SEO Basics - the Importance of Meta Tags - Web Design High Wycombe, SEO & Marketing

SEO Basics - the Importance of Meta Tags

Meta tags are an important part of HTML documents which inform both search engines and visitors about the topic of the page being visited. The two most important Meta tags are the <title> tag and the description meta tag.

The Title tag

Your website will benefit most from having unique titles for each page. The <title> tag must be placed within the <head> of the document.

Good practices for page title tags, as recommended by the Google Search Engine Optimisation Starter Guide (PDF):

· Accurately describe the page's content - Choose a title that effectively communicates the topic of the page's content.

o Avoid:

§ choosing a title that has no relation to the content on the page

§ using default or vague titles like "Untitled" or "New Page 1"

· Create unique title tags for each page - Each of your pages should ideally have a unique title tag, which helps Google know how the page is distinct from the others on your site.

o Avoid:

§ using a single title tag across all of your site's pages or a large group of pages

· Use brief, but descriptive titles - Titles can be both short and informative. If the title is too long, Google will show only a portion of it in the search result.

o Avoid:

§ using extremely lengthy titles that are unhelpful to users

§ stuffing unneeded keywords in your title tags

The Description tag

The Meta description tag allows you to specify a summary of the page. Similar principles apply to the description meta tag as outlined above for the Title tag. Keep it accurate, don’t stuff in unnecessary keywords, and use unique descriptions for each page.

Also, you can use the Google Webmaster Central tools to analyse your page descriptions. More details available here: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2007/12/new-content-analysis-and-sitemap.html

Need some help?

If you’re lacking the confidence or time to carry out search engine optimisation on your meta tags for your website, please feel free to get in touch with us. We offer affordable search engine optimisation with options ranging from fixed price, one-off, on-page SEO packages to on-going monthly optimisation, link building, and social media optimisation.

Call us on:

+44 (0)1494 259 141

or email us on:

info@acuras.co.uk

12 July 2010
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