Meta Information
Meta Information
Meta elements are the HTML or XHTML elements used to provide structured metadata about a web page. Multiple elements are often used on the same page: the element is the same, but its attributes are different. Meta elements can be used to specify page description, keywords and any other metadata not provided through the other head elements and attributes.
Contents
Meta Keywords
The topic of meta keywords is widely discussed in the world of SEO and online marketing. Since Google is constantly changing the ways in which it ranks pages and determines relevance, it can be challenging to keep up with the latest trends. At one point, meta keywords were the most important factor in determining page rank. Lately, however, they have lost some of their impact. DO NOT take this to mean that keywords are no longer important and don't need to have effort put into them. They still factor into your page ranking, and every little bit helps. Many people decide to target general keywords with high search volumes because they assume the more people that search for a keyword, the better chance they have at ranking for it. With keyword optimization, the opposite is true. Choosing keywords within the "tail-end" or lower end of the search volume results, your page will have a better chance at ranking for specific keywords. What this means is that it is better to try to rank for "yellow running shoes" than "shoes" because the latter is too vague of a keyword for a smaller site to try and rank for.
Tips for keywords:
- Pick keywords that MOST accurately describe the contents of the page. If you're having trouble narrowing it down, the page may be too broad, and have less of a chance of ranking.
- Use Google's Keyword Tool to research what kind of competition each term brings with it. It's in your best interest to choose keywords that have less competition. (This can also help you narrow down your list of keywords if there are too many)
- Separate your keywords using a comma
- Try to select keywords within the "tail-end" with regards to search volume
- Use around 3-5 keywords per page and no more or Google could interpret it as spam
- Keep the most relevant/important keywords towards the front of your list
- If left blank in the database, WSM will auto generate most relevant words from the description, if provided.
Meta Description
The meta description of a page no longer helps with page ranking in direct correlation to Google, but it does provide a brief summary of what the page will be about that displays underneath search results. This makes it extremely useful, and for more than one reason. The description can let visitors know that your site has the information they're looking for and this will in turn provide more hits to your site, so even if it does not influence Google directly, it is important to have a user-friendly and relevant meta description.
Tips for descriptions:
- Unique meta descriptions on each page of your site
- Show facts about the content on the page that are not represented in the title
- Make the description easy to read
- Make sure your descriptions are quality and represent the content on the page
- If left blank in the database, WSM will auto generate on page load a description using the first 200 characters of the description, if provided.
Meta Title
The meta title is the HTML code that specifies the title of a certain web page. It appears at the top left corner of your browser when you visit a web page. In coding, the meta title is embedded at the header of a web page, above the meta description and meta keywords tags. Every page must have a meta title, and it plays an important role in how your web site is perceived, as well as in your SEO. First of all, the meta title is used by directories, web resources and other webmasters and site owners when they link to your page - the meta title is the singular most important aspect when it comes to SEO. If you have a concise and catchy meta title that really sums up your site's topic, your site will more readily be reviewed and favored by these sources.
Tips for titles:
- 60 characters or less
- The meta title should always be typed with the first letter of each major word capitalized, in the style known as Title Case. This means everything is capitalized except for smaller words like "for", "is" and "a".
- Make sure every page on your site has a unique meta title
- Be specific. If you're writing a meta title for your home page, never use simply "Home" or "Index Page". Your meta title has to draw in viewers from the search results pages, so the meta title should tell your viewer, as well as the search engine, what each page is about specifically.
- And finally, be sure to include at least one primary keyword in the meta title of each page
- If left blank in the database, WSM will auto generate on page load using the product name, if provided.
Alt Tags
ALT tags are alternative text that can be displayed instead of an image if a visitor to your website cannot view the images in their browser. You should always use ALT tags especially if your website contains lots of photos or graphic-image maps at the top of your home page. The reason for this is that some search engines will take this alternative text into account when they rank your website due to the fact that a search engine cannot see images, so it relies on the alt tag to understand what the image is about.
Generally, ALT tags look like this:
< img src=”/images/metatags.gif” alt=”webshopmanager.com: Professional Web Design & Hosting Company” />
Tips for ALT tags:
- Always use ALT tags. Not only do they help in search engine rankings, they can also be useful if someone can't load the image or can't see it for some other reason
- Use keywords in the tags. These can build up and contribute significantly to your page rank.
- Do not recycle ALT tags on similar images. Each image should have a unique tag
- When writing alt tags, try to use a phrase or saying as opposed to a single keyword
Image Title
An image title is very closely related to what an ALT tag is. In fact, in the world of SEO and online marketing there is a substantial amount of debate over their differences and how each should be approached. The widely accepted truth is that these two things are extremely similar, but ALT tags are given more attention by search engines. It is for this reason that image title has become something that should explain what the image is very succinctly and very clearly.
Tips for image titles:
- Do not include the information about the camera you used, web addresses, the name of your business, or any other information that does not directly correlate to the image at hand. Keep the title relevant to the image.
- Briefly describe what occurs in the image. What is the subject? Is something happening? You don‘t have to go into too much detail
- A good rule of thumb is to take a minimalist approach and address the Who, What, When, and Where in the image (let the buyer determine the Why)
Interlinking
Interlinking is very crucial to your SEO strategy. It means how you link to your inner pages, the web pages residing under your domain. These links could include your navigation text links, your breadcrumb links, subject area links, or individual page links. You can use all these links to strategically increase your keyword density and improve your search engine rankings.
Tips for interlinking:
- Navigation Links:You can use your navigation to create the right keyword density by using appropriate anchor text. Through your navigation, if you link to your web designing services page by using “Web Designing Services” as your anchor text it is much better than simply using an image without the ALT attribute.
- Breadcrumb Links:Breadcrumb links are navigation links that appear at the top of the page as your visitor first clicks in a category, then a sub-category and then a link. For example, view this breadcrumb navigation: Web Designing > Free Web Templates > Template Name. All the steps in the aforementioned breadcrumb navigation contain relevant keywords.
- Subject Area Links:Content websites having information on varied subjects can use those subject names as anchor text and increase link-based SEO relevance. For instance a website publishing SEO information can have interlinking as a separate subject and then link to that section from various pages with interlinking as the anchor text.
- Individual Page Links:These are the most important links in terms of interlinking because they directly link to the pages. These can be your main navigation pages being referred to from your inner pages, or some support pages that don’t need a place in the navigation scheme but supply small chunks of information as and when needed. The interlinking helps the search engine spiders navigate your website and evaluate it in a realistic manner, according to the keywords and phrases you use as anchor texts.