Keyword meta tags are an important aspect of search engine optimization (SEO). Within the SEO community, there are varying opinions on how to actually use the keyword meta tag.

Keyword Meta Tags Defined

Keyword meta tags are HTML tags that store information about a web page but are not visible within the browser. Search engines use this information when they index web pages. The meta tags are located at the head of a web page or blog post. The source code would be presented as:

<meta name = “Keywords” content = “Your set of keywords for the page”>

Meta Tag Abuse

Meta tags can be abused by internet marketers by utilizing the practice known as “keyword stuffing.” This is the procedure of placing as many keyword meta tags onto a page as possible, many which do not relate to the actual content of the web page. This was an effort to manipulate search engine results.

Current Practices

Most search engines became aware of this unethical practice and consequently changed their algorithms to compensate for this method. If there are enough unrelated keyword meta tags on a web page, the search engine simply won’t index the page or even the whole site.

Google’s Response to Meta Tags

Google officially stated in 2009 that it does not recognize keyword meta tags when indexing pages and determining web search ranking. They’ve taken this stance in response to keyword stuffing and created an indexing algorithm that takes into account many different aspects of a web page.

Google also stated that they could utilize this information in the future in case they find a useful method for meta tags. They haven’t used this feature for years so it’s unlikely they will change their policy.

Meta Tags and Other Companies

Although Google is the largest search engine, there are other search engines that continue to utilize meta tags in their indexing. For instance, Yahoo uses a distinct list of keywords related to a specific page. There are also software applications that utilize keyword meta tags such as, Site Search software.

Are Keyword Meta Tags Beneficial?

Although Google states there is no affect of meta tags on search results, it cannot hurt to put them in if planning on submitting the site to other search engines. Since meta tags have a large affect on many search engines, it may be beneficial to include them during a website build.

Meta tags can be a useful resource on other sites besides Google. Since they don’t affect Google, it’s a good idea to include them. Additionally, Google stated that meta tags may be used in the future so it’s better to be prepared than not.

Many people focus solely on the content on their site, rather than the actual structure of the site itself. When SEO and domain experts talk about on-site optimization, their referring to more than just the articles themselves. On-page optimization consists of the title tag, meta tags, anchor text, image tags and perhaps most importantly the URL of the page itself. The URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of a page is the address that one would see in the address bar of their internet browser. Most webmasters fail to realize the sheer power that URL optimization alone can have on search engine rankings. The following information should help you understand why and how URL optimization works.

Domain Keywords and URL Optimization

One of the ways search engine optimization experts bring their sites to the top of the search engines with minimal efforts is by purchasing domains that contain keywords in them. These domains are extremely powerful, in that they will almost guarantee you a high spot in the search engine result pages. For example, if you are targeting the dog training niche, then the site name: dogtraining.com would be ideal. However, it is very unlikely that such a name will still be available for purchase. It is however likely that the name germanshepherddogtraining.com will be available. While there are not as many people searching for this phrase, there is a certain amount of people that will type that in and come directly to your site. Many SEO experts will buy domain names like this specifically to build a network of sites that can dominate a niche.

Optimizing Page URLs

Once you have your main URL you can then start optimizing your page URLs, which are the web addresses of the pages on your site. The best way to optimize your page URLs for the search engines is to make sure your targeted keywords are in the URL of the page. For example, if your page is about training German Shepherd to sniff, then an optimal page URL would be germanshepherdogtraining.com/Training-German-Shepherd-to-Sniff. This would be the perfect URL to target such a phrase, and you would be almost guaranteed to go straight to the top of the search engine result pages for that phrase. Notice the main domain does not contain dashes, while the page address contains dashes between the words. This is because search engines lend less credence to sites with dashes in their main domain name, where as the page URL needs to have dashes to separate the actual words. Since page URLs can be very long the search engines prefer to read the page URL with hyphens.

Setting up Your URLs to Contain the Post Name in WordPress

One of the best ways to optimize your pages is to have the page title be the same as the page URL. You can do this easily within WordPress by changing the permalink structure to “%postname%”. This will cause any post made to have the same URL as the post name. If you are targeting a specific event or date, then you could also use the “%postdate%” tag as well.

Content management systems allow users to increase the productivity of the website creation and maintenance process by offering a user-friendly platform that facilitates the organization, creation, and distribution of various types of content. With a quality content management system, you can streamline countless tasks, thereby increasing the amount of time you have to spend on other aspects of the business such as marketing. However, many people are unaware of the fact that a good content management system will also help them promote their website by optimizing the design and layout of their site for better search engine indexing and popularity.

Simplifying SEO with a CMS

Having a site that will rank well in the search engines is crucial towards the success of any online business. Having a site that is search engine optimized requires the adjustment of various factors within the site. A good content management system will aid you in automating the process of making these adjustments, so that even the most novice webmaster can have a site that is capable of ranking in the search engines. Without a CMS, you’ll find that search engine optimization is a much more time intensive process that requires a lot of trial and error. Using a quality content management system to simplify the process will not only save you time, but will also drastically improve your chances of ranking higher in the search engines. In this sense, a good CMS is a vital tool to have when learning search engine optimization.

Optimizing the Site Layout with a CMS

Creating a memorable URL within the content management system is easy, and many times the URL can be generated automatically by using content located on the page. The content management system will also let users create unique title tags for each page with ease, which will improve the keyword optimization of the site. The CMS simplifies the process of creating meta tags for each web page, which is another crucial aspect of search engine optimization. Perhaps the features that optimize the layout of the website are the most useful, as they build a foundation for successful search engine optimization.

Improving Keyword Usage, Site Design and Traffic Analysis with a CMS

A good CMS will also allow the user to make unique meta keywords for each page with ease. Although it may seem unnecessary to create met keywords when you already have a meta tags, placing your keyword around the site in virtually every aspect of he design is the key to proper keyword usage and density. A good CMS will also let you apply code to the entire site easily. This makes installing certain web applications that help with traffic analysis simple. Analyzing traffic statistics is a crucial part of successful search engine optimization, as you’ll need to know what is working and what is not in order to increase productivity. Another advantageous feature of a good CMS is that it will automatically update site maps and submit them to search engines for more immediate SEO results.

Search engine optimization involves a lot of variable factors, many of which are very easy to overlook. Some search engine optimization practices are tedious (such as link building), while other practices involve a bit of on-page tweaking. The entire process begins with on-site optimization, which consist of a proper internal link structure, and more importantly, properly developed content. Aside from the content on the page itself, a site needs to have the correct tags in order for search engines to index the site’s pages for particular keywords. For example, if your site is targeting the keywords  computer technology, internet technology, and Windows technology, then these keywords would need to appear in your tags throughout the site.

Title Tags

The first kind of tag you need to know about is the title tag. The title tag is located at the very top of the web browser, and is used by search engines to describe the contents of your page to visitors before they arrive at your site. Once the visitor arrives at your site this title tag is displayed clearly to establish the purpose of a web page. Without the right title tags, search engines will not be able to effectively rank your pages for their respective keywords. Using keywords in your title tags that are irrelevant to the content on the page can also be detrimental to your search engine ranking.

Meta Tags and Description

Meta tags are tags that are used to describe content that is on the page itself. A meta description is used by the search engines to tell each visitor what the contents of the page will consist of before they even get to the web page. When you conduct a web search, the text that appears directly below the title of the web page in Google is the meta description. This description can be extracted from the beginning of each page, or created intentionally for the purpose of search engine optimization.  A good meta description would include your targeted keywords and a couple of catchy sentences that will draw visitors in when they see your site in the search engines.

Image Tags and Anchor Text

Image tags are used to describe the content of an image for the purpose of search engine indexing an representing image content to visually impaired individuals or incapable browsers. When you scroll over a picture, the text that appears is the image tag. This text is also used to index pages within Google images, which can be a consistent source of traffic. Unlike some of the other tags, instead of simply using the keywords on the page, you’ll need to make a true effort to describe the picture briefly. Placing random keywords in your image tags can also be detrimental to your search engine ranking.

One of the most important on-page factors is anchor text, which is the text used to represent a hyperlink. Using the proper anchor text, image tags, title tags, and meta tags should be the first step in any search engine optimization campaign.

It seems as if the entire world has shifted their focus towards Google and has forgotten about the once ever-so popular Yahoo. Although Google has taken over the search engine industry, there are still a huge group of internet users that use Yahoo loyally, and excluding them form your marketing campaign can be extremely negative towards the growth of your online business. Even if 90% of your traffic is coming from Google, are you willing to throw away the other ten percent due to an oversight in your marketing venue?

You may be under the impression that all search engines follow the same rules when ranking websites but this is simply not true. Yahoo’s search engine standards vary slightly from that of Google’s so it is important to consider the difference when designing your website. The best approach is to build a website that appeases all of the major search engines, including Yahoo. The following information will give you an idea of what Yahoo is looking for.

Link Organization

When it comes to indexing of your website, Yahoo’s crawlers pay extra attention toward the internal structure of the site. Google focuses more on external links such as backlinks, which also matter  for Yahoo optimization, but not as much. In fact, it is possible to have  high ranking site in yahoo with hardly any backlinks! However if your site has  a disorganized internal link structure, then you are going to have a very hard time making it to the top page of Yahoo’s search results. This means you’ll need to devise a site map and submit it to Yahoo for maximum success.

Anchor Text

Instead of simply posting URLs, it is best to use anchor text containing keywords. Anchor texts that contain keywords will enhance your Yahoo SEO efforts by double. Make sure the keyword used in the anchor text is relevant to the page you are linking to.

Keyword Optimization with Title Tags

Of course this trick works with all search engines, but it is extremely important in Yahoo. By putting primary keywords in the main title tags of your web pages, you’ll find that many of your pages gain a very high page rank quickly. Yahoo pays very close attention towards tags of all sorts including meta tags.

Search Engine Optimized URLs

Make sure all of your site’s URLs contain relevant keyword. If you are using a good content management system then this step will be done automatically. A good way to optimize URLs to be search engine friendly is to place dashes between words on key phrases. For example, instead of using the URL “ example.com/lookatthislink” you could use the URL “example.com/look-at-this-link.” Using this simple trick will boost your search engine ranking in Yahoo greatly.

Quality Content

Yahoo places a high priority on the quality of the content. This means that stuffing your content with keywords and writing about anything will not work, in fact it will be very detrimental towards the ranking of your web page. To be successful ion Yahoo you’ll need to use quality content with the correct keyword density and placement.