SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION
The Meta Tags
 Meta
tags appear in the first couple of lines of an HTML page, as a directive to the
Search Engines. The Meta tags can affect the way Search Engines treat a web site.
The Meta Tags are not visible in the web browser.
The most important of the Meta tags for Search Engine optimisation are the Meta
"Description" and Meta "Keywords". It is recommended that these Meta tags be included
in each HTML page.
Meta Description
The "Description" Meta Tag is seen by both the Search Engines and Website Visitors.
The description expands on the headline of the page Title. Without a Description
Tag, the search engine will use the first few words it sees on your page, which
may be irrelevant.
The Meta tag Description should summarise the main theme of a Web page. It should
include targeted Keywords. All the Search Engines provide some support for the Meta
Description, some more than others.
Make the Meta Description as brief and as comprehensive as possible within about
160 characters. The Meta Description appears as two lines directly under the page
Title in the Search Engine results. Potential customers have found the URL, and
hopefully they will be attracted to the site by the Meta Description.
Meta Keywords
The Meta Keywords is one of many factors in ranking. MSN gives most weight to it,
Google the least. The Meta Keywords can include up to about 160 characters. Use
only lowercase.
The Meta Keywords tag is not a way to gain a top ranking on a Search Engine. It
is meaningless if these Keywords are not used throughout the Website. The Meta Keywords
tag may help the Search Engine in confirming the importance of a Keyword that is
found in the text of a web page.
The Meta Keywords are of great value to the copywriter when constructing a web page.
The Keywords should be well chosen, and based on statistically proven web searches.
The web page is then built around the chosen Keywords, ensuring that they are repeated
frequently. Only when the required Keyword Density has been achieved, should the
page be made acceptable to the viewer.
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