Meta tags represent a unique opportunity for website owners to control and shape their destiny beyond simply optimizing for Search Engines. First, a couple of definitions:
Meta Tags – Coding (usually in HTML or XHTML Language) not directly seen by site visitors on the visible web page.
On-site Optimization — The use of techniques you control on your site that improve a web page’s ability to rank well in the Search Engines for targeted keyword phrases that can also influence Click Thru rates to your site.
Most businesses recognize the value that Meta Tags deliver in terms of improving their ranking. This is a well-known on-site optimization tactic. Yet ranking well is only half the battle. Every day I see web pages displayed in high ranking positions in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) that no one would visit because the snippet that describes the page is not compelling — in fact, frequently downright awful. Check this one out:
Search Engine Meta Tag "Snippet" - Bad Example
Would you feel compelled to visit this site? Contrast it with this one:
Search Engine Snippet from Meta Tag - Good Example
The value that smart use of Meta Tags contributes to a web page’s ranking can pall in comparison to the value they deliver in terms of motivating searchers to actually visitor the site. Meta Tags control the snippet the Search Engines use to describe your web page; the snippet then performs like a free ad. Better, really, because you are right in front of interested searchers. How good does that get?
There are two ways this can go wrong:
- Not using the Meta Tags – this means that the Search Engine will grab content from your site and display it. And that content can be anything – and mostly it is not the content you would choose.
- Improperly Using Meta Tags — not fully capitalizing on the logistics of how you can create a Meta Tag that will present a snippet about your page that motivates searchers to click thru to your web page.
Like so much in life, the secret is in the techniques you use to create these tags. It sounds complicated, yet it is not. In fact, it can be fun. Click here for more detail on how to do this in Internet Marketing Tips: Optimizing Meta Tags and build an advantage over your competitors.
