Meta tags and keywords ... the 2 secrets to getting a top search engine ranking for your website
Meta tags and keywords are a vital part of your website. If you want to get a top search engine position, you must use the right keywords on your site and put the right content in your meta tags.
But don't worry. It's not as daunting as it sounds.
Here are some simple tips to help you get your meta tags and keywords right..
Let's start with keywords
Keywords are the words (or phrases) people will type into a search engine when searching for your product or service on the Internet.
For example, if you sell car parts, your keywords could include "car parts", "auto parts", "used car parts", "recycled parts", "auto dismantlers", "car wreckers" etc.
So how do you pick the right keywords?
You can do this by putting yourself in the place of someone searching for your product or service in a search engine. What words or phrases are they most likely to use?
If you want to go further, there's a great service called Wordtracker that most professionals use to help select the best keywords. On Wordtracker you'll find words and phrases that are in high demand by web searchers but in relatively low supply.
Sprinkle your keywords through your Web page
You must use your main keywords - or key phrases - liberally throughout your page. It seems to help, too, if some of the keywords are in bold type, because the search engine "spiders" give greater weighting to words in bold
Meta tags - your website's hidden secret weapon
Meta tags are hidden in your website's HTML code. The biggest search engine, Google, relies heavily on meta tags - particularly the TITLE tag - when it ranks your site.
Given that Google provides more than 35 per cent of all search engine traffic worldwide, it's important to optimize your site for this search engine above all others.
The all-important TITLE tag.
The most powerful thing you can do to boost your search engine ranking is put your keywords in the TITLE tag. Don't just put your company name. This is a mistake many website owners make.
The meta DESCRIPTION tag.
The DESCRIPTION tag is your second chance to persuade people to visit your website. This is a brief description of what is on the page - up to about 40 words. It needs to be sharp and punchy to get people interested.
Ideally, you should use the same keywords to start your description tag as you used for the TITLE.
The meta KEYWORD tag.
The third meta tag is the keyword tag. A few years ago, people used to think the more keywords they could cram into this tag the better. They would list hundreds of keywords. Now, this is a waste of time. In fact, most search engines regard it as "spamming" and will penalize you if you repeat too many keywords.
So limit the number of keywords on each page of your site. It's best to focus on just a few keywords for each page.
In a nutshell - 5 top tips for meta tags and keywords
1). Use your main keywords in the TITLE tag in your meta tags.
2). Use your main keywords in the headline on your page. This is almost as important as the TITLE tag.
3). Use your main keywords in the first paragraph of the page.
4). Use your main keywords liberally throughout the page.
5). If you haven't already chosen your domain name, use your main keywords in your domain name. This may give you an extra edge over your competition.