Advanced SEO Techniques

Meta Tag Optimization:
Meta tags are HTML elements that will tell search engines what a web page is about, there are four elements that must be placed as tags in the <head> section of a HTML document, These elements are Meta title, Meta description, Meta Keywords, Meta robots. If you want to find out whether a given page is using Meta tags, just right-click anywhere on the page and select View Page Source. Increase your traffic by letting Google know who you are and what you provide by using Meta tags.
The four types we’ll discuss here are:
Meta Title:
This is the text you’ll see at the top of your browser. Search engines view this text as the title of your page. Title tags, on the other hand, are the most important of all of the Meta tags discussed here. These tags have a real impact on search rankings.
  • Title tags should be 50-60 characters long, including spaces.
  • You’re most important keywords need to be first in your title tag, with your least important words coming last.
  • If your company name is not part of the important keyword phrases, put it at the end of the title tag.
  • Do not duplicate title tags, they must be written differently for every page. Don’t mass replicate your title tags it will negatively affect your search visibility.
  • Title tags must accurately describe the content on the page.
  • Do not ‘keyword stuff’ title tags, Keyword stuffing is the worst offense when it comes to title tags and you will be penalised for it.
  • Make your headline (<h1> tag) different from the title tag, this is another opportunity to vary the keyword phrasing of your page and increase its chances of appearing for different search intent.
Where do I add the title tag?
You can add a title tag in the <head> section in your site’s HTML. It should look something like this:
<head>
<title>Example Title</title>
</head>
However in most content management systems (CMS), including WordPress, you can either add a title tag in general settings: Or if you use an SEO plug-in, such as Yoast SEO, you can add a title tag to the ‘SEO title’ section, and you can preview an example of how it will look in search engine results pages (SERPs):
Can Google override your title tag?
Occasionally yes. Sometimes if Google doesn’t like your title tag it will rewrite it for its search engine results, pulling in information from your Meta description and page content. Chances are this won’t be as good as the one you’ve created, so you must ensure that your own title tag is completely relevant, descriptive, keyword rich but readable and the right length.
Meta Description
A brief description of the page. This is a quite useful Meta tag as, very simply, it explains to search engines and (sometimes) searchers themselves what your page is about. Let’s say you were googling the phrase “meta keywords” for example. You might encounter the following results:
A Meta description can influence the decision of the searcher as to whether they want to click through on your content from search results or not.  The more descriptive, attractive and relevant the description, the more likely someone will click through.
It’s important to note that the description tag won’t always show up in the results for a Google search (Google frequently picks a snippet of text from the page itself). Descriptive tags may encourage users to visit your site.
  • Meta descriptions can be any length, but search engines generally truncate snippets longer than 160 characters. It is best to keep Meta descriptions between 150 and 160 characters. Important to note that Meta descriptions do not to influence Google’s ranking algorithms for normal web search.
  • Meta description tags, while not important to search engine rankings, are extremely important in gaining user click-through from SERPs.
  • Do make sure you’re most important keywords for the webpage show up in the Meta description.
  • Often search engines will highlight in bold where it finds the searchers query in your snippet.
Where do I add the Meta description?
You can add a Meta description in the <head> section of your site’s HTML. It should look something like this:
<head>
<meta name=”description” content=”Here is a precise description of my awesome webpage.”>
</head>
You should have complete control of your Meta description in your CMS, particularly if you’re using WordPress.If you use an SEO plug-in, such as Yoast SEO, you can add a Meta description to the ‘meta description’ section,And you can preview an example of how it will look in search engine results pages (SERPs):
Are Meta descriptions used as a ranking signal?
Google has stated that Meta descriptions are NOT a ranking signal. But, again, the quality of the description Will influence click-through rate, so it is very important to use this element wisely.

How to write a great Meta description

Write readable copy, this is essential. Keyword stuffing your Meta description is bad and it doesn’t help the searcher as they’ll assume your result leads to a spammy website. Make sure your description reads like a normal, human-written sentence.
Treat the meta description as if it’s an advert for your web-page:
make it as compelling and as relevant as possible. The description MUST match the content on the page,
but you should also make it as appealing as possible.
Any longer and search engines will chop the end off, so make sure any important keywords are nearer the front.
Do not duplicate meta descriptions: As with title tags, the meta descriptions must be written differently for
every page. Google may penalise you for mass duplicating your meta descriptions.
Meta Keywords
A series of keywords you deem relevant to the page in question.
Years ago, the meta keyword tags may have been beneficial, but not anymore.
These days Google doesn’t use meta keywords in its ranking algorithm at all

Comments

Post a Comment