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SEO question

by Glenda Lange
27 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Are Meta keywords and Meta Description still important?
I am getting conflicting info on this. Some say you should have them to get ranked and others say that the robots don't take any notice of them.
#question #seo
  • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
    Glenda, it's not going to hurt you to include them.

    Too many people complicate SEO.

    SEO is simply giving the visitor to your site a quality viewing experience.

    What is that?

    Well, it depends on the kind of site that you have so there's no one answer
    that fits all, BUT...if you take a look at the sites that come up at the top of
    the search engines and study them, you'll see why they are up there.

    Take YouTube as an example. I don't know what keywords they use in
    their meta tags, but I do know this. When I get to the site, I know exactly
    what I'm going to get there. And if I need to look for something specific,
    there's a nice search box that I can use.

    Give people what they're looking for when they're searching for your niche
    or product and the SEO will take care of itself.
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    • Profile picture of the author reapr
      It does not hurt to have them. Google does not use the meta keywords but lesser engines do.

      It is a good idea to put a few keywords in there but don't get into the habit of putting all your best converting words in that tag as you may be giving your competition too much info. There are other off page factors that are more stealthy to get top serps on many words ... backlinks with good anchor text.

      Meta description should be written like a mini add to get clicks and conversions.
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    • Profile picture of the author Andy Fletcher
      Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

      Glenda, it's not going to hurt you to include them.

      Too many people complicate SEO.

      SEO is simply giving the visitor to your site a quality viewing experience.

      What is that?

      Well, it depends on the kind of site that you have so there's no one answer
      that fits all, BUT...if you take a look at the sites that come up at the top of
      the search engines and study them, you'll see why they are up there.

      Take YouTube as an example. I don't know what keywords they use in
      their meta tags, but I do know this. When I get to the site, I know exactly
      what I'm going to get there. And if I need to look for something specific,
      there's a nice search box that I can use.

      Give people what they're looking for when they're searching for your niche
      or product and the SEO will take care of itself.
      Wow. I never thought it would happen but I actually disagree with you about something Steven

      While it's fair to say that one of the most important things is creating a good viewing experience for your users I think your "SEO will take care of itself" statement is pretty misleading.

      There is masses of SEO stuff you can do (both on page and off page) as well as providing a great experience for the user. A great example is using properly formatted (X)HTML to mark up your pages and then CSS to control the layout. This way you can place content near the top of the HTML and navigation etc near the bottom. What the user sees doesn't change at all but it's a well documented "on page" technique to improve your rankings.
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael D
    The Meta description is what a reader will see when they find you in search engines. It is the little blurb underneath your url. To me that is very important because a reader is going to skim that to see what your page is all about.

    As far as Meta Tags are concerned I have learned that they don't matter as much as they used to with Google but Yahoo and especially MSN take them into account still.
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    • Profile picture of the author Angela V. Edwards
      Originally Posted by Michael D View Post

      The Meta description is what a reader will see when they find you in search engines. It is the little blurb underneath your url. To me that is very important because a reader is going to skim that to see what your page is all about.
      Yep. This is why I view Meta Tags, especially the title and the description tags, extremely important.
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      • Profile picture of the author Kurt
        Originally Posted by Angela V. Edwards View Post

        Yep. This is why I view Meta Tags, especially the title and the description tags, extremely important.
        Actually, the title tag isn't a meta tag. Title tags are a basic, required element of HTML, while meta tags are optional. Also, meta tag info isn't displayed by browsers, but the title tag is displayed at the top of browsers.

        Title tags are very important for SEO.

        However, description tags may or may not be, and in some cases, like I mentioned above and everyone wants to ignore because it isn't the advice they've read 100 times before.

        Another example of when it may be better not to have description tags is if you have 1000's of pages. You'll need a unique one for each and every page or you'll face a big penalty. In this case, it's far better to NOT use description tags than to repeat the same, or similar, tags across a number of pages....Unless you want to create 10,000 UNIQUE descriptions.
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        • Profile picture of the author Glenda Lange
          Originally Posted by Kurt View Post

          Actually, the title tag isn't a meta tag. Title tags are a basic, required element of HTML, while meta tags are optional. Also, meta tag info isn't displayed by browsers, but the title tag is displayed at the top of browsers.

          Title tags are very important for SEO.

          However, description tags may or may not be, and in some cases, like I mentioned above and everyone wants to ignore because it isn't the advice they've read 100 times before.

          Another example of when it may be better not to have description tags is if you have 1000's of pages. You'll need a unique one for each and every page or you'll face a big penalty. In this case, it's far better to NOT use description tags than to repeat the same, or similar, tags across a number of pages....Unless you want to create 10,000 UNIQUE descriptions.
          I understand where you are coming from with this Kurt. In my case I have 20 pages and each page is on different topics so I will have a unique one for each. My problem with what the search engines pick up is that my content is in the middle column of the page and the search engines pick up any words from my header and left column first. So for me I think I will need to do the individual descriptions or change my layout which I don't want to do.
          I appreciate all the info I am getting here. It is good to get more ideas.
          Thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author Kurt
    And here's the other side of the equation:

    If you don't use a description tag, Google will make up their own. If your page has the search querie keywords in the body/content, they will use this snippet of text to display as the description.

    Having the keywords included in the description shown in the SERPs can greatly increase click-throughs...

    So to me, it's 6 of one, half a dozen of the other. I suggest you use the basic tags on some pages/sites and not on others, so you can test for yourself different SEO "formulas", as things can and will change.
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  • Profile picture of the author Sami
    So the conclusion of the above entries is that they do matter...

    When the search client sees your listing in the search results, they (only) see your title tag as the link to your site and they see your description (effectively) as what you're offering them.

    Even if the engines no longer rank you because of the content of those 2 items, whether the search client clicks thru to your site is largely dependent on the quality of your entry for those 2 tags.

    I believe for ranking purposes, the meta tags are less critical now adays but they are still worth using properly as a contributory factor.

    Sami
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    • Profile picture of the author reapr
      Just don't let google pick your site description. Best to create your own and like I said make it sound like a mini ad or adwords add to try and maximize clickthroughs. You will probably want to have at least one occurrence of you targeted keyword or phrase.
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      • Profile picture of the author Kurt
        Originally Posted by reapr View Post

        Just don't let google pick your site description. Best to create your own and like I said make it sound like a mini ad or adwords add to try and maximize clickthroughs. You will probably want to have at least one occurrence of you targeted keyword or phrase.
        Maybe, maybe not. If your written description happens to contain the exact keywords used in the search querie, you're probably right.

        But if your description does NOT contain the keywords used for the search, you could be losing clicks.

        Again, if you don't use a description tag, Google will create its own using the exact keywords from the search string, if they are found on the page, which can increase click throughs.

        Another thing, if you do use description tags, you need to take the time to make them unique from page to page, or face a penalty.
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  • Profile picture of the author Glenda Lange
    Thanks everyone, this has been a great help. Looks like I have some work to do now...lol.
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  • Profile picture of the author sideserver
    Glenda,

    Short answer:

    Meta Keywords -> Not important.

    Meta Description -> Very important

    Reason is this: Google takes your page summary (the little blurb that a searcher reads about your site on the search engine pages) from your meta description. The better this is written, the more visitors will click through. If you don't have a meta description, Google will just randomly take a chunk of text from your page at its own discretion.

    As for meta keywords, it would be rather hard to argue that they absolutely don't matter, but the truth is they've been abused to much in the past (keyword stuffing) that google has all but ignored them in recent years, and their impact on your rankings is negligible. It is said that MSN and Yahoo places more emphasis on meta keywords, though.
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  • Profile picture of the author Glenda Lange
    I notice a few of you mentioning being penalised for keyword stuffing, which has given me a new problem. When I tried to work out a description for my main page, I end up with a list of keywords. This is what I have so far:

    Started as a freebie site for Aussies, we have now added more pages to include competitions, survey sites, work at home info and shopping sites. All products listed are available to Australians.

    Any suggestions?
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  • Profile picture of the author Fender85
    Some of the lesser search engines still do use the meta keywords tag, but I wouldn't put any of your good (ie, highly researched) keywords in there. Maybe just a few default "standard" keywords. Or sometimes it's kind of fun to leave "messages" for any unscrupulous competition that may wish to check your source code for keywords to swipe.

    As mentioned, meta description is still important, as it is what the searcher sees on the SERP. It is important to keep your meta description under 150 characters, as this is approximately the number of characters that Google will show, and having the ellipses has been tested to decrease CTR.

    Also, an interesting fact . . . Tests show that men are more likely to only read titles (which, by the way, should be under 65 characters), whereas women are more likely to read your title and description, so depending on your target audience, keep that in mind.

    If you're selling tools, then it's most important to have your best feature/CTA/etc in the title, but if you're selling purses, or something that appeals equally to both sexes, then be sure that the CTA in your description is strong, as well.
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  • Profile picture of the author shardul2050
    Originally Posted by Glenda Lange View Post

    Are Meta keywords and Meta Description still important?
    I am getting conflicting info on this. Some say you should have them to get ranked and others say that the robots don't take any notice of them.
    Glenda, meta keywords and meta tags are important. Google spiders read your page and because of these keywords and titles they understand what the website or the page is all about.

    It does help you in getting better and bolder SERPS (Search engine results page). But if its overdone it can suppress your rankings.

    It is also possible to rank higher in search engines without using meta keywords and meta description but, then it becomes much more difficult and requires more efforts.

    Hope it helps
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  • Profile picture of the author angilina
    The title tag and the description meta tag, these are the two tags that are still important. Google and other SEs no linger use the keyword meta tag. So I suggest you do not put the keyword meta tag in your site.
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    • Profile picture of the author USEO
      The answer to both is YES.
      Meta keywords are less important, the MD is CRITICAL (STILL)...

      The point is BOTH take anly a matter of minutes to have in place anyway.
      the key is to make sure they are QUALITY and not stuffed.

      5 - 10 keywords in MK's is fine.

      The page description:

      index page MD: should include your main keyword twice (my oppinion - proven).

      sub pages MD: include your main (index page) keyword once and your objective keyword for the page twice.

      This can be tricky if your SUBPAGE keyword is a actually a long keyphrase in which case: main keyword and page keyword should be in once each.

      Bare in mind Google SOMETIMES uses this in the displayed results so it's a bit like the text in you adwords PPC ads.

      You can use it to improve your CTR in the organic SERPS.

      Steven is right: Too many people complicate SEO.

      Michael D said this: "The Meta description is what a reader will see when they find you in search engines".. This as I posted above but Google only uses the MD SOMETIMES.

      what Google lists actually depends on the users search string. But often (say 50%) it is the MD.

      I see it like this:

      The point is BOTH take anly a matter of minutes to have in place anyway.
      Regards
      Aaron
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      • Profile picture of the author Emailrevealer
        I just made some changes to my title tags meta tags and I got a huge boost in both SERP and traffic.
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        • Profile picture of the author Chri5123
          Yes in my opinion it is a good idea to add them as it definately does not hurt and is good practice.

          Just my 2 pence.

          Chris
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  • Profile picture of the author jacstone193
    Approach your meta description in the same way as you would a PPC advert. Keep it highly targeted and try to include at least one of your main keywords - as this is the bait to attract your fish - as for meta keyword tags - certainly wont do any harm to include them - and could help considerably with some of the smaller search engines. But whatever you do don't spam them or use more than 100 characters.
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    • Profile picture of the author USEO
      Originally Posted by jacstone193 View Post

      Approach your meta description in the same way as you would a PPC advert.
      Absolutely bang on!

      A lot of people overlook this and just throw their meta sections together. Like Jacstone says Google (often) use the meta description in the organic listings...

      So all the PPC ad creating stuff applies to the MD.

      Aaron
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  • Profile picture of the author johnsamuels
    Do them properly.

    Meta description will still help with CTR on the search engine results page, if done properly.

    Meta tags still affect ranking in yahoo and msn so do them properly. To ignore this is to lose easy traffic.
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  • Profile picture of the author Triton
    Banned
    [DELETED]
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    • Profile picture of the author USEO
      Originally Posted by Triton View Post

      It would'nt help your rankings at google but may bring in considerable traffic from other serch eninges.
      There's no harm in having them.
      The meta description DOES help your rankings and CTR on Google.

      Like others have said on here DO THEM ANYWAY it takes minutes...
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      • Profile picture of the author Kurt
        Originally Posted by USEO View Post

        The meta description DOES help your rankings and CTR on Google.

        Like others have said on here DO THEM ANYWAY it takes minutes...
        No it doesn't. The description tag has no bearing on ranking.

        And like I said above, if your description doesn't contain the search query, having a description tag can hurt click throughs, as Google will build a description based on the query, if the keywords are found on the page. This is basic PPC/Adwords advice (contain the keywords in the ad), but for some reason, "parrot" SEOers don't want to accept this.

        Sure, if you only have 20 pages, go ahead and add the tag...But if you really want to get tons of traffic, 20 pages isn't going to do it.
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  • Profile picture of the author zoobie
    google does look meta description and it should be no longer than 150 characters. the meta description should contain information to entice site visitor to click on your listing. you should include keywords there as well.

    for meta keywords, some search engines still look at it e,g,Yahoo I think.. but don't stuff your keywords there.

    well just include them it will NEVER harm your site.

    try look around competitors esp. the top 10 and see what they've got on their meta tags and do better..
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  • Profile picture of the author samvarkey
    Both are very important...
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