Small Business Ideas Forum

thejenn · 5th April 2006, 04:36 PM

Authored by: Todd Mintz

Full Text: http://www.searchengineguide.com/mintz/007216.html

A Snippet:

The theory behind Meta Description tags is reasonably sound…control the snippet of text that is shown when your website page appears in the search engines. However, there are serious drawbacks to its use.

Richey · 5th April 2006, 04:38 PM

Interesting read. I've always had meta tags and have done well on search engines for years.

St0n3y · 5th April 2006, 05:35 PM

Nothing wrong with description tags. I think this article is from the viewpoint of, "if you can't do it right, don't do it at all."

GBRD · 5th April 2006, 11:44 PM

Meta data is important and serves a variety of purposes. The article may provide a word of caution (as Stoney pointed out), I suppose that it all depends on the intended audience.

JakeJohnson · 6th April 2006, 02:01 PM

This is a very interesting article about meta tag. I agree that "description tags, like all meta tags, are worthless for improving search engine rankings".

From my experience, the way to increase search engine rankings is by link popularity, text link ads, and have more significant keywords on the first 500 chars of your site contents.

KevinW · 6th April 2006, 03:36 PM

An argument can be made that NOT using description tags is a big mistake. With the tags (which should indeed be unique on each page), you are controlling the sales and marketing message being sent in your SE listings. Without, you're letting google write your sales pitch for you in the SERPs.

QiSoftware · 7th April 2006, 09:11 AM

The author does not discuss the meta -- keywords tag. I am a software person so I know how important it is to have a clean, efficient way for programs [i.e., search engines] to locate data and then parse information.

What I am not sure about is how Search Engines prioritize different Meta tag information -- say for instance -- Description or Keywords Meta tags. Which is more important to search engines? Does anyone know?

Q...

KevinW · 7th April 2006, 01:22 PM

Qi: It varies from engine to engine. Google ignores the keywords tag altogether, while I've seen sites that have gruesome keyword tags (or none) get left off of Yahoo completely.

Safest bet is to include them all, but be VERY careful with them. Have them be relevant to each page.

GBRD · 8th April 2006, 12:02 AM

Meta data is used in a variety of interesting ways by the primary search engines. It is common misconception that search engine sorting methods are linear functions.
For example: <title> hit = x points, <meta desc.> hit = x points, etc.

Instead the sorting functions (ranking algorithms) are dynamic; unique functions can be applied to different documents.
For example:
Doc1 analysis includes: <title>,<meta desc.>,<body>,etc.
Doc2 analysis includes: <title>, <meta desc.>, <meta kw>, <body>,etc.
Doc3 analysis includes: <title>,<body>, 1st 25 unique terms in <a>, etc.

St0n3y · 10th April 2006, 03:53 PM

Quote:

Without, you're letting Google write your sales pitch for you in the SERPs.

Google tends to use snippets anyway regardless if there is a description present or not. But the description does often act as a fail safe for instances when Google cannot put together a suitable snippet for SERPs.

David Wallace SearchRank - Organic Search Engine Optimization	Old Welsh Guy Internet Marketing from Wales in the UK	thejenn Search Engine Guide - The Small Business Guide to Search Engine Marketing	StupidScript FraternityMed.com - Health, Illness and Wellness information for young people.
copywriter Karon Thackston The Step-by-Step Copywriting Course & Learn Copywriting Directory	St0n3y Search Marketing Results - Pole Position Marketing! Search Marketing Info - (EMP) E-Marketing Performance	torka NineYards.com: Helping Businesses Do Business Online	Karri snap! virtual associates inc. - Internet marketing services for the progressive entrepreneur.
Matt McGee Small Business SEM - Web marketing discussion for small businesses.	ChristineG Free Online Marketing and Social Media Tips: Social Media Simplified for Small Business Owners	Logan At Your Business - Forms & Online Help Free Links - Free Advertising	Debra Mastaler Alliance-Link The Link Spiel Blog
Crimson Fox Graphic Design and Brand Promotion and the Brand Design Blog