How to Create Functional Meta Tags?

Meta Tags

Creating a "functional" set of Meta Tags is definitely not difficult, as many people would have you believe. You can of course do plenty of research on keywords, spend hours on each page and get fairly good results, but if you have 1,000 pages and a business to run it is not always so practical. If possible take a look at the content, before you make any Meta Tags at all. Is there a Keyword that could be repeated a few more times? Especially somewhere within the first 255 characters on the page? You need to put yourself into the web surfer's chair for a moment and ask yourself: "If I were looking for the content that is located on this page, what would I type into a Search Engine?" Once you have thought of 3 good words/phrases, add them to your content. Re-adjust the content so that it still reads well. If the words that you thought of were already in the content then you have made your first step forward.

Now you need to make sure that the 3 keywords/phrases are also in the Title, Description and keywords. This can be slightly tricky at first, but once you have done a few you will get really good at it. It is good to get into the habit of using descriptive and informative words when writing webpage content. If you are not the actual content editor, then it would be a good idea to explain this concept to the person(s) that is writing the content.

Example:

Your Internet paint store has a special page about paint colors for walls.

First, think of words that people might type if they were looking for products to paint their walls. They might use "interior paint colors", "interior wall paint" and "paint colors". So, you would make sure that these phrases are in your page content several times each. It’s a good idea to use single words and shortened phrases many times, too (i.e.: wall, paint, and other derivatives such as wall colors, interior paint and wall painting). Try to use both the plural and singular forms of words as well (paint and.paints).

Once you have completed your content, choose a title, which also uses the same words.

Good Example 1:
<title>Interior Wall paints: New Paint Colors for Your Walls</title>
With the above title, your page will most likely be found under:

• Interior wall paints
• Wall paints
• Paints
• Paint Colors
• Walls

But also:

• Interior paints
• Wall Colors

Notice the difference a well-thought title makes:

Bad Example 2:

<title>Great colors for your home interiors</title>
Would result in visitors who were searching for things like: 

• Colors (Crayolas?)
• Home (Real Estate?)
• Home interiors (Candles & Knick Knacks?)
• Interiors (Architects and Interior Designers?)

Clearly not the Traffic you wanted!

{ShowGlossar:301} Description

Now you need to add a description. As mentioned above, where it was stated that you should add your keywords and phrases to the top of your page, (especially within the first 255 characters) you will have your description there. All you need to do is copy the first paragraph of your page into your description. Try to avoid adding single words.

With all the competition online these days there is not much of a chance that single words will be of any use. Your better option would be to use key phrases of 2-3 words. (ie: cat foot, nutritional cat foot, cat nutrition etc.. Don't bother adding extra words or phrases that are not in your page. Doing so would be a waste of time).