Writing HTML Meta Tag Decriptions
Meta tag optimization using HTML meta tag descriptions
Writing HTML meta tag descriptions on your website will help you rank higher in the search results. Not all search engines will rank you higher for your descriptions in your meta tags, but each little bit helps. The search engines that don't rank you higher for your meta tag descriptions will still allow the searchers to see a relevant catchy description drawing more attention to your listing in the search results. So either way writing meta tag descriptions will still help you increase your traffic to your website.
This particular method of search engine optimization or website optimization is known as meta-tag optimization. Your HTML meta tags on your website have many different tags you can write, the main meta tags you want to be sure and have are; meta tag keywords, meta tag descriptions, and titles tags. Although your titles tags are not technically a meta tag, but they do work in conjunction with meta tags. In this meta tag tutorial you will learn how to properly use html meta tags, specifically meta tag descriptions. The HTML for adding meta tags to your site is:
<meta name="description" content="your html meta tag description here" />
When adding meta tags to your website the html code is placed inbetween your <head></head> tags.
For those of you using a wordpress blog you do not need to worry about adding the HTML code for meta tags on your website manually. There are search engine optimization plugins for wordpress that do this for you. All you have to do is fill in the form. If I installed your blogging software there are 2 plugins installed that do this, headspace2 and All in One SEO Pack. Most likely I have headspace2 active, which is the section towards the bottom that says Headspace Meta Data, Page Title, Description. Fill in the description there and save your post or page and the headspace plugin automatically writes the HTML code for adding meta tags to your site for you. I used to use All in One SEO Pack on everyone's wordpress blog, but then there were about 2-3 versions of wordpress that the All in One SEO Pack didn't work properly, but with wp 2.6 and above I think All in One SEO Pack plugin works properly again.
Some people will ask how many characters can I use on my web site description? Well there is no set standard for meta descriptions but from researching different search engines it seems that most search engines allow 160 characters to be using in your web page descriptions. Each search engine varies, I've seen them from 150-180 characters you can use in your web page descriptions. I usually just write what I want, if it's more than this oh well. Most search engines will still scan your entire description, but only show a certain amount of characters they allow. If your meta tag description is more than the set number of characters the search engine will display the set amount of characters that are closest to the search string.
What should I put in my html meta tag description? You will want to write 3-5 short phrases that someone would actually use as their search string in the search engines, make it sound catchy as well, and always make it relevant to that page or post. Think of if I was searching for this information on this page what would I search for in the search engines? Then think of how others may search, then pick your top 3-5 phrases and write them into catchy phrases. Free information on... Free help with... Free guide to...
NOTE: meta tag optimization alone is not going to get you on the top pages of the search engine results, so be sure to read through my website for more help on advertising your website, increasing your traffic, and increasing your page-rank.
I hope this information on how to write good meo meta tag descriptions helped answer your questions about meta tag optimization. If not, and you have any questions you can always ask them on my Internet Marketing Help Forum.
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