SEO: Meta Data Makes the Difference
Meta data is the content hidden in the source coding (Web page programming). Go to any html, asp, or php page and right click on it, then select “view page source” (Google Chrome) or “View Source” (Internet Explorer or Safari) to find some. A meta tag involves things like title, description, and keywords because to get to it, it’s hidden in the coding or programming. Some of it is preceded by: “meta name.” This is important data and as editor, you should have control over it.
Every Web page, and especially every main or home Web page, should have unique meta data. A main or home page (home being different than the Home Page) would include highest level topic pages and Home, About Us, Services, Products, Locations, Contact Us, and so on. No two pages on your site should have the same meta pages. That is so that the search engines can see how much unique content your site contains and what your pages are about. Search engines will discount value for duplicate content. If possible, have meta data for every page of your site, but if you’re updating a site without meta data, begin with the highest level pages – those are the ones you want people to start with and filter down to the other pages.
Titles
The “title” is the page title you see in the tab at the top of your browser when you go to a Web page. It tells the reader or viewer what the page is about. Often, writing this is left to the designer or developer/programmer and it is done wrong. When you know what you’re doing, take command of this and do it right.
The title is not like the title on a book or catalog page. It isn’t a promotional title. This isn’t a place to be cute or clever or creative. Here’s why: Search engines use this information first to decide what your page is about to match against when someone is looking for a topic. Treat this as a subject or keyword line. Ask yourself what the page is about and what main word or words someone would use to describe it, then use that for the title. Each page must have a unique title.
Descriptions
The “description” is the short paragraph you find on a search that summarizes what is covered on a Web page. If you don’t write one, often a search engine will provide one, sometimes the first or other paragraph from the page. Take control and write one of your own. Each search engine limits the number of characters for this and they all vary, so I average them out to 150 characters, including spaces and punctuation. Include the main keyword or keywords matching what is in your title, favoring the first part of the paragraph. Each page must have a unique description.
Keywords
The “keywords” meta data is the list of a few to several main keywords that represent the content on the Web page. Google insists it doesn’t index for the keywords list, so it isn’t as critical to ranking there. However, other search engines do use it. In my experience, the keywords list was very important for Yahoo!, which some sites use as an internal site search program. Yahoo! and Bing work very closely together. AOL Search uses Yahoo! as well. Even though these and other search engines don’t account for the size of the search market as Google, you can’t afford to miss someone finding your content on another search engine because you were focusing only on Google. There are dozens of search engines, and many have fans who prefer them over Google! Each page must have a unique set of keywords (more on keywords on a later article).
Alt Tags
One more meta data set that most designers, programmers, and by default, editors, miss is the “alt tag.” The alt (alternative) tag is text you can associate with a graphic or image. Graphics and images, even when they have text on them, are not indexable. Some designers want to use a specific font on a page so they will make it a graphic, including – mistakingly – as a headline, which means you lose the power of indexing it as a keyword. Every graphic and image should have an alt tag that includes one or more keyword in it.
For those editors who are Web savvy already, you probably already know that alt tags also help the sight-challenged reader. Their software can read the alt tags back to the reader so they will have the benefit of telling them what the graphic or image says or is about. I will often treat the alt tag for an image like a caption.
Whether your pages are hard wired (build by a developer or programmer in html) or using content management systems (CMS) or WYSIWYG software (such as Dreamweaver or Front Page), there are places to add this information and you should ensure that whoever loads your material loads this information when posting content.
Topics I will introduce you to in the days ahead include:
- Introduction
- Meta Data Makes the Difference
- Content and the Role of Relevancy
- Links add Value and Authority
- Keywords for Planning and Clarity
- Promotion Implies Relationships
- Site Prep Paves the Way
- Resources for Staying “Clued Up”
Alan Eggleston is a freelance Web writer and Web editor for E-Messenger Internet Consulting Inc. Join him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.
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