Meta Tags

What is a meta tag?

Meta tags are words or phrases that describe a website or a specifc page on a website.  Meta tags are not seen within the content of your website, but is actually part of the html code of the site.   Your meta title and description appear in the results of the search engine pages. It is a misconception that adding or editing your meta tags allows you to pull up in the search engines for a specific word or phrase, but it having a good meta title, tags, and description, along with good content, does help.

For example when you type the phrase "web manager online" into the Google search box, the results are: 

The first website that pulls up is www.MaureenK.com.  The meta title for that site is "Web Manager Online Internet Marketing".  The meta description is  "Web Manger Online of Arlington Heights, IL providing small businesses and real estate brokers and agents with a complete web presence." 

The next website that pulls up is www.WebManagerOnline.com.  The meta title for that site is "Small Business Websites - Web Management services and online..."  The meta description is "Web Manager Online creating small business websites, real estate web sites, email marketing, SEO, SEM and more!  Small Business Website creation."

If is important that you do update your meta tags to include the key words that would describe your business (for real estate agents you would want to make sure you include the terms, real estate agent, real estate, homes for sale, etc) and also the geographical area you work in - if applicable.

Another important tip is to make sure each page of your website has a unique meta title, description and key words.  You most also include those same key words in the body of your content.  Search engines don't put much weight on meta tags alone, but combined with good content, this will help.

Let me give you one more example.  There is a gift shop in town that sells candles, jewelry, household goods, etc.  One jewelry line she carries is called "Calypso Studio".  If you type this term in Google, the results are:

Let's break it down.  A company that has nothing to do with the jewelry pulls up #1.  Their meta title is "Calypso Studio - bringing pixels to live".  Their description includes the word Calypso.  Their web address is calypsostudio.com.

#2 is a blog that has the words Calypso and Studio mentioned.

#3 is the business in town.  We titled the page on her site that describes the jewelry as "Jewelry - Calypso Beaded", the description includes the phrase "Calypso Studios".

The company that produces the jewelry can't be found.  And if you notice the small print just below the search box, it says that there is 1,530,000 results for the term.  Meaning, Google has over one million pages indexed that has one of both of these words mentioned.  If we put quotes around the search term, "Calypso Studio" it reduces the results to about 5,000.

The point is you should have unique meta tags to describe not only your website, but each page on your site.  But as always, content is the most important factor, as the saying goes, "Content is King".

Where do I update my meta tags?

Good question.  It varies.  If you have a custom created site you may have to go to your web designer and ask if he/she could update the meta tags.  If you have a site that includes a content editor, you should be able to find a "meta tag" section and update there.  If you have a Birdview website, login to your web assistant, click on website, click on content editor, choose either default or custom meta tags to change.