Meta Tag Information

Meta Tags

What are Meta Tags? They are code in your HTML that is invisible to the guests of your web site but are read by some web spiders and search engines.

The basic syntax for Meta Tags are:
<META name="description" content="type your description here">
<META name="keywords" content="type your keywords here">

Lets get down to business. At the top of your document source there is a small amount of information including your title that is located between <HEAD> and </HEAD>. This is where you will add your new Meta Tags. (anywhere between <HEAD> and </HEAD>)

It looks something like this:
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Jim's Book World</TITLE>
<META NAME="Author" CONTENT="Jim's Books Incorporated">
<META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="Adobe 5 ">
</HEAD>

Add your Meta Tags above the </HEAD> like this:

<HEAD>
<TITLE>Jim's Book World</TITLE>
<META NAME="Author" CONTENT="Jim's Books Incorporated">
<META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="Adobe 5 ">
<META name="description" content="The best prices on the planet earth on over 500,000 books">
<META name="keywords" content=" books, calendars, Mark Twain, Jules Verne, Thoreau">
</HEAD>

Be sure to begin your tag with < and end your tag with > otherwise your description and keywords will show up on your web pages.

When choosing keywords: A few years ago webmasters used to list the same keyword over and over again to get their site listed closer to the top of a web search. Don't do it! Now days most web spiders are programed to disregard any word that is listed more than three times. Instead of using a tag like this:
<META name="keywords" content=" books, books, books, books, books, calendars">

Use one like this:
<META name="keywords" content=" book, books, bookstore, calendars">

A search that doesn't include the word "book" because the spider is ignoring it is not going to get many hits for a bookstore. The same thing goes for web sites about surfing, outdoors, cars, writing or any other subject. DON'T LIST THE SAME WORD MORE THAN TWICE!

Go to Meta Tags page Two...

Note: Meta Tags are an important start but there is more to know about search engine placement. For the most up to date search engine info visit Search Engine Watch