In your efforts to improve the search engine rankings of your website, you’ve probably come across some if not all of the following terms: metadata, meta tags, meta descriptions, meta keywords. So what exactly is all this meta talk and why does it matter to the search engines and your search engine rankings?

The Makeup of Metadata

No matter how deep or shallow your technical knowledge runs, there are a few basics everyone can grasp. So let’s put on our HTML hats and learn the bare bones of meta language …

Meta data means “data about data.” For our purposes, it is the data about your site that search engines use to index it. The metadata that you would use on a web page includes a meta title, meta description, and meta keywords.

Meta elements provide information about a page to help search engines categorize them correctly. They are inserted into the HTML document, but are often not directly visible to a user visiting the site.

In the mid to late 1990s, back before Google was a verb and SEO was an industry, the search engines depended on metadata to categorize and index webpages. Webmasters quickly caught on to the commercial significance of having the right metadata – they realized that monkeying with a site’s metadata would quickly and reliably lead to high search engine rankings and thus greater website visits. In this Wild West of SEO, webmasters ran amok, and started using not-so-legitimate techniques that falsely inflated rankings for their clients.

What the Search Engines See

But it turns out, Google (and the other search engines) are intelligent, constantly evolving and don’t appreciate being fooled. So the search engines started punishing the websites that practiced these unethical techniques. Robots also now index sites using more sophisticated algorithms. As a result, metadata has less impact on ranking pages today than it did in the 1990s, but it still matters.

Keep in mind that the search engines do not really read your content. Instead, they index by seeking out information from defined metadata fields. Can you see why this metadata stuff is so important? When you add the right metadata (such as meta titles, descriptions and keywords), you’ll increase the chances of your content being located in response to a search engine requests.

 

The Ingredients of Metadata

The three main elements the search engines look for are (1) the meta title, (2) the meta description and (3) meta keywords. Let’s break these down:

1. Meta Title

The meta title (also called a title tag) is a keyword-rich title that the search engines use to index your page. The search engines can also see your meta description and meta keywords, which assists them in indexing your page properly. (We will get to the description of both in a minute).

A title tag is the main text that describes a web page. Besides the overall content on your web pages, the text of the title tag makes up the single most important on-page SEO element. Because the title tag is what shows up for your listing in search results, search engines and search directories place a lot of importance on this tag when determining how to index your site.

The meta title is the most important part of your metadata, and probably the most important part of your web page in general: it’s where you tell the world what the actual webpage is about and what it does or can do. It’s how you let the search engines and web users know exactly what you do and how it matches what they are looking for.

Think of a meta title like a book title – it gives a good indication as to what is inside.

Where to Find The Title Tags

So know that you have an idea of what a meta title, or title tag, is and understand its relative importance, where the heck do you find these wonderful title tags? Actually, you will find the title tags reliably in two places:

Your Browser – Every title tag appears in the top of a browser and in applicable tabs. If users bookmark the site, the title tag is usually what shows up in the bookmark.

Search Engine Result Pages (also known as SERPs) – Title tags also show up in search engine result pages.

You already know this, even if you didn’t know what to call it. Whether or not you know HTML or even if you’ve never even heard the term meta title, you’ve been reading and depending upon them every time you’re online. Let’s say you’re online and you need to find what car washes are near your house. Type in your search term in Google and all those clickable results in blue? Those are title tags.

Writing Meta Titles

You don’t need to be a developer or web guru to write your own meta data, and if you do learn how, you could save yourself a good deal of time and money optimizing your website.

Here’s how to get started: A title tag should start with your most important keywords and be anywhere from 8 to 12 words in length, with important keywords toward the beginning of the title. The order of your keywords is actually important: according to testing and experience, the closer to the start of the title tag a keyword is, the more helpful it will be for ranking and the more likely a user will be to click them in search results.

It bears repeating: be careful with keywords! In addition to the order of your keywords, also pay attention to the number of them. It’s not a case of more is better, so don’t overdo it! Use only one to two keywords in your title. This is the MOST important location for keywords in a document used to rank web pages. Anything longer will at the very least be truncated, or at the very worst be flagged as spammy. And that’s exactly what you don’t want!

So, keep that as a guideline: 70 characters (about 8 to 12 words) is the maximum amount of characters that will display in the search results. Anything longer will show as an ellipsis – “…” to indicate that a title tag has been cut off.

Finally, don’t let your title tags simply become a jumble of keywords. That type of online real estate is way too valuable to be treated so carelessly. Your meta titles must be enticing enough to encourage browsers to click through your title on the search results pages.

Optimal Format for Title Tags

Here’s a few suggestions for writing those tags: Primary Keyword | Secondary Keyword | Brand Name. Or Brand Name | Primary Keyword and Secondary Keyword. For example, the title tag for the Coca-Cola homepage reads; Coca-Cola Global: Soft Drinks & Beverage Products.

One thing to always keep in mind when adding meta titles to your web pages is that you never want to duplicate title tags. This is frowned upon by search engines. So make sure every web page has a unique title tag. You can rearrange your keyword and brand name combinations so that every page is slightly different.

 

2. Meta Description

The second element of metadata is the description. The meta description for a web page is an elaboration of the meta title. The description is used to describe the page in search results.

The meta description is basically a summary of your web page. You should use important words and key phrases that you would want people to know about your company, like what your company does, for example, and where you are located.

Google uses meta descriptions to give searchers more information about your site. While it has no impact on how the search engines index your site, your meta description DOES affect the behavior of the web users looking at those Google results. A well-written, well-targeted description can make the difference between a person clicking on your link or on the links below or above you on the SERP page.

So even though the search engines don’t count the meta description in their algorithm, having a clean and well-written meta description can really entice searchers that YOUR site is the one they are looking for. As such, it can help click-through rates and visits to your site. And isn’t that what SEO is all about?

Where to Find The Meta Descriptions

Meta descriptions are the snippet of text directly underneath the meta tags. For example, directly under the meta tag for Coca-Cola we mentioned above is the meta description for Coca-Cola’s home page: A global leader in the beverage industry, the Coca-Cola company offers hundreds of brands, including soft drinks, fruit juices, sports drinks and other beverages.

Writing Meta Descriptions

Your meta description for each page should be 165 characters or less to ensure that the full description can be seen on the search engine results page. Your main keyword phrase for the page should also be incorporated into the description and should be toward the very beginning to ensure that the search engines index the keyword.

Write your meta descriptions by following the same rules for writing your meta tags. Like the title tag, the meta description needs to be different for every web page. And as with the title tags, watch out for keyword stuffing! Yes, absolutely use your main keywords, but use them as they occur naturally in the logic of the sentence. Write naturally, don’t force in keywords and make your message clear for the readers.

Most importantly, make the description relevant to the page it is describing! Neither humans nor search engines like being misled, so accurately summarize the content of the page so people know exactly what they will get when they click on your link and visit your page.

 

3. Meta Keywords

Of all the terms we’ve covered so far, “keyword” is probably the one you are most familiar with. Meta keywords are not the keywords that are in the visible content of your web page. They are only visible to the search engine and contain the main keywords your readers will be using in search engines to search for your blog.

Writing a Meta Keywords List

Your metadata keywords are simply a list of key terms that tells people what a particular page is about. Keywords are similar to metadata descriptions, however instead of explaining to people what the web page is about, keywords instead tell search engines. While descriptions are written in complete sentences, keywords are simply key words describing the content on the page so that search engines can accurately show people the results of what they are searching for.

In Conclusion

So as you can see, SEO is all about telling the search engines what your pages are about. Help them understand the theme of each page by using well-conceived, powerful metadata and watch your search engine results improve!

 

Directory Submission is the procedure of sending your website’s link to be viewed on different web or Internet directories. This doesn’t take up as much time as you would think to get your website out in cyberspace. All you have to do is send a short description with an acceptable title that goes along with each of your links to the directories. You want both your title and keywords to be highly visible in both the title and description. The main goal, if this is done correctly, is to have high quality backlinks created for your websites. There are tons of high quality back links by using this simple method.

What is a backlink?

 

A quality backlink is another link that links to your website by using the keyword or phrases that you have chosen for your website. It will also appear on a website that is using the same theme or a similar topic as your own site. Don’t let all of this search engine optimization terminology spook you. This is very simple.

How do you build a backlink?

 

Quality backlinks are a necessity to the success of SEO, but the question is how do you get them for your site. It seems simpler with on-page content optimization because the all the work is on your plate. You do the work and make the decisions. It seems with backlinks that you have to rely on others to do your work to make it successful. There is a half-truth to this statement. Backlinks do begin on another website and will direct people to your site but you can decide with the web designer other particulars about your website.

Not everyone wants to have a web master working on their site but if you let them do their job you will reap the benefits from the backlinks and your website will succeed. Don’t let this make you feel like you have no control over your own website. This is not the case. There are still many details that you can be in charge of.

The first thing you want to do when building backlinks is to find where you can actually find the quality backlinks. There are software programs out there that aid you in your search. Once you have picked out a software program, you need to enter the keyword or phrases for your website. The program will give you different sites where you can post articles, send messages, post a blog or add a backlink that is directed to your website.

Once you have options to partners for backlinks, it is highly recommended that you go review each separate website and put your content with your backlink connected to your site. It is also good to review the site anyway to make sure it is a site you want to be connected with and doesn’t contain material that is illegal or will harm your website in any way.

There are software programs that provide links to you for free. It might sound too good to be true but they do this because they need content for their own website. Think about it. You put your content on different websites you aren’t getting paid to write for that website. You are helping each other out. You are providing content for their website and in response, you are being given quality backlinks. Let’s not forget to be truthful and respect the other website. The other websites are also trusting strangers to add information to their site. Make sure everything you post on different websites are real links and accurate information.

Are there different ways to build backlinks?

 

There are acceptable or natural ways to build backlinks. There are also unacceptable ways to build backlinks. Regardless if the backlink came to you through the natural way or way made, any added quality backlinks should always be accepted. Don’t ever feel like the time you took to create them was a waste of time because you can never have too many backlinks. Here are some acceptable or natural ways to build links to your site.

• Get listed in different directories
• Post on different forums
• Post on different blogs
• Post in article directories
• Content exchange
• Affiliate programs
• News Announcements
• Press Releases

Here is a list of unacceptable way to get backlinks connected to your website.

• Inter-linking
• Linking to spam sites
• Linking to sites that are hosts to illegal content and subject matter
• Buying links in bulk
• Linking to link farms.

Inter-linking is when you link from one website to another website. Both of these websites are owned by the same person or company and essentially exist for the sole purpose of being a link farm. A link farm is a group of different websites that are all connected to every site within the same group. Some link farms are made by a person, though the majority of these groups are made through automated programs. Link farms are frowned upon because it is labeled as a type of spam.

Each search engine requires a way to authorize a website’s relevancy. One way that is used is to check for one-way links that are coming directly from related websites. Many times the actual process of building links is confused with being listed on a link farm. This process makes the actual backlinks useless.

Can you break down the ways to get backlinks?

 

As previously mentioned, there are different ways to get quality backlinks. Forums and blogs are a great way to get quality backlinks. If you are posting on a website that is highly respected, you will more than likely get a quality backlink. Unfortunately though, on a lot of these, the administrator of the site can edit or even delete your post if they do like the content or if it doesn’t meets its needs. There are some websites that do not let you post other links unless it has nothing to do with the same topic. They are trying to weed out the competition. Posting blogs is effortless and can end up creating some great backlinks for your website, so keep hacking away at it.

Content exchange can get you quality backlinks as well. When a website puts your RSS really simple syndication) feed on their website you will get a backlink from their website. This will definitely create a lot of activity around your website. Affiliate programs are great as well but they can be pricey. If you already have an affiliate program, this will be no big deal for you, but they usually collect 10-30% in commissions from linking visitors to your website.
There is also the less frequent new announcements and press releases. An expertly written Press Release or new announcement from an important event can provide you with a lot of visitors. This is always a great way to create quality backlinks, but remember you have to have something to write about.

Can you really get a quality backlink the natural way?

 

The answer is yes! The whole goal is to get people to view your website and have your website ranked high on each search engine. The main idea behind using backlinks is to help with the ranking of your website. The higher the rank, the more people will view your website. It sounds simple in theory, but working your backlinks the natural way is a little more difficult.

As mentioned before, you want quality backlinks connected to your website. This means is that you want the backlinks to not only be reliable but to have good useful content on them. It is hard to rely on that alone. For this to truly work, your backlinks need to include the same or similar keywords or phrases that you are using on your website. Don’t get discouraged, but this does require some effort and can end up being less that desirable. In the end you might have to figure out another way to connect to quality backlinks.

How can I get listed in different directories?

 

If you really want your website to stand out among similar sites, then you have to get on directories such as Yahoo or DMOZ. This is a must for two main reasons. One, you are able to get quality backlinks for absolutely nothing. Second, this is great and easy way to get noticed by each search engines and all of their daily visitors. You can be listed on each directory for free but it does take some time to be put in the specific categories of your choice.

What do I need to avoid?

 

We discussed early link farms and how they are not good for creating quality backlinks. Make sure you know the sites you are linking to and that they are of good quality. You do not want to link to a shady website. Pay attention to your links and also, who is linking to you. You do not want all of your efforts wasted because of something you over looked or because you get a bad feeling about being linked to a certain site. Trust your gut and remove it. There is no way to police the bad backlinks so you have to be on guard.