Keywords, Titles and Descriptions

  META tags provide information about webpages to help search engines categorize them correctly. META tags are part of the HTML coding, but are not directly visible to a user visiting the site.

  To see your META tags, go to your website’s home page and in the VIEW menu of your browser select SOURCE. Look for the META tags (near the top, in the "head" section) which will look like this:

  <META name="keywords” content=”widgets, gadgets”>

  META tags had somewhat fallen out of favor with Google for ranking, although other search engines used them. Since the December 2009 implementation of Google's Caffeine (Google's updated, faster search) META tags are once again a key part of search engine optimization.

  3 important META elements:

  (1) Keywords - Pick the best keywords you can by looking at your business the way a potential customer about to search the internet might look. Use surveys, look at your competition's website and find the keywords that your target market uses.

  (2) Description - The META description will appear in the Google search listing for your webpage. Use your keywords appropriately and make it as compelling as you can so the searcher visits your webpage. Use 160 characters or less.

  (3) Title - Use your keywords, condense your description and limit your title to 70 characters or less.

  Notice that both your Description and your Title back up your keywords by using them. This is further supported by using keywords in the text in the body of the page. Don't try to use keywords constantly, use them when on-point and relevant.

  Although META tags should be reviewed from time to time (about as often as you'd do a complete website redesign) do not change your META information frequently.

Today's Joke

  A man and a woman who have never met before find themselves in the same sleeping car on a train.



  After the initial embarassment, they both go to sleep - the woman on the top bunk, the man on the lower.

  In the middle of the night, the woman leans over, wakes the man and says "I'm sorry to bother you but I'm awfully cold and I was wondering if you could possibly get me another blanket?"

  The man leans out and, with a glint in his eye, says "I've got a better idea - just for tonight, let's pretend we're married."

  The woman thinks for a minute. "Why not" she giggles.

  "Great," the man replies, "Get your own damn blanket!"