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Meta Tags are HTML codes which provide information on
content of a webpage. They pass right information on the web-page
to search engines so that the page is indexed under right category.
We discussed the basics of meta tags in last issue. In this issue,
we discuss how to create most important meta tags.
There are a number of meta tags that you can use in
a HTML page. These are inserted between <title> and </title>
tags of your HTML page. Following is a list of most important meta
tags that you must use in your web-page, with examples, tips and
tricks.
Title Tag
Strictly, Title tag is not considered a meta tag, but
it has very strong bearing on search engine ranking. Browsers display
Title tag at the top of screen.
Example:
<TITLE>Indian Handicraft - Marble Statues from
Jaipur</TITLE>
Tips
1. Use top keyword first followed by subject description
with more keywords.
2. Avoid hype (e.g. greatest, top, best etc.) Pack
as many of your top keywords as possible into title tag.
Tricks
1. To be considered spider-friendly, maximum length
of title tag should not exceed 60 characters
Description Meta Tag
The Description Meta Tag is a summary of the content
of the web-page.
Example:
<META NAME="description" CONTENT="A description
of your website that has lots of keywords in it, and is about this
long in length.">
Tips
Search engines often display the Description meta tag
along with your title in their results. As the display space in
search result is limited, make sure the first sentence of description
tag is capable of capturing user attention and use the rest of the
tag to elaborate further.
Tricks
Insert important keywords from Title. To be considered
spider-friendly, maximum length should not exceed 150 characters.
Keywords Meta Tag
The Keywords Meta Tag is a series of keywords that
represents the content of your site. Search engines use the keywords
found in Keyword tag as well in the text to categorize the web-page
in search engine database. The algorithms used are proprietary and
closely guarded secret.
Example
<META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="keyword keyword keyword">
Tips
1. Ensure your chosen keywords are relevant to your
site and avoid excessive repetition as many search engines will
penalize your rankings for attempting to abuse their system. Similar
to the Description meta Tag, search engines give priority to the
first few keywords. So focus on your main keywords and then elaborate
further by using synonyms or other related words.
2. Arrange the keywords in decreasing sequence of importance,
(i.e. put the most important keyword first, the least important
last).
3. Use only keywords that you think people will type
in to find your website. Remember to offer various ways of spelling
your top keywords if there are several.
Tricks
To be considered spider-friendly, make sure total length
of keywords does not exceed 850 characters.
Robots META Tag
The Robots Meta Tag informs the spider pages to be
indexed.
Example
<META NAME="robots" CONTENT="index, follow">
Tips
If you like search engine spiders to follow your text
links to other pages at your site, add this meta tag. If you prefer
to prevent crawling and indexing of pages, simply type in "noindex"
instead of "index, follow".
Normally you would like the spider to index as many
pages of your web-site as possible - so use this meta tag wherever
possible.
Traps in Meta Tags
Meta Tag
Lawsuits
Can you get sued for your meta tags ? Danny Sullivan,
editor of Searchenginewatch.com has listed the lawsuits in this
context and precautions one needs to take. Here's one example.
Playboy sued two adult web site operators who spammed
their pages with the word Playboy and Playmate hundreds of times.
This helped them rise to the top of some search engine results for
a search on "Playboy." The defendants were also using the terms
Playboy and Playmate in the site names, the domain names and in
their slogans.
The San Francisco federal judge issued a preliminary
injunction against the operators, deciding that trademark infringement
and false representation could be proven trial.
Selection of Keywords
As you can see, selection of keywords is one of the
most important factor for favourable search engine ranking. Hundreds
of articles, books and journals have been published on this subject,
so much so that some consider this as a new discipline. This page
is too short to discuss all that. Nevertheless, we shall examine
a few important features in next issue. lp you set out on the right
course.
Related Links:
Source: FAIDA
- Newsletter on Business Opportunties from India and Abroad
Vol II, Issue 26' December 5' 2001
Author :
Dr. Amit K. Chatterjee
(Amit worked in blue-chip Indian and MNCs for 15 years in various
capacities like Research and Information Analysis, Market Development,
MIS, R&D Information Systems etc. before starting his e-commerce
venture in 1997. The views expressed in this columns are of
his own. He may be reached at amit@infobanc.com
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