Description & Keyword Meta Tags

By Joshua Erdman
Digital Foundation, inc.

There are two very important fields you should use on your site to improve search engine response, these are the Keywords and Description Meta Tags. The amount of response you will receive varies from search engine to search engine and by your choice of words.

For best response, the Keywords and Description Meta Tags should be customized for each page.

What do the Keywords and Description Tags look like?

Description Tag:

The Description meta tag takes two forms and I recommend that you use both at the same time. You should keep your description short (no longer than 25 words) and use as many keywords in the description as possible but keep it a cohesive sentence. Avoid using filler words and useless phrases such as: explains, the, as, really, a great way to, go here for. You can see below the description tags used for this page:

<meta name="Description" content="Using Keywords and description meta tags to improve search engine response and increase website traffic.">

Keywords Tag:

The keywords meta tag should contain words that people will commonly use while searching. Phrases are acceptable as well and you might want to include a few common miss-spellings.

Please read our article on Search Engine Submittal for suggestions on what search engines to focus on and how much you should expect to spend. Read website best practices for more information on other things you should consider in your website to make management easy.

Meta Tags FAQ

What are meta tags?

Meta tags cannot be seen, they are used to send information to the search engines or browser. The meta tags include the description, keywords, and refresh types.

Where do meta tags go?

The meta tags can be located anywhere in the <Head> tag.

What are keywords used for?

Keywords are included in the meta tags of your web page. These are the tags that the search engines look at when indexing the page. Besides great website content, keywords are the next most important thing to have to create a search engine friendly website.

How do I choose effective keywords?

The question you must ask yourself is, “What are my customers going to type in a search engine when trying to find me or one of my competitors?” For example, if you sell BBQ’s, some examples of your keywords include: BBQs, barbecues, barbeques, grills, smokers, gas grills, charcoal (notice how there are different spellings of barbeques).

Should I include the singular and plural form of a word?

No, just use the plural form of the word. Using the plural form of a word will account for searches using both the singular and plural form of the word.

Can I use phrases?

Yes, the term “keywords” is deceiving because it can also include key phrases. It is recommended that you put your top 4 phrases at the beginning of your keywords Meta Tag and then keep the rest as just singular words.

Clue: To be most effective, many of the keywords or phrases that you choose should also be in the text within the body of that page.

References:

Article: Search Engine Submittal

Article: Website Best Practices

www.searchenginewatch.com

Article last reviewed: 11/03/2003

Created by: Digital Foundation, inc.

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