New Article - Meta Tag Includes

[thejenn]

Authored by: Jill Whalen

Full Text: http://www.searchengineguide.com/wha.../0320_jw1.html

A Snippet:

I am trying to develop a way in which to use an include to allow me to place the Meta data in a separate file and then use the include to place in the head tag. I have tried this using an HTML file with the Meta tags in the file but Google does not seem to be able to pick this up on the site map verify stage.

[vangogh]

Perfect advice from Jill for the question. I've seen plenty of examples where someone will use an include for the entire head of a document and then set page titles and meta tags with a variable on the page, but I think Jill is right that the person asking the question was thinking of using the include to have repeat the same meta information across the site, which isn't a good idea.

[bobmeetin]

I rarely use SSI as I develop with PHP. I think it would probably require more administration to use server side includes to get this to work fluidly, however it doesn't matter so much how as does the result.

With PHP you can set variables to be read according to how the file is constructed. I have a 'structure' .php file for each page on a website. also a body/content/include, .inc file. Depending on the page it will use php include to include the relevant title, description, etc for each file. i.e. an index.php file could look like:

<?php
$title = "home page for laugh out loud";
$description = "laugh, laughing, hilarious";
$keywords = "whatever - if keywords really matter";
$body = "index.inc";
include ("header.inc");
include ("$body");
include ("footer.inc");
?>

The generic header file includes all header content, doctype, javascript refs, stylesheets, test, etc) and most importantly a section to include $title, $descrption, etc.

The viewer and search engine sees a well-constucted search-engine friendly page with title, description, etc pertinenent to the page, index.php, services.php, etc. Aside from the fact that the file is called whatever.php, you would not necessarily know that it is dynamically created.

-Bob

[SoKyBiz]

I've been using includes for my head tags for a long time. I do however allow page level variables that the include looks for and if empty, use a default value throughout the website. This helps me provide my customers with the ability to be as creative or negligent as they wish.

In the CMS, the page information is stored in a database and it is called when each page is requested. This is a more advanced version of what I mentioned above.

I may have overdone it with meta tags (okay, I know I have) but they are exceptionally important on large sites especially for role assignment, internal search and overall management.

Want to see how over done meta tags can be? Visit www.MasterCleanFloors.com and view the source. I make no apologies for over developing the meta build, I think it's much better than under developing any day.

I do agree with the advice in the article though. Keywords have seen their time come and go. I still use them but understand their usefulness is limited. As far as the SIC or GIS information, that is from the client management database and is intended to be used with a local area portal and GIS mapping interface.