Using the META Title Tag and Other META Tags

by nick halmond on December 11, 2009

While the use of META keywords has been largely criticized, and is now no longer necessary, the use of other META tags is still extremely valuable. Namely, using META title and META description tags is great for SEO. You can significantly improve your rankings and your overall SEO efforts by using these tags, and using them properly on all of your websites. Take a look at these instructions for how to make the most out of the META title and description tags.

First of all, the recent news that has everybody talking is that the major search engines have announced that they no longer use the META keywords tag. In fact, Google hasn't used the META keywords tag for years. This comes as a surprise to many people who have focused their SEO efforts on this, however everyone can now put the debate to rest. Neither Google nor Yahoo! use META keywords to determine a site's ranking in the results.

Despite this change however, the META title tag for SEO is still used, and is still extremely important. This is the title that will be displayed when your site shows in the search engine's results, and it helps to tell the search engine what your site is all about. While the META keywords tag is effectively dead, you can still use your targeted keywords in other spots, such as the META title tag.

One of the best strategies for quick ranking and results with SEO therefore is to include a few of your best keywords into your META title. This will help you get associated with those terms, and will help you target some of those terms you used to just jot down in the META keywords tag. However, you have to realize that your title needs to be kept to a minimum length. That length is generally viewed to be 65 characters or less, because more than that will get cut off and ignored.

The META description tag is also still very important for SEO. The description tag is what will be displayed under your title when your page is viewed in the results of the search engines. This is another spot that you can include some keywords and phrases. The length for the description should be approximately 150-160 characters or less.

As mentioned with the META tile tag, the length is of extreme importance with the description tag as well. Anything more than 160 may be overlooked and will only hurt your appearance. So be sure to get to your point quickly, and to include a few phrases without being repetitive or spam like by stuffing one after another in there.

A decade ago it seemed that META keywords were the most important SEO factor. Then as time went on, it became gradually less important, and now it's not used at all. That's the way that the world of SEO works. Now, the META title and description tags have gained great importance to helping your ranking. So include them on all of your pages and use them properly to see great SEO results.

Check out RankFast to find more great resources on search engine marketing. You can also check out our advanced SEO services.

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