Search engines are constantly evolving and updating their tactics to search. But the old timer “Meta tags” have not lost their sheen and are still very important. They still contribute in a major way towards your overall web marketing.
What are Meta Tags?
Meta tags are part of your website’s code. Webopedia defines a meta tag as:
A special HTML tag that provides information about a Web page. Unlike normal HTML tags, meta tags do not affect how the page is displayed. Instead, they provide information such as who created the page, how often it is updated, what the page is about, and which keywords represent the page’s content. Many search engines use this information when building their indices.
Meta Tags on each webpage can be analogised to a library index card for a book. A library card for a book describes the book. Similarly meta tags describe each page of a website. This makes it easier for the search engines to add the pages to their massive database.
The three Meta tags that marketers need to pay attention to for optimization are:
- Title tag;
- Description tag;
- Keyword tag
Meta Title Tag
Title Tag is one of the most important factors for a successful search engine optimization. It provides summarized information about your website. The title tag is what appears on search engines result page (SERP). If you closely look at a search engine result page you would realise that you can have only have a small number of characters for your title. No more than 50 to 60 characters for optimal results is the norm.
Optimising the title Tags can help the search engines to better understand what each page on your website is all about. This way it can better throw up web page on the search engine result page when a user requests it. The other links below the title and description show pages of the website. Thus, having optimized meta tags can help an organization get more attention in search engine results pages.
The meta title needs to summarize what the page is about, clearly and with key phrases. If your web page does not use any of the key phrases you put in your title, then your chances of being found are lower. Search engines look for a mix of optimizations and when your code has synergy with your content, your chances are better.
A lot of sites have the company name repeated on each page. This is not necessary as you will usually get good rankings on your company name, so it does not need to be in every title of every page. In short, use the meta title tag’s limited space to make it count.
Meta Description
The meta description tags are a summary of each individual page. This is an area where you have more space to get your message across, educate your visitors and rein them in. The maximum length for a meta description is 125 to 150 characters. Make sure to accurately summarize the page content in a readable manner. Remember they need to make sense to the reader.
Meta Keywords
Meta keywords are used to describe the page. Google likely ignores these, so they are a low priority. Use no more than 10 keywords per page.
As the businesses grow websites have to be updated accordingly. Outdated meta tags have to replaced and optimised. Therefore this has to form a part of any Website Maintenance & Support. No matter how your site is/was built, make sure you pay attention to your meta tags. Classic SEO tactics may not be as cool as new trends, but they last the test of time.
