's also used to help summarize Web sites when indexing. Your copy must be compelling and relevant to attract potential customers to your page. Copy should contain several strategic keywords on the page. A description tag might look like this for a page selling camera equipment.

<meta name="description" content="Compare our discounted prices and brand ratings at ABCPhoto.com for the best deals on 35mm SLR cameras, digital cameras, instant cameras, camcorders, DVD players, all on sale now">

Search engines supporting meta description tags have a cut-off anywhere between 150 to 400 characters. Since you can't predict where the cut-off will be, place the essential part of your message in the first 150 characters, continuing with additional copy up to 400 characters.

Meta Keywords Tags

The meta keywords tag reveals the most important keywords for each page to search engine robots. This helps users find your strategic keywords in search engine queries, so it's important to conduct thorough research to come up with a complete list of keywords. Analyze the most popular keywords with tools such as WordTracker to arrive at your optimum final list. Below is an example of a keyword meta tag for a fictitious page selling camera equipment.

<meta name="keywords" content="camera, picture, digital camera sales, photo, cameras, lens, tripod, kodak, nikon, olympus, canon, pentax, minolta, agfa, leica, yashica, fuji, photography, zoom lens, telephoto, polaroid, single lens reflex, photographic equipment, camera lens, camera bags, camera equipment, camera accessories, filters, filmless cameras, photography how-to, color film, shutter speed, film speed, cannon, nikkon, fugi">

Note that singular and plural forms of the same word are used, as well as common misspellings. List as many keywords as you can, up to 1,000 characters (including spaces). Of course the most important words should be at the beginning, perhaps even starting with the company name if it's an e-commerce site.

You can place keywords in your meta keywords tags with or without commas. Some experts insist on commas, while others say just the opposite. Search engines say it doesn't matter.

Will Meta Tags Improve Rankings?

The short answer is yes, as every little bit helps. I recently asked AltaVista, AllTheWeb, Google, Inktomi, and Lycos about using meta tags.

• AltaVista said developing proper meta tags is important, and that it uses title and description tags in its ranking algorithm.

• FAST, which powers AllThe Web and Lycos, said it looks for meta descriptions, and if none are found it examines the first 250 characters on the page.

• Google uses the information in title, description and keywords meta tags, although these are not a major ranking factor.

• Inktomi prioritizes meta tags when generating page rankings, using both the meta description and meta keywords tag. It uses the first 200 characters of the meta description to generate page summaries for its results.

Changing SEO Techniques

Iconocast surveyed over 400 respondents on meta tags, reporting they were "the most common method to improve site ranking, followed by tweaking page titles." (Chart courtesy of Iconocast, reprinted with permission.)

Methods to Improve Rankings

• Changing metatags - 61%
  
• Changing page titles - 44%
  
• Reciprocal linking - 32%
  
• Purchasing multiple domains - 28%
  
• Multiple home pages - 21%
  
• Hiding keywords in background - 18%
  
• Pay-per-click - 13%

Source: Nov. 2000 ICONOCAST Inc./InsightExpress

From the Iconocast survey, it appears meta tags were very important at year-end 2000. While I'm sure results would be much different today, I still think it's wise to create meta tags for every page on your site when there's a chance to improve search engine rankings, site traffic, and site branding.

Be Careful When Writing Meta Tags

Most search engines will not penalize you for meta tags if content is appropriate and relevant. But you don't want to repeat a keyword more than two or three times in a meta tag. Definitely don't repeat the same word twice in a row, which sets off spam filters. Be sure to use keywords that are actually on the page and reflect the essence of your content.

Warning: Don't use trademarks or company names belonging to others in your meta tags. Lawsuits have been won against unfair and unauthorized use of trademarks and brand names owned by others.

About The Author
Paul J. Bruemmer has provided search engine marketing expertise and consulting services to prominent American businesses since 1995. As Director of Search Marketing at Red Door Interactive, he is responsible for strategizing and implementing search engine marketing activities within Red Door's Internet Presence Management (IPM) services. Paul has provided search engine marketing (SEM) and search engine optimization (SEO) services to thousands of websites, including clients like Lexis-Nexis and NASDAQ. Paul is a well-known industry columnist, having written articles for ClickZ, iMediaConnection, Search Engine Guide, Pandia and MarketingProfs. He has also been a featured speaker at the Search Engine Strategies Conferences and at eComXpo. Paul can be reached at 619-398-2670 ext. 127 or pbruemmer @ reddoor.biz.

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