There are various methods, practices and procedures to best use Meta Tags in the development of any website and its included pages and posts.
Search engines are the key to the use of the meta tag, especially considering the importance that has become recognized of the various search engine optimization (SEO) methods that have become known over the past few years. With a number of search engines that organize thousands of websites that may apply to any number of searches made online, there must be leading results based upon the content as it is recorded and organized within the page.
There is a special relation of the different tags to search engines, improving results and drawing the eye of the reader. Now, while the keyword or tag may not necessarily exist in all areas of the web page content, the analysis of SEO can reach approval when the appropriate number of tags are recognized throughout the page. It does not necessarily need to be included in all areas, from title to description to keywords and more, or have an incredibly large quantity of tags or keywords overall. The meta tag can be evaluated through the placement that occurs throughout all of these and with the overall analysis the highest rate will help improve the listing in which the link will appear in the search results.
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Here are some of the meta tag and Keyword best practices.
- The Title Tag
One of the first places that a search engine or a keyword tool recognizes the tag is in the title of a page or post, and this is in the complete title. There is no point in making the tag only one that is in the home page or a general content page, but one that is the focus of a blog, article, or more descriptive page.
- The Description Meta Tag
When completing the content of any page, the creation of a meta description is helpful to include the tag that is defined within the page setup. With the maximum of about 160 characters allowed for these descriptions, the inclusion of the tag helps improve the ranking the page will receive on any search engine. After the title, this is usually the next place the search engine seeks out the take for placement within the search results.
For example, Timbuctoo Marine posts a blog on their website about river boating in Timbuctoo, they could use the tag “River Boating” set in the format of their website on the platform where they publish. From there it is best to make sure that “River Boating” is included not only in the title but in the description created.
- The Keywords Meta Tag
Most of us know that keywords are important to the creation of websites, articles, online marketing, blog posts and more, and the collaboration of keywords and tags alike can be very important to match SEO needs. When looking into larger search engines like Google, there is note that the keywords meta tag isn’t necessarily used by them specifically, but other search engines use them. Therefore, the keyword is still to be entered in the snippets section of the web publication you create. It is important to remember that many of your potential readers and desired audience are thinking more along the lines of keyword(s) than they are of other technical meta tags. So, it is a good idea to come up with a keyword that appears regularly in your title, description, and content alike.
- Robots Meta Tag
The “robots” meta tag refers to the content which will be recognized by ALL search engines. With this, it will be generally indexed across all searches. Luckily, this is a general “noindex” default meta tag that applies to the spread. While there are some that help climb the ladder of search engines like Google (i.e. “Googlebots”), it is not necessary to be added to the HTML coding of the content being created for any specific page or post. This is definitely not a meta tag to worry about if you want a page to be searched by all engines, but if you want to increase your placement in some of the higher valued ones than it may be one worth some additional research.
- The Charset Tag
The charset tag is one that is not commonly known, but it is recognized in the HTML coding of the page being published as it helps define the attributes of the text and how they will appear visually. This tag is a longer one, that is not part of the visual content, it can be difficult to understand until one becomes more educated or experienced in what it looks like, and it is also not one that is recognized by search engines so it has no notable effect on the activity of the website.
These are some of the best practices for meta tags that can help with the appearance, SEO, and other capabilities of your websites. Websites are now spread across the global online world, and it is so important to setup all the valuable details that can place you at the front of the line with the best appearance and strongest information your site can offer. The internet is a great deal of the business world today, and the meta tags are needed to properly market and preview every website available.
Sources: searchenginewatch.com/sew/how-to/2067564/how-to-use-html-meta-tags, www.thesitewizard.com/archive/metatags.shtml, www.metatags.org/, support.google.com/webmasters/answer/79812?hl=en, webmasters.googleblog.com/2009/09/google-does-not-use-keywords-meta-tag.html, webdesign.about.com/od/metatags/qt/meta-charset.htm