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Search Engine Articles
Creating a Meta Description
Tag
by Jill Whalen (The Web Whiz) Written March 2000
The words placed within the Meta Description Tag can help a page to rank high in
the search results.
The meta description tag is a snippet of HTML code that belongs inside the
"Head" "/Head" section of a Web page. It usually is placed after the title tag
and before the meta keyword tag.
The proper syntax for this HTML tag is:
<META NAME="Description" CONTENT="Your descriptive sentence or two goes
here.">
The Purpose of the Meta Description Tag The purpose of this tag is twofold. The
words placed within this tag are given some weight with most search engines and
can help a page to rank high in the search results for these particular words.
Just as important, the words placed in this tag appear under the title in a
search engine's list of results (in most search engines).
If no information is supplied for this tag, or this tag is omitted from the HTML
code of a Web page, the search engines will often use the first words that
appear on the Web page as the description of the site that appears on search
results pages. You've probably seen a search results page with some of the
results that look like this:
"Joe's Motor Homes" — [home] [next page] [more info] [links]
The search result looks like that because Joe neglected to put a meta
description tag in his HTML code. The search engine picked up the first words on
the page, which happened to be some navigational links. As you can see, not only
does this look bad, but it doesn't give searchers much information to go by to
know whether or not they should click into this site. I know that I personally
tend to skip over results that look like this and click on the next link that
has some more relevant information describing what is on that particular page.
How to Create Killer Meta Description Tags Because this tag serves two purposes,
it must be thought about differently than the title tag and meta keyword tag. I
use both of those tags strictly for high search engine results rankings, but the
meta description tag must also be thought of as a marketing tool along with
being a vehicle for high rankings. It should definitely utilize the important
keywords for the page, yet it should also be written in such a way that it will
entice people to click on the link and visit your site.
If you've taken my previous advice (from past articles) and had a professional
Internet copywriter write the copy for your Web site, you can often take an
important descriptive sentence or two from the copy and place it in the meta
description tag. Even if the page wasn't professionally written, you can still
probably find a line or two that will work for this purpose. Some people
recommend using the first line of text on your page if you're stumped as to what
to use. If you have an appropriate first line, then that can certainly work
fine.
I don't believe the search engines give this tag nearly as much weight as they
give the title tag. However, I do feel that some engines do index the words in
this tag, and therefore it is important to get some keywords into it. I have
also heard that the first words in this tag are often given more weight than
later words. Because of this I put the important keywords first. I also usually
try to use the same first words that I've used in my title tag as the first
words in my meta description tag whenever possible. I usually limit this tag to
one good descriptive sentence, although I have occasionally used two sentences
if they're fairly short. Generally, most engines will index approximately 200
characters of the meta description tag. The longest ones I've seen have been in
HotBot. I try to not repeat words in this tag; however, I do use various forms
of words in this tag, i.e., plural/singular, "ed" or "ing" forms of words, and
that sort of thing. I always make sure this tag is an actual sentence, not
simply a list of keywords.
If you create a good meta description tag, you can often use it as the
description you enter in search engine directories such as Yahoo!, LookSmart,
and the Open Directory.
Contact Jill Whalen by e-mail at jill@highrankings.com, or by phone at
508-309-3037.
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Jill Whalen of High Rankings is an internationally recognized
search engine optimization consultant
and editor of the free weekly High Rankings Advisor
search engine marketing
newsletter
She specializes in search engine optimization, SEO consultations and seminars.
Jill's handbook, "The
Nitty-gritty of Writing for the Search Engines" teaches business owners how
and where to place relevant keyword phrases on their Web sites so that they make
sense to users and gain high rankings in the major search engines.
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