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How to use Meta Tags

July 7, 2012

Knowing how to use Meta tags, descriptions and titles are probably the most important things for SEO within the HTML of your site. These two tags allow you to have some control over how search engines like Google display your website. What Are Meta Tags? "Meta tags" refer to specific HTML tags that appear in the head area of the page. Here is an example:

how to use meta tags
The title and description tags appear within the head of the page -  they will only work if placed in that area. From the standpoint of someone viewing your website, the meta description tag is completely invisible however the title tag can actually be seen by your viewers in the browser bar at the very top of your screen. Google places great importance on meta description and title tags when your website is being indexed. Knowing how to use meta tags gives you a huge advantage over your competitors.

How to Optimize Meta Tags

  1. Make sure every single page on the website has unique meta description and title tags.
  2. Make sure every meta title tag is no longer than 60 characters in length and every meta description no longer than 160 characters in length.
  3. Fill each meta description and title tag with as many relevant keywords as possible.
  4. Make each meta description and title tag describe the page very closely. This means don't just stuff them full of keywords; you need to actually make sure they all make sense and are relevant to their page.

Meta Tags That Google Understands

Meta tags have become increasingly important over the last couple years. When you have a simple web page with 20 pages or less, this fairly easy to manage. However, once you start building websites with thousands of pages, it becomes incredibly difficult to create unique Keywords and meta descriptions. This is where you have to start thinking outside the quadrilateral parallelogram. Now that you know how to use meta tags, go back and add them to your blog posts!

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