Metatags are tags hidden from the viewer that sit in the Head portion of your pages. They are usually used for keywords and description. Many search engines support metatags and will assign higher rankings to your pages if they're used appropriately. It's important that every page that could be indexed by a search engine have these metatags. We'll go through your site and make sure each page is using metatags effectively.

What are the Important Meta Tags?

There are three meta tags that you want to make sure are included in every single page. These are:

• Title - Title tags are usually always generated by HTML editing programs, but sometimes aren't used. Big No No! Always make sure the appropriate keywords for that page are in your title, and the closer to the front of your title, the better.

• Keywords -  Here you put a list of keywords that are relevant to your site. You want to make sure the keywords that important for that page are at the front of your keyword meta tag.

• Description - Some search engines will pull the short description that sits under your return from the description meta tag. Of course, it should include relevant keywords, but, more importantly, it should be a compelling line that would convince people that your site is worth a click. Often, this is the only chance you have to attract potential customers to your site.

Meta Tag Oversights

In the grand scheme of things, the description and keyword metatags don't seem to be as important to the major search engines as they once were, but they could still make the difference between a top 10 and a number 38 ranking. For this reason, it's important to use them effectively. Here's some tips to remember:

• Longer isn't always better - some search engines prefer shorter tags, with the relevant keywords for that page given more weighting.

• Don't forget meta tags on frames pages - Often when frames sites are made, people don't bother putting meta tags on individual pages because they assume these pages will always be seen within a frameset and the tags will be useless. Not true! Many search engines will end up indexing these pages anyway and meta tags could produce higher ranking pages that could still lead into your site. By the way, make sure any frames pages have links to your home page on them somewhere..otherwise visitors will be stuck there if they arrive outside the frameset.

• Customize your Meta Tags for each Page - Often, meta tags are simply cut and pasted on each page, with the same tags used through out the site. Customize your tags for each page, moving the relevant keywords to the front.

For more on Meta Tags and How We Use Them, Contact Us!