Content for a website needs to be unique and targeted to the meta tags you make. You can view my meta tags optimization blog post about how to write meta tags. Targeted content will help the search engines index your pages for the keywords you are targeting. Keep in mind that you can use keywords in your content that aren’t in your meta tags. You can still get found for those keywords as long as it's in your content. View my search engine optimization tutorial for advice on researching SEO keywords.
You will need to keep a few things in mind when you are writing new content for your pages - Keyword Density, Headings, Internal Linking, Call to Action Words, and Contact Information.
Keyword density is the measurement of a percentage a keyword shows up on the page compared to all other words. You should try to have a keyword density of 2 - 5% for the keywords you are targeting in the meta tags.
Internal linking helps navigation from one page to another. It also creates a back link for another page. Include internal links in your content to help the search engine rankings of the pages you are linking to. You should use keywords you are targeting on other pages as the anchor text link.
Headings should be used above each section of content. Use heading tags in order to let the search engines know the importance of each section of content.
Call to action words should be used to help influence readers to do something after they read your content. You will want to be talking directly to the person reading as well. This will help grab the attention of the reader and get them to use your website.
If you have contact information on your website, you can include that in your web content as well. It's important to make sure people know how to contact you.
Remember - Try to make unique content on every page.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Meta Tags Optimization - How to Write Meta Tags
Meta tags are a very important part of each page on your website. They let search engines like Google.com, Yahoo.com, and MSN.com know what your pages are all about. They need to be unique or your pages can be penalized by the search engines. They also need to be targeted to the appropriate keywords, or you can miss a lot of potential visitors.
You can view my search engine optimization tutorial on keywords to find out how to research the appropriate keywords for your meta tags.
There are three meta tags - Title, Keywords, and Description. On every page of a website, you will notice the Title appear in the top left corner. That's on the very top of your browser. You won't see Keywords or Description on a page. Search engines read your meta tags to index the page in the search engine results.
When you search, you will notice the title appears as a link with the description under it in the search engine results. Meta tags should be written with search engine optimization keywords and action words in mind to make people want to visit your website. Action words include "Buy", "View", "Visit", and "Find". They will encourage someone do something when they read them.
Now that you have a list of keywords you can use and you know where meta tags will appear, you are probably wondering how to write meta tags.
Meta Tag Optimization Rules to Follow
Meta Titles
1. Start with the most important / relevant keyword you want to be found for first. You can include keyword phrases. You will want keywords that are searched the most to appear first in the title. This will help you get found for that keyword. There is no point of using keywords that have low search results first since it will reduce your chance of being found in the search engines.
2. Don't repeat keywords more than twice if possible. The titles won't read well and the search engines can consider your titles as spam and not as relevant.
3. The keywords you use in your title can help improve your internal links going to other pages of your website. You should always try to link to relevant pages with related keywords in the title.
4. It's a good idea to use around 64 characters in your titles or they won't be displayed. You can write longer titles to help you target more keywords.
Meta Keywords
1. Use lower case letters and separate keywords with a comma.
2. Don't repeat too many keywords since search engines can consider it spam.
3. You can use three to five different keywords per page. If you need to use more, make a new page targeting the new keywords.
Meta Descriptions
1. Start your meta description with your highest searched keyword. Keywords will be bolded in the search results.
2. You should try to write meta descriptions that are around 144 - 154 characters since that’s how many characters the search engines will display. You can write longer descriptions to target more keywords. Do not write short meta descriptions or your website can be penalized by search engines.
3. Write phrases that are unique to the page and use action words to help attract more people to your website. They will more likely visit your website if they like what they read.
4. Include the keywords you added to your Meta Keywords.
Changes to meta tags could take about one week to show up in the search engine results. After you are finished writing meta tags, you can view my SEO content writing advice blog post to help you optimize the content on each page.
You can view my search engine optimization tutorial on keywords to find out how to research the appropriate keywords for your meta tags.
There are three meta tags - Title, Keywords, and Description. On every page of a website, you will notice the Title appear in the top left corner. That's on the very top of your browser. You won't see Keywords or Description on a page. Search engines read your meta tags to index the page in the search engine results.
When you search, you will notice the title appears as a link with the description under it in the search engine results. Meta tags should be written with search engine optimization keywords and action words in mind to make people want to visit your website. Action words include "Buy", "View", "Visit", and "Find". They will encourage someone do something when they read them.
Now that you have a list of keywords you can use and you know where meta tags will appear, you are probably wondering how to write meta tags.
Meta Tag Optimization Rules to Follow
Meta Titles
1. Start with the most important / relevant keyword you want to be found for first. You can include keyword phrases. You will want keywords that are searched the most to appear first in the title. This will help you get found for that keyword. There is no point of using keywords that have low search results first since it will reduce your chance of being found in the search engines.
2. Don't repeat keywords more than twice if possible. The titles won't read well and the search engines can consider your titles as spam and not as relevant.
3. The keywords you use in your title can help improve your internal links going to other pages of your website. You should always try to link to relevant pages with related keywords in the title.
4. It's a good idea to use around 64 characters in your titles or they won't be displayed. You can write longer titles to help you target more keywords.
Meta Keywords
1. Use lower case letters and separate keywords with a comma.
2. Don't repeat too many keywords since search engines can consider it spam.
3. You can use three to five different keywords per page. If you need to use more, make a new page targeting the new keywords.
Meta Descriptions
1. Start your meta description with your highest searched keyword. Keywords will be bolded in the search results.
2. You should try to write meta descriptions that are around 144 - 154 characters since that’s how many characters the search engines will display. You can write longer descriptions to target more keywords. Do not write short meta descriptions or your website can be penalized by search engines.
3. Write phrases that are unique to the page and use action words to help attract more people to your website. They will more likely visit your website if they like what they read.
4. Include the keywords you added to your Meta Keywords.
Changes to meta tags could take about one week to show up in the search engine results. After you are finished writing meta tags, you can view my SEO content writing advice blog post to help you optimize the content on each page.
Search Engine Optimization Tutorial - Researching SEO Keywords
Each page of your website needs to target unique keywords. In order to know which keywords to use, you’ll need to do some research. There are free online tools you can use to get started.
Here are some of my favorite SEO keyword tools:
SEO Book Keyword Suggestion Tool
Free Keyword Suggestion Tool
There are more keyword tools out there, but these two tools should be able to give you an idea about what you should be using. I suggest using the SEO Book Keyword Suggestion Tool since it will give you an estimated daily search on Google.com, Yahoo.com, and MSN.com for each keyword.
The reason why you should use unique keywords on each page is to help focus / target your page to those keywords. If you use the same keywords on multiple pages, you the search engines could index one or the other page. One page might be more important than the other. The search engines might make your least important page show up first.
Researching the right keywords can help you brainstorm new ideas for pages on your website as well.
I suggest making a list of searched keywords on a spreadsheet and putting them in order.
From there, you can make your list of keywords you want to use for meta tags optimization, internal links, external links, and web content. View my SEO content writing advice blog post to find out how to use the keywords on the content on each page.
If you have some more suggestions on how to find keywords for your website, please comment below.
Here are some of my favorite SEO keyword tools:
SEO Book Keyword Suggestion Tool
Free Keyword Suggestion Tool
There are more keyword tools out there, but these two tools should be able to give you an idea about what you should be using. I suggest using the SEO Book Keyword Suggestion Tool since it will give you an estimated daily search on Google.com, Yahoo.com, and MSN.com for each keyword.
The reason why you should use unique keywords on each page is to help focus / target your page to those keywords. If you use the same keywords on multiple pages, you the search engines could index one or the other page. One page might be more important than the other. The search engines might make your least important page show up first.
Researching the right keywords can help you brainstorm new ideas for pages on your website as well.
I suggest making a list of searched keywords on a spreadsheet and putting them in order.
From there, you can make your list of keywords you want to use for meta tags optimization, internal links, external links, and web content. View my SEO content writing advice blog post to find out how to use the keywords on the content on each page.
If you have some more suggestions on how to find keywords for your website, please comment below.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
