Creating Meta Tags and Promoting Your Web Site

Creating Meta Tags and Promoting Your Web Site

META tags provide search engines with information about the content of a web page. They enable an engine to correctly index your web site according to a brief description and a list of keywords that you provide, thereby increasing the visibility of the page. Without META tags the engine has to search through the entire site in order to try to index the page, wading through all of the HTML tags, JavaScript, applets, etc. Not all search engines use Meta tags, some sites search the first few paragraphs of text on the web page for keywords, so it's also important to use key information about your web site at the top of the page.

Make sure that you have a descriptive title for your site. Tinker's Home Page is not descriptive. Computer and Web Design Resources @ TinkerTech.net is a more appropriate title. The text that appears between the <title></title> tags is the actual text that will be used for the link when your site is displayed in the search engine results. It is also the name that is used when someone adds your site to their favorites or bookmarks. It should be clear and concise, don't be wordy in the title. Since not all search engines use Meta Tags, it's a good idea to put a brief description of your site in comment tags immediately after the title tag. Here is my title:

<title>Computer and Web Design Resources - Tinkertech.net</title>

You will need to write a "description" Meta Tag. The description will appear on the search results page as a summary paragraph under the hyperlink to your web site. It's mportant to write a clear and concise description (under 200 characters) so the users will be sure to visit your page. If you don't have a description of your site or the description is vague, people are less likely to visit the site. If you had a choice between a site with a clear description and a site with nothing or a bunch of HTML tags, which one would you choose? This is the text that I wrote for my "description".

Computer and web design resource site - Tinkertech.net. Site reviews, virus information, computer tutorials and tips.

The next step is to brainstorm for a list of keywords (usually 1,000 characters). Keywords are used to index the site and they are the key to successful web site promotion. The keywords should be meaningful. Think about the search words/phrases people would use to find the type of information you are providing. It is helpful to visit sites that have similar content and view the source code to see samples of keywords (try when searching for sites that are similar in content to the site you're creating, to view the META tags of those that rank highest in the search results). If your site doesn't rank on the first three pages of the search results, you're sunk!

Ok, you've written your description and your list of keywords, what next? META tags are placed between the <HEAD> tags in the HTML code, they are not visible to the end user unless they view the source code.

Here's the format:

<head>

<meta name="description" content="Contra Costa Regional Occupational Program-Provides computer training to adults and high school students in the San Francisco Bay Area">

<title>ROP Technology Center</title>

</head>

The description and keywords are places in quotes, the keyword list is separated by commas. You can insert the META tags into your source code by using the above sample and NotePad.

If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area and you're interested in learning more about web design and development, graphics, or computers in general, consider taking classes at the Contra Costa ROP Technology Center. We offer affordable computer training in a variety of subjects. Visit our web site for more information.

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