Myths and reality of meta tags

Myths and Reality of Meta tags

Meta tags are text written within the HTML codes that defines the motto of your web page to
search engines for assimilation of the content of your website. But the text within the Meta tags is
never displayed. Meta tags carry along with it many myths and misconceptions. Plus, undue
attention is paid in its process.

The Myth: Meta tags drive your web page at the top of search engines.

The Reality: Though Meta tags are practically helpful in explaining your web page content to
search engines. They carry no substantial responsibility in increasing your rankings on search
engines.

Currently, there seems to be a continuous discussion on whether Meta tags should be entailed
within the HTML document or not. In answering this debate, let's say a profound 'yes'. If you want
your web pages to be described on the search engines results page then Meta tags should be
incorporated in each and every web page of the site.

You would like to know why: Because Meta tags are usually used by search engines as the content
that represents the description of your web page when indexed on search engines. It, by and
large stands as the sub-headline (and your title tag being the main headline) or description for the
link. It assists the searcher in deciding whether your page is relevant to their search or not. It is
this description about your page that drives the user to click and open up your link. Above all, this
is the reason we want to be listed on search engines for.

If you happen to eliminate Meta description tag, it will result in the search engine formulating a
description for your website based on the arbitrary text picked up from somewhere from your
page. Here is an example,

Link Title: Cell phones
Summary Description: Click to go home.

We are quite sure, no company would want 'click to go home' to appear as their page's
description. But you tend to get such a description when you fail to utilize the Meta Tags.

Another likely possible thing is that the search engine may completely overlook the description if
they fail to find something relevant on your web site that can be used as description by them.
With this the user will loose interest in opening your link therefore it is recommended that you use
your meta tags properly to not loose your possible customers.
Whenever you get a chance or wherever you want any kind of description to appear then with the
appropriate use of the Meta tags you can achieve your aim.

For example,

<html> <head>
<title> Mobile phones </title>
<meta name=“description” content=“Buy the latest brand mobile phones at the lowest prices
available on the planet!”>
<meta name=“keywords” content= “mobile phones, cell phones, cellphone, mobiles, mobile,
mobiel, phones, brands, branded mobile phones”>
</head>

The Meta Keywords tag must be used carefully as it is one of the most important parts under Meta
tags. This section of Meta tags has been previously misused in the past and therefore search
engines take it lightly on their part. So being clear and precise in using it, is the key.

Certain steps that can help you in using it properly are:
1. abstain from repeating keywords
2. only make use of relevant keywords to your site
3. be careful to avoid trademark breach.

Both the sections: Meta description and Meta Keywords Tags' character limitation is restricted to
250 characters i.e. including spaces and punctuations. This being the rule, any content going
beyond this limit is simply ignored by search engines.

If anything is used appropriately then it will not do harm, same is the case with Meta tags. But if
used inappropriately, search engines can impose a fine on your web page. As a result, most
search engine optimizers have stopped making use of this feature tag instead of using it wisely
and carefully.

Anyways, we would recommend you to make proper use of the Meta tags as they are a good place
to use the commonly misspelled words. Just as we did above in the example, by using the
misspelled words for – mobiel and cellphone.

None of the Meta tags have any effect on search engines rankings. Never have, nor will.

Limited use of keywords must be done on every page

Try and use as less as two or three keywords per page. The reason behind this is:
The most important keyword of your website must appear in the title tag of your web page. After
all, a title tag limits the character spacing to not more than 60 characters therefore indirectly
limiting the use of keywords being placed within the tags.

Optimizing a page with more keywords is not a good idea. As it diverts the attention from your
services, offers, content to your keywords. Keep your each page's target set for a definite purpose
to rank it well. And if you want to target more number of keywords then it is advisable that you
increase the number of web pages of your website.

Your pages may still rank well on search engines as many a times keywords tend to overlap. If
your page ranks highly for one keyword then your website can rank high for a whole host of other
keywords. If your keyword is ranking well under keyword direct marketing then if you make use of
those keywords in the <body> section, it may also rank well enough for direct marketing and
professional direct marketing services.

Tagging is another way by which your web page can rank high on search engines of wider scopes
without affecting the target of the page.

Tactful usage of <Images Alt=“”> Tag can turn images into assets

Your images speak a lot about you and your company like - who are you, what is your company all
about, what do you do, etc. But unfortunately search engines cannot index your company logo i.e.
image. Search engines are only capable of indexing anything but text. Therefore the only text that
is indexable is the text placed within the <image alt=“image text here”> tag.

If in any case your image out ranks to be higher than your page than your page, it stands at a
disadvantage. To prevent this you must not place any image above the keyword text on your
page. So to turn your images into assets, all you need to do is to place the keyword text in the Alt
tags. For example,

<img src=“image.jpg” alt=“Beach California Vacation Rentals – lodging – homes –

accommodations – California – Sunset Beach California” height=“110” width=“400”>

Expecting a boost in your rankings would be a disappointment for you may not get any.
Previously, search engines were known for indexing the content of the Alt tags. So it may be that
the ranking formula can deviate back with the span of time.

Three reasons or rather plus points of using Alt tag are:
1. the text is visible when the mouse is placed over the image
2. whenever the images do not load your content is still visible
3. as far as the recent HTML guidelines are concerned, Alt tags are needed in images.

So make wise use of the Alt tags that profit you.

Keyword Density myths and facts

Another misunderstood concept is that of Keyword density. The total number of times a keyword
shows up in accordance to all other words on the same page means Keyword density. For
example, if a web page happened to have only one keyword – Mobiles – then the keyword density
for it will be full percent.

But for instance say, there is …

Buy the latest mobile by choosing from a wide range of brands.

… sentence on the web page then the keyword density of “mobiles” would become 20%, as every
word on the web page stands representative of one-fifth of the whole text. Search engines avoid
common words like – the, of, at, in – thus the words, 'the' and 'of' would not be involved in the
keyword density estimation.

Most search engine optimizers (SEOs) give priority to keyword density tactics. For they think that
there is some magical trick for the estimation of a flawless keyword density behind impressing
search engines. Although this stood true earlier. Keyword density is only a small yet effective part
in the process of getting that top rank.

Nonetheless, you may come across rumors like Google give priority to web pages with a 5%
keyword density and Yahoo to 11% keyword density web pages. There are several reasons behind
this not being an a preferred way to optimize web pages.

First being, the keyword density strategy fails to bear in mind the location of the keywords on a
page. And as you know that keyword placement plays an important role in the process of search
engine optimization. By saying that a page has 20% keyword density, it does not point of where
the keyword is located. Whether those keywords feature in your title tags, header tags, link
anchor text or any other.

Secondly, this strategy overlooks the distance between keywords on a page known as Keyword
Proximity. The nearer your keywords are to each other, the better it is. For instance,

Your one-stop source for San Francisco Real Estate information

… is much better for keywords like 'San Francisco Real Estate' than the below version of
optimization where they are split into two:

Your one-stop real estate information source for San Francisco area.

Lastly, our study of top ranked pages on various search engines show a vast difference in the

keyword density of every page. Certain highly ranked pages have 50% keyword density whereas
some have zero keyword density too. There are instances when a page ranks highly on a page
despite no keywords appearing on the page. Keywords in the anchor text of the off-site are the
ones that direct to the page which is the cause of its top rankings.

With so much to think over and a vast amount of alternatives available, it becomes hard to find
that perfect keyword density. Though majority of search engine optimizers make use of keywords
in effective and wise ways that appear as organic, without wasting much time over the number of
times a keyword should appear on a page – trying to find that perfect keyword density.

Semaphore Software is a SEO Company in India that offers Affordable SEO Services, Hire SEO
Expert, Link Building Services, SEM Services, Social Media Marketing, Search Engine Reputation
Management

Myths and reality of meta tags

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Myths and reality of meta tags