Meta Tags are HTML tags that can be inserted in the HEAD part of an HTML document to embed document information. Meta Tags enable you to include information about a Web page where it won't be seen by site visitors but can be seen by robots, spiders and crawlers.

 

Meta Tags for keywords and descriptions are inserted in the HEAD part of an HTML document, along with the page's TITLE.

Tip: remember to include the description and keyword META tags in all the pages of your Web site. Not everyone visits your site starting with the home page.

 

Description

The description information should be short, concise description of the site or page. Don't repeat the page title; it's a waste of words. Make the most of the limited 256 characters.

 

The format for the description meta tag is as follows:

<META name="description" content="concise description of Web site or page"> or

<META NAME="description" CONTENT="Your Internet resource for free, up-to-date information about hammer. We're putting Hammer online!">

 

When the description meta tag is omitted from an HTML document, the first handful of words on the page appear as a description when searched by a search engine.

 

Keywords

The keyword information should be a list of key words or phrases, separated by commas. If a search engine has limitations on the number of words, it will accept the first 150 characters. For that reason, you should put the most important keywords at the beginning of the meta tag. Don't repeat the same words over and over again because the search engines will ignore repetition and a few will penalize you for it.

 

The format for the keyword meta tag is a as follows:

<META name="keywords" content="list of key words or phrases separated by commas">

<META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="Hammer, Bonnie, teacher, internet, web, school of visual arts, sva, masters, mfa, new york, iVillage, zagat, resume, portfolio, photographs, pictures">

 

Keywords includes the words that best describe the sites contents.

 

Hiding a page with Meta Tags

There may be instances when you don't want a particular page on your site indexed by a robot, etc. If a page is private and only for use to the people who have the exact URL of that page. You can use a meta tag to block robots, etc., from indexing it:

<META name="robots" content="noindex">

 

Adding Your Site to a Search Engine Database

Once you've set up Meta Tags for all the pages on your site, you can improve the chances of robots, etc. finding your site by manually adding your site's information to search engine directories.

 

To add your site to a search engine's directory, begin by visiting that search engine's main page. Now look for a link that says something like "add a site" or add a URL" or "suggest a site" this link is usually in very small letters near the top or bottom of the home page, and can sometimes be buried on other pages.

 

Make a list of ten search engines that you use most. If you don't know ten search engines, visit: http://www.searchenginewatch.com/links/ to find them. Use those search engines to find companies like yours.

 

1.      Write down the description and keywords that apply to your site as a whole.

2.      Use them in meta tags on your home page.

3.      Now add appropriate description and keyword meta tags to the rest of the pages on your site. Visit the ten search engines you listed a moment ago.

4.      Look for and follow "add URL" links on each site to add your Web site to the search engines database.

5.      Use your favorite search engines to look for sites that would be appropriate for reciprocating links.

6.      Request links and see how you do.

 

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