On-Page Search Optimization: Study To Make Use Of Meta Tags
What is Search Engine Optimization?
Search engine optimization, or SEO, is the process of increasing the ranking of a web page in search engines like Google, Yahoo, or Bing. SEO involves “optimizing” the page to be found for certain keywords. The more optimized a page is for a group of keywords, the higher it will rank in the search engines when someone enters a search using those words.
Meta Tags
One part of optimizing a web page is the use of meta tags. These are html tags that are hidden from the web visitor, but visible to the search engines. The two most important meta tags for optimizing a page are the description tag and the keywords tag. Meta tags are placed inside the tags of the html for the page.
For example, here is the correct formatting for a keywords meta tag:
When a search engine is looking for possible matches for a particular search, it will check for a keywords meta tag, among other things, that contains the words used in the search. The actual ranking of a page in the search engines is determined by a complex algorithm, but the keywords meta tag does play an important part.
The description meta tag is also important to include on a web page. When a page is listed in a search engine’s results, if there is an existing description meta tag, the contents of the meta tag will be displayed in the results. This is your chance to give the person searching a reason to click on your link instead of the other results. A good use of the description tag is to let people know what your company offers. For example, look at this description meta tag:
In the preceding example, the words in the contents area of the meta tag are displayed in the search results under the name of the page. This can help your results stand out from the others.