Using the Meta Description tag
By Yelena Shapiro
What is the meta
description tag and why should I use it?
The meta description tag describes your site's content, giving
the reader and the search engine an accurate summary filled with multiple
keywords.
Meta tags are hidden in the document's source, invisible to the readers.
Some search engines, however, are able to use meta tags as a part of their
algorithm. Engines do not penalize those who use meta tags properly, so
it's recommended that you always include them.
Meta description is especially important because for some engines,
such as Excite, it's
the only meta tag supported. Here's an example of what a meta description
tag looks like.
<html>
<head>
<meta name="description" content="Your site's summary
here">
</head>
</html>
The importance
of the meta description tag
A meta description tag can boost your rankings on some engines. Click
here to see engines that use meta description tags.
Another reason that the meta description tag is important, is that some
engines use it as a site's summary on results' pages. So the reader
can actually get to see this hidden tag. Make sure that its contents
are enticing to the reader.
Keywords in the
meta description tag
The meta description tag should contain multiple keywords organized
in a logical sentence. Place the keywords at the beginning of your
description and close to each other to achieve best rankings.
Length of the meta
description tag
Search engines vary in size of meta tags. Go/Infoseek,
for example, accepts a meta description tag up to 1024 characters long,
while Hotbot specifies 150 characters as its guideline. Use the smaller
number, 150 characters, for your site. Never make it more than 250 characters
because the results pages will cut it off.
Avoid the use of
spam
Avoid repeating keywords more than 3-7 times; you can get penalized
for that.
An overview
Meta description
tag
- Use it on all pages
- Limit it to 150 characters
- Should contain keywords
- Keywords shouldn't repeat more than 7 times
Want
to get the full benefit of meta tags? Read on >>>
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