Web Page Meta Tags

What are Meta Tags all about?

Meta Tags are not the magic solution to search engine optimisation. Meta Tags can be very powerful in contributing to a well-optimised page/website (if used correctly).

Meta Tags are sections of information contained within the source code of a web page. This is made available to the browser and search engines, but will not be displayed on the page. You can view the Meta Tags of a website by selecting "view" and then "source" on your MS internet browser.

Search engines now rarely use Meta Tags in order to judge the content of a website. If the word "Disney" was used in the meta Tags, this would have very little or no use unless the search engine spider can find the word or phrase within the body text of the page. It is possible for a website to be blacklisted by search engines if you are discovered to have stuffed your key word section with non relevant key words.

Probably the most important aspect of the Meta tag section is the title tag. Many websites use the title tag to ill effect. A common use of the tag is to display the page name i.e. "Company - Home Page" or "Contact us". A far better use of the title tag would be to place your most valuable key phrases within it.

NOTE: Do not list your key words in the title and description tags. Listing key words is usually a sure route to having your website blacklisted.