Do you know what meta tags are about? In this post we review why it is so important to work properly with meta tags. You probably agree with me if I say there are very many terms to keep in mind when talking about search engine optimisation (SEO) . Meta tags, meta keywords and meta description are some of them. Today, therefore, we thought about going through what meta tags are, and how they are used by Google and other search engines.
What is a meta tag?
The task of Metatags is to inform search engines like Google about the user’s website. There are several different meta tags for different purposes, and below are explanations of a selection of tags. Many think meta tags are one of Google’s ranking factors , but that’s not correct.
Meta-title (meta-title)
According to Google’s meta tag descriptions , this is not a meta tag because it does not contain the code “<meta name =” … “/>”. The meta title is what appears as a title when searching for something on a search engine. Examples below:
Meta descriptions (meta description)
Meta descriptions are the text that appears when searching in a search engine under the title. It is this description that is important in search engine optimisation because it partially determines your clickthrough rate. We recommend designing this as an ad. A descriptive text and a call two action at the bottom.
Meta keywords
In fact, Google passed out a few years ago and announced that they stopped using meta keywords in their algorithms. Now it can even hurt if you enter meta keywords. Below you can see a statement made by Matt Cutts, software engineer at Google, in September 2009: It is still relevant in 2018.
Meta-robots
Using it’s meta tag, you can control what search engines should crawl and not crawl. Examples of values are noindex, nofollow, nosnipppet and noimageindex etc. The most common meta tag is the use of nofollow.
Meta Googlebot
Works similar meta-robots but refers only to the search engine Google. It’s a fine that Google created and here you can specifically enter above values against Googlebot.
It was a technical review of which tags exist. How do you now use this for SEO?
Complete list to optimise meta tags
- Stay within the number of characters. Meta title should be somewhere between 0-70 characters.
- Be sure to use the keyword in meta title as early as possible.
- Search terms with 2-3 words. If the search phrase you are trying to view is “SEO”. Be sure to use a more clickable title. For example. – How do you succeed with local SEO in 3 easy steps.
- Try to use words that people are looking for. Can be Cheap SEO, SEO References, Best SEO, Affordable SEO, Easy SEO.
- Include numbers in title. For example, 3 simple steps for SEO or 3 tips for SEO, etc.
- Separate the keyword with “|” or “-“.
- Do not forget to use other abbreviations or explanations. For example. SEO = Search Engine Optimisation.
- Unique title for all unique pages.
- Title on the homepage. Many people miss using a title on the homepage. For example. SEO Expert Melbourne | SEO agency that creates results.
- Title on other pages. Start with the keyword you are trying to position yourself on. For example. SEO | SEO Expert Melbourne
- Use the keyword with moderation. It does not work to enter the keyword in any exact keyword density. Forget guides or plugins like Yoast. There is no exact way to write the number of keywords.
- Do not use too many synonyms. Google counts synonyms in the same way as the keyword you are trying to position. Instead, use similar search phrases as you can get more hits.
These steps are good if you want to optimie your meta tags. Do not forget to write to the one who reads and to actually get some of the text.
Do you have a unique title for each page on your website?
