Lioness Consulting offers patent law services including software patents, computer patents, internet patents, communications patents, and technology patents in Franklin, Massachusetts.

This week, Meta Tags, once and for all:

Meta tags is a subject that makes me want to scream. It seems each week, someone on one of the forums I'm on will ask, "How can I increase my Page Rank or rankings within Google (or some other search engine)?", and someone else will pipe in with, "You have to add keywords to your meta tags". Makes me want to scream. Loudly.

First of all, there are different types of meta tags. There is the title meta tag (which is the title that shows up at the top of the browser when the web page is displayed). There is the description meta tag, which some search engines use to describe the web page when a listing is displayed. There is the robots meta tag which can be used to tell some spiders not to crawl a given web page. The meta tags that people are referring to when they give this 'advice' is the keyword meta tag.

There once was a time when certain search engines used the keyword meta tag as a way to rate and rank web pages. Want to show up in a certain category in search engine results? Add it to your keyword meta tag. Want to show up even higher? Add it repeatedly to your keyword meta tag. Want to show up in a category that has absolutely nothing to do w/ your web page? Just add keywords in your keyword meta tag that relate to that category (even if it has absolutely nothing to do w/ your web page).

This is where the problems began. People began 'spamming' the search engines by repeatedly putting the same keywords in their description meta tag. Or, they put words that had nothing to do w/ the contents of their web pages. The search engines became wise to this method, and started cracking down on this, and other types of spamming.

These days, virtually all of the search engines rely on the content of the web pages more so than the keyword meta tags (although, other meta tags, such as the title meta tag, do carry some weight). So, if you want to improve your rankings, especially with Google, put your efforts into the content of your web pages, not the keyword meta tag.

Hope this helps! Feel free to email Lesley if you run into any problems.

Pay Per Click vs. Optimizing Explained (Part 5)

The Google Cache Explained (Part 4)

The Google Dance Explained (Part 3)

Google Page Rank Explained (Part 2)

The Definition of SEO (Part 1)

Automated Search Engine Submissions

Keeping Your Web Page(s) Out Of The Search Engines

Over 15,610 Reference Calculators

Using Animation On A Web Page

Domain Names And Domain Registrars

Textbook Buyback Services

Academic Discounts

Fight Plagiarism

Detecting and Removing Spyware

Getting Rid of Pop-up Windows

Fight Spam!

Testing Your Firewall Software

Antivirus Software

Arachnophilia; A Very Good HTML Editor

A Pace Calculator For Walkers And Runners

P2P Help For Coding Problems

A Fun List Of Emoticons

What Type Of Glue Should You Use?

Web site Monitoring Services

Email Acronyms Deciphered

DSL vs. Cable Modem?

Get The Google Tool Bar

Copyright 2001 - 2008, Lioness Consulting