Introduction to Keywords & Meta Tags

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Keywords are the words and phrases used by people when they search for ...
For example, if I am looking for free web editing ... I ...
... like "free web editor" into a search Keywords are the words and phrases used by people when they search for webpages.
For example, if I am looking for free web editing programs, I wouldtype something like "free web editor" into a search engine. Those arekeywords.Meta tags are descriptive words and phrases that you attach to your webpages and are invisible to the visitor to your site.
However, anyone canview your meta tags if they right click on their mouse and choose "viewsource". These meta tags help search engines find your site.
Make sure thatyou use meta tags and use them wisely. If someone has designed your site foryou, ensure they have placed meta tags on your web page; you'd be surprisedat how many sites I've seen that have few or no meta tags.Meta tags include:Keywords - These are descriptive phrases and words separated by commasattached to your index page.
You should focus more on using phrases becausethat is usually how people enter keywords when they do a search for a website. To be considered search engine friendly, you should not have more than875 characters in your keywords and you should not repeat any word more thanthree times.Description - This is a description of your site that is attached to yourindex page.
Use descriptive words and avoid filler words such as the, at,in, etc. Your description can be up to 150 characters long to considered tobe search engine friendlyTitle - Your title should be descriptive and contain your keywords.
A titleis attached to each page in your site. Choose your titles carefully, searchengines use these readily to index your site.
For example, if you selleducational books, titling your page "Jennifer's Resources" will not bringyou a lot of traffic. However, a title like "Educational Books - Science,Math, History for Children" would serve you a lot better.
Think: what is myproduct and who is it for?Note: This does not mean that you cannot use "Jennifer's Resources", orsomething like that inthe headings that your visitors will see on the page. We are strictlytalking about meta tags here.Also, if you are selling a recognizable brand, use that name in your title.Titles can be up to 60 characters long to be considered search enginefriendly.Maximizing Meta TagsIn order to maximize your meta tags, you should choose words and phrasesthat people actually enter into search engines.
You can find out what peopleare entering at:http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/It works like this. You enter the keyword you would like to use and see howmany times people entered those keywords in the last month.
This tool alsogives alternate keyword phrases and tells you how many times they wereentered in one month.Great! You type in home based business and 92,534 people entered thosekeywords last month, so you figure you should use those keywords. Here's theproblem...go to Google and enter Home Based Business and what do you find?On May 15, 2002 there were 4,030,000 sites listed.
That's a lot ofcompetition!You may need to target some of your keywords a bit better. Pick morespecific keywords that don't have as much competition.
Think about yourtarget market. This is a bit of work but may well be worth your time.In the end, choose a few general key word phrases like "home based business"and then choose a few specific ones.
Article Tags: Meta Tags, Search Engine, Home Based Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com .