SEO Explained - Page 9
Optimising your META Descriptions & Keywords
What is a <meta description> and <meta keyword> tag?
These are two more important parts of the HTML code structure (from an SEO
perspective), which make up the backend of your website. They often
appear just below the <title> tag in you HTML and appear as
follows when you view the raw code:
Optimising your page <meta description>s and <meta
keyword> tags is similar in principle to the page <titles>.
Some principles you can use when constructing both meta descriptions,
and keywords (which will look familiar from the previous section):
Rule of leftness: ensure that your primary keyword phrases appear early in both the meta description, and keywords tags.
Ensure uniqueness:
Make sure that each page on your site has a unique meta description,
and meta keywords tag – otherwise you may end up in the supplemental
index as mentioned above.
Match your keywords to the page content: When
choosing which keywords on your list of 30 – 40 to use in the
<title>, and description and keywords tag – consider what
information you are displaying on the page and try to use 3 – 5 keyword
phrases from your big list that are most relevant to that phrase.
Then optimise your titles, keywords and description for these phrases.
Don’t SPAM or Keyword stuff the Description & Keywords tags: as
with the title, its best not to go crazy duplicating your keywords over
and over. Use a keyword phrase a maximum of 2 times in your
description.
You description should be 2 – 3 normal sentences in
length, and not paragraphs and paragraphs. With your keywords tag,
include up to 30 – 40 words only – hundreds of words will not help you.
So a typical meta description and keywords tag for the home page of our Nike Sneakers site might read as follows:
<meta name=”description” content=”Nike
Sneakers and Running Shoes from Bob’s Sneakers. We are Atlanta’s
leading supplier of stock Nike Air Force Sneakers, and Dunlop Running
Shoes.”>
<meta name=”keywords” content=”Nike
Sneakers, running shoes, bob’s sneakers, nike air force, Dunlop,
atlanta, Georgia, runners, running, apparel, footwear, runners,
athletics”>
Well written unique descriptions and
keyword tags will also do your site SEO wonders. If you are strapped
for time, or need to prioritise – I would tackle descriptions before
keywords as they tend to me a more important factor, but some search
engines still rely on keywords tags so they are well worthwhile in
optimising.
<meta descriptions> on the Search Engine Results
As
with the <title> tag, the <meta description> tag can play a
special role in how your website is represented in the Search Engine
Results Page. Usually, if this tag has been defined, then Google will
show this description as the text that appears under the title in the
search engine results as follows:
This description ("Salsa offers affordable etc etc") - appears in the HTML code:
....and therefore, again - considering how you want this
message to be displayed, and ensuring that it quickly explains the
intent of the page to the user, or outlines your key product or service
offerings - is very important.
Page 10 - Optimising your Page Content
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Descriptions Keywords
