SolveYourProblem
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Series
Meta Tag Myths You Must Read
1.
Add every meta tag that you can
Take a look at the code of a few websites out there. Many
sites have silly amounts of tags – far more than they need.
Remember the old adage: keep it simple, stupid. Don’t add
tags unless you know what you’re doing – and don’t make up
your own tag names, because no-one’s paying any attention
to them. Most of these tags are skipped over by most search
engines anyway. The only crucial tags are the description
tag and the keywords tag which are both utilized occasionally.
Many other tags are there just for the sake of crediting
the webmaster, author, etc. These kinds of tags are there
mostly for the sake of other webmasters if they need to know
who to contact about the page itself.
2.
Have lots of keywords
Using the ‘keywords’ meta tag correctly is good, but don’t
get too hung up on it. Many search engines now ignore it
altogether, including Google and AltaVista. Remember that
putting too much in this tag could be considered spamming
– make sure you don’t put anything in more than three times,
and keep the keywords related to your site. As previously
stated, many of your meta tags will be skipped over anyway,
but you should keep to your primary key words and not worry
too much about assembling a gigantic list. Be descriptive,
be honest, don’t be excessive.
3.
Keyword lists must have a formula
People have a tendency to get very distracted by the keyword
meta tag – you shouldn’t misuse it and you definitely shouldn’t
expect miracles from it. It gets skipped more often than
not; even it’s used it is used in company with the content
on your page. If you want to obsess with optimizing something,
optimize your content.
4.
The title tag doesn't really do much
Out of all the tags, this one is the most important when
it’s used correctly. Just like with your site’s content,
write your title tag for your audience first and the search
engines second. Think about your site’s branding and navigation
issues as you create your title tags. Your title should be
relatively long. A seven to ten word title is not out of
the question. The title is the first thing that a search
engine really cares about and it should be the most common
thing that you want your visitors to find you for. Your most
important key words should all be worked into your title.
5.
If I copy my competitor's keywords I will do just as well
You need to understand tags and the details of search engine
optimization in general. What works for one site doesn’t
necessarily work for another! You do not have identical sites
so you cannot work with identical keywords. Aside from this
detail, a site that has been around longer is more likely
to have success from its key words than a new site. If you
are trying to take over a small niche, you have to expand
and do something that your competitor hasn’t done yet.
6.
If I repeat my keywords in a comment tag I will rank better
There was a time long ago when this was true, but it was
a really long time ago. Search engines are all wise to this
trick nowadays.
7.
We need to have as many different keywords as possible
throughout our site
This is an SEO nightmare. Your pages need to be focused,
not always trying to cover all basis. Limit your keywords.
8.
Anyone can write a website’s tags
SEO calls for copywriting and marketing talent: writing
good tags that can attract both humans and search engine
spiders isn’t easy.
9.
Google doesn't rank me by the description tag, so why should
I use it?
Google does still use the description tag from your site
– it displays it to its users in the results. If there’s
no description tag, they’ll just see a nonsense excerpt from
your site, which is bad. Don’t forget that there are still
plenty of uses for the description tag. Make the title and
the description complement each other, as they will often
be displayed together.
