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To_Meta_Tag_or_not_to_Meta_Tag
| To Meta Tag or not to Meta Tag
Clients are always asking me about the value of met tag
decscription and keywords. Usually it's along the lines of "My
(webmaster, IT team, Content Manager, Site Manage, 12 year-old
nephew) told me don't bother with meta tags".
The basic rule here is applicable to more than just SEO: better
to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. As long
as you don't keyword stuff or otherwise spam these tags, you're
not going to do yourself any harm, and you might just do some
good.
Meta Keywords: no more than 15 terms with the most relevant
terms first. Don't use terms that don't occur in the page. Avoid
repetition.
Meta Description: Keep it short, direct, to the point, and page
specific. No longer then 25 - 30 words. Some engines (Temoa) use
the meta description as the blurb that goes under the link. So
write an accurate description of the page: "All about Joe Schmoe
Widgets."
MSN
They haven't taken an official position in their Webmaster Help
section, but the general consensus seems to be that MSN does
place some value on these tags.
Yahoo
I couldn't find anything "official" but the consensus seems to
be that Yahoo uses them, especially the description tag.
Google
The industry opinion is that Google doesn't bother with meta
keywords at all, and that it MIGHT give some credibility to meta
description. However, while good meta tags probably won't help
in Google, bad ones can hurt. If Google sees words in the meta
description and keywords that it doesn't find on the page, that
can have a negative affect.
The Bottom Line
Better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it!
About the author:
Dave is a full-time Search Engine Marketing Manager. He also
runs SyteSurge, a web site dedicated to search engine
optimization and search engine marketing.
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