Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I am so new to all of this, I have been selling on ebay for over a year and took the plunge (thanks to my dear husband) to start a website.  I am doing my best to learn about promoting a website and driving traffic.  How important are meta tags and meta keywords?  It seems like some things I read say they aren`t and then others say something different?  This is a whole new world to me and appreciate any tips or input?

Hillary

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Hillary

They used to be more important, but they are on their way out.

I think most people add them now because it can`t hurt ... but it`s not like it helps a lot either.

Some things that are good to have:
A title tag, the thing that puts the page title at the top of your browser.
A meta description which helps Google list your page in the search results.
Relevant content, with emphasis on the important parts by the use of bolding and font hierarchy.

The placement of your targeted keywords/phrases is critical for good search engine results. This assumes that you have determined the keywords/phrases that are appropriate  - words that your target market/customer would use to find your site.

Each search engine values the placement of keywords differently. Howerver, here is a general outline of the important places to use your targeted keywords:

• Your domain name.
• Web page url.
• Web page title meta tag (each page should have a different title).
• Web page description meta tag (each page should have a different description).
• Internal links (text based links to other pages) in your navigation and content.
• In-bound links - text based links form other websites/directories and posts and signatures on forums.
• H1, h2, h3... apply these styles to keywords in your content.
• Bold text... apply to keywords in your content.
• Alt image tags - have to each and every image in your web pages.
• Text content.

Please note, when using keywords...try to limit the keywords to two or three on a web page. Do not put all your targeted keywords on one page. You`ll see that the above list talks about text not graphics... search engine do not see graphics (they see the alt image tag defined for a graphic). Also, keyword combinations of two or three words rather than a single word is more successful.

Researching your keywords is an important step to take, before determining what keywords to use in your website. So, you`ll pick keywords that (1) people actually use and  (2) are not so highly competitive. Here are some keyword resources.

~Roland

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Web Design | Best Beef Jerky | ecommerce articles | Follow vwebworld on Twitter

We`ve found that meta tags aren`t really much value, other than as a basic description of the overall site or page. Key phrases for keyword searches (SEO) are much more useful and important. But beyond that, having highly visible OTHER sites where we`re selling is very valuable.

The SuN Market place is getting huge activity, being crawled a lot. So too, posts and your profile (and signature, with a URL) get constant attention. In eBay, having a Title is always necessary, but having a gallery picture and a subtitle definitely increases visibility. However, eBay doesn`t "search" the sub-title, only the title.

Within the context of your own site (apart from your eBay listings), it makes sense to pay attention to your meta description for two reasons. There are still some engines that use the meta description in determining your site`s relevance for a particular phrase; and, much more importantly, the meta description can often be used as the text that shows up under the title for your site in a search engine results page (SERP). So it can be a good marketing tool in helping to distinguish your site`s results in search engines from others.

The meta keywords tag is also used by some engines, but it`s value is minimal (and it provides no value for Google ranking). Given that, and the fact that you absolutely must have distinctive meta keywords tags for every page on your site, it`s likely not worth your time having a meta keywords tag. Especially if you`re going to have a site of some size, where the task of managing that tag across all of your pages could be immense.


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chuck fuller

Well, he beat me to the punch, but in my opinion, Chuck`s answer is absolutely, right on the money!

Great answer, Chuck!

Dale King

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I hear what everyone is saying but I don’t totally agree with playing down their importance.  I am somewhere in the middle on this issue.  I feel that META tags are only one of the many important tools needed to succeed.  I am in a very competitive environment and I have found that they should not be ignored especially when you have a lot of competition for search engine placement.  I agree they are less effective than in the past but if you leave them off altogether I also feel you will be left not understanding why you don’t show up.  Many say they do nothing, but many times that is because they are the only game in town or they have not researched the words their customers truly use to find them.  One needs to realize that search engine placement is a complicated ever changing beast.  It is a daily job to keep on track.  Ignoring any part of it can turn out to be more of an issue than you might think.

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Bert at Harvey Software, Inc.
Multi-Carrier Shipping Software and Supply Chain Solutions for Internet Retailers

Also a provider of free shipping information and resources at Harvey Software`s Parcel Shipping Blog along with free tracking solutions at TrackingPage.com...

Hi Everyone,

This is the first time I`m joining this Forum. I`ve read all of your comments

and I`m still confused. I have a Service business,I`ve had my business site professionally redesigned and copywritten. I believe mega tags have been addressed in my business name businessbuilderscoaching.com and my blog,podcasts,radioshows are connected for additional content--now what do I do to get traffic to my site.I give a 2 hr free business health analysis in L.A., so I think I should get some who want a free analysis.So far- 2 months-zero. What am I missing? I know it takes time, so is it a good idea to advertise my site to drive traffic?

I`d appreciate all help.

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Leslie,your business doctor

Leslie, I looked at your source and META tags were addressed by your programmers.  I searched Google using your primary keywords in your META tags and you come up in the first position.  This means that you are right, this has been done well for your keywords.  The big question is do you think people will use the keywords "Business Builders Coaching" to find your site?  That is what it has been set to by the programmers.

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Bert at Harvey Software, Inc.
Multi-Carrier Shipping Software and Supply Chain Solutions for Internet Retailers

Also a provider of free shipping information and resources at Harvey Software`s Parcel Shipping Blog along with free tracking solutions at TrackingPage.com...

Leslie,

How long has your website been live?

This may be more appropriate in the website review thread...but, looking at your site from a SEO view:

While your site has been indexed by the major search engines you have few backlinks. You should work on getting back links...which can be as "simple" as adding a link in your signature here at SUN.

Your meta description is way too large - too many words.

You need to focus each of your web pages on two or three keywords/phrases. While your site has been copywritten.. it is not really written for the web.  People scan web sites rather than read them.  So, descriptive paragraph headings are important (incorporating targeted keywords).

Your site uses java script to manage your navigation. While this provides some nice image affects, it can hinder search bots from properly indexing your site`s pages. For example, your menu is not seen by google`s search bot. You do have a site map which is good, but the links on the site map are not SEO friendly.

~Roland

 

 

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Web Design | Best Beef Jerky | ecommerce articles | Follow vwebworld on Twitter