Meta Tags

[ChrisL]

Hi

I know most search engines do not use the meta keywords tag but some use the meta descrition tag now for page description etc. I have decided i might as well include them.

For the meta keywords is it the case that they should be listed as either keywords or keyphrases, separated by comma no space, dont repeat any keywords more than 3 times, and that i should create them by referencing title, meta description, page heading and my first paragraph in that order with most important ones first?

For meta description should I not go over 150 characters including spaces (for google), again not repeat keyword more than 3 times, and create it by looking at title, page heading and first para? Is it ok to mirror word for word the first para.

Should these be different on every page?

Thanks

[rustybrick]

Hopefully you will get an answer soon from http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/showthread.php?t=16889

[ChrisL]

Your point is?

[rustybrick]

It is not polite to post cross forums.

[ChrisL]

Sarcasm isnt very polite either.

[rustybrick]

I am not being sarcastic. I was honestly wishing you the best and then informing you a little bit about forum edicts.

[ChrisL]

Ok point taken, although I dont see the harm as different forums inevitably have different user bases and focus.

Does anyone have a constructive comment on my initial questions?

[rustybrick]

Meta Keywords, just throw some unique stuff in there... don't worry about formatting. One keyword per comma, but doesn't matter. No one really looks at it, even though Yahoo says they do...

Meta description; I use the first 150 or so characters of the first paragraph.

[ChrisL]

Thanks, much as i thought. Its always interesting to see what other people commonly do though!

[AVWeb]

Hi -

In my experience, if you're going to use meta tags, make certain that you take the time to make certain that they are unique on each page.

The meta description is even sometimes used in the Google snippets. I personally see no real value in the meta key word tags, although I sometimes still use them 'just because'.
______________________________
~Jason

Las Vegas Ballroom Dance & BellyDance Classes & Resources (http://www.art-co-op.org/las-vegas-dance.html)

The Story of Ozone (http://www.silvermedicine.org/story-of-ozone.html)

[seofuture]

- description metatag is important and start by your keywords
- keywords metatag is not important and you can put this metatag for smaller search engines which just at this moment yse this it.

[camber07]

When I do a description I try to make it a short summary of the page. Usually not more than 15 words. Typically when you search in Google part of your description will show up. My hope is writing a compelling description might get someone to come to a site over a competitor.

[xyz]

Thanks chrisl for your information.

[PocketSEO]

Yahoo reads meta keywords and meta descriptions.

You can test it by making a page with a meta keywords tag that contains a unique string of characters in it. Wait for Yahoo to index the page. Then search Yahoo for your unique string (that appears nowhere else) and Yahoo will show your page in the SERPs just based on your meta keyword tag.

[tomfrederick]

Yes description is different for every page because user want to get proper page to your sites.

[cybotrix]

hey Guys,

I am new to his forum but i have an active memeber on a lotta other webmaster forums... Lemme keep it simple.. When you are writing Keywords or description or title you need to make one thing very sure that they should be highly relevant to the content on your site. Apart from that Google ignores description and keywords.. yahoo and msn does take them into consideration but the weight is not that great... only your anchor text is what matters the most.. so when you are writing that please make sure its highly relevant and keep it short and simple and target your one main keyword in the title dont jus fill it up with your keywords.... the description should be a brief over view of your site without considering how many times your keywords appear in the description.. for writing keywords.. you should seperate each with a comma and dont repeat them.. as its not gonna help... Thanks.. ;)

[rajatgarg]

You can also think in terms of ROI -

If meta tags takes more than x amount of time, let it go.

If meta desc take more than few hours of time, let it go for now but come back and take a look :-)

Rajat Garg

[tomfrederick]

Yes..The description tag will be different for each and every inner pages while you can work with same keyword tag with slightly difference in their sequence corresponding to page contents.