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As virtually all website owners know, although meta tags are not essential, most websites have a minimum of three; a title meta tag, a keyword meta tag, and a description meta tag.
The title tag, as you would guess from its name, contains the title of the website. The title can be, and often is, different than the headline at the top of the website that visitors actually see. The headline on a site might read, "Online Education", for instance, while the title meta tag contains the words, "Distance Education & Online Graduate Degrees". Actually, nearly all of the best optimized websites do have different on-page and meta tag titles.
The reason is that the on page title is there for the visitor who has already reached the site, while the title in the meta tag is used to influence the search engines and prospective visitors. Selecting a good title for use in the title meta tag is, in fact, very important.
If you doubt it, do a simple experiment. Pick a search term, any search term, and see which websites come up in the top 10 in Google or Yahoo. Then view their title meta tags. Almost without exception, you'll find the search term.
The keyword meta tag is probably the least important of the three because the major search engines put no credence in its content. But it shouldn't be ignored because some less popular search engines and a lots of directories do consider it.
The description meta tag is, in some respects, the most important of the three tags, although it is not a factor in a site's search engine rankings. That is because, in some search engines and directories, the two or three sentences you put in the description tag are what a searcher will read before deciding to visit your site or scroll further to consider others. A good description meta tag should be written to "sell" your site.
Unfortunately, not everyone understands the importance of meta tags. In fact, I have seen several articles minimizing their importance. Don't be fooled by them. Content may be king, but meta tags are extremely important in determining the success or failure of most websites.
The title tag, as you would guess from its name, contains the title of the website. The title can be, and often is, different than the headline at the top of the website that visitors actually see. The headline on a site might read, "Online Education", for instance, while the title meta tag contains the words, "Distance Education & Online Graduate Degrees". Actually, nearly all of the best optimized websites do have different on-page and meta tag titles.
The reason is that the on page title is there for the visitor who has already reached the site, while the title in the meta tag is used to influence the search engines and prospective visitors. Selecting a good title for use in the title meta tag is, in fact, very important.
If you doubt it, do a simple experiment. Pick a search term, any search term, and see which websites come up in the top 10 in Google or Yahoo. Then view their title meta tags. Almost without exception, you'll find the search term.
The keyword meta tag is probably the least important of the three because the major search engines put no credence in its content. But it shouldn't be ignored because some less popular search engines and a lots of directories do consider it.
The description meta tag is, in some respects, the most important of the three tags, although it is not a factor in a site's search engine rankings. That is because, in some search engines and directories, the two or three sentences you put in the description tag are what a searcher will read before deciding to visit your site or scroll further to consider others. A good description meta tag should be written to "sell" your site.
Unfortunately, not everyone understands the importance of meta tags. In fact, I have seen several articles minimizing their importance. Don't be fooled by them. Content may be king, but meta tags are extremely important in determining the success or failure of most websites.
About the Author:
Andrea Morgan is a small business owner and graduate student whose interests include online colleges, adult education, and financial aid for online college students.
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