MoreNiche Affiliate Tutorials:
MoreNiche presents a guide on Meta Tags Optimisation
Meta Tags
Now if you are familiar with online marketing and have experimented with SEO before, then you will already have an awareness of Meta Tags and what they are.
In this article we hope to broaden your knowledge scope so that when you next come to a Meta Tag, you will know what they are, how they are used, why they are important and how you can effectively optimize them within your website to increase your search engine ranking.
So what are Meta Tags?
These simple pieces of information are cleverly inserted into the
area of the HTML code of your web pages. But here is the interesting part. Whilst the Title Tag is visible, these - like other pieces of information with the Tag - are not visible to surfers. The only thing that can see them are search engine crawlers.And although these Tags are invisible, Meta Tags are important as they allow search engines to list your affiliate site more accurately.
Now before you get worried about how to add these to your html, they are simpler to insert than you think. Take the Meta Tag below. If you click over the "Page source" from your browser menu you will be able to see what this page contains:
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Creating Successful meta tags, list of all meta tags, title tag limit, href tag, meta tag
analysis</TITLE>
<meta name="description" content="Successful Meta tags: What are meta tags? Meta tag
analysis, list of all meta tags, title tag limit, creating meta tags, background meta tags. This article
covers the most important aspects of meta tags in relation to website optimization or SEO. ">
<meta name="keywords" content="meta tags, meta tag refresh, meta tag optimization, meta tag
analysis, meta tag keywords, what are meta tags, successful meta tags, using meta tags, html
meta tags, common meta tags, author meta tag, alt tags, list of all meta tags, meta tags html,
meta tag description, about meta tags">
</HEAD>
Meta Tags don't necessarily need to be used within your web pages either. In fact many websites don't feel it is necessary to use Meta Tags at all. But at MoreNiche we feel they can still be useful if you know how to use them.
Why? Because they can communicate subtle pieces of information to search engine crawlers.
Why are Meta Tags used?
Their original purpose was to provide webmasters with a way to tell search engines exactly what their site was about.
By doing so, search engines were able to more effectively rank them within their search results.
But here lay in the problem. As competition between websites intensified, webmasters began manipulating Meta Tags to spam keywords, and as a result many search engines withdrew their support - Lycos and AltaVista included.
Through continual abuse, webmasters managed to transform them from being a reliable, useful tool into one that many search engines would no longer consider.
Saying this Meta Tags do have one vital feature. They can still control, to an extent, how their website is described and what pages should or shouldn't be indexed. A pretty useful tool for preventing certain pages from affecting your websites ranking.
Despite this ability, Meta Tags can not offer your website guaranteed high rankings, and this is not due to the Meta Tag itself. Even if you did it properly and avoided spamming, it wouldn't make a difference.
It is simply all down to their mis-use. Because they were harnessed as spamming tools, search engines no longer rate them as highly. In some cases they don't support them at all.
Types of Meta Tags
When it comes to Meta Tags, there are some that are more important than others, which you can still incorporate within your website.
Take the following:
The Title Tag
Now this one is not a Meta Tag as such, but it is still very important. For this reason we have decided to include it in our discussion here, to give you an overall perspective on the value of Tags.
So what is a Title Tag? All a Title Tag essentially is is an HTML code that details all the text that will appear in the top title bar of your browser. And being a 'title', this is the only place in the source code where you will see it.
A part from that, the only other place you will see these words or phrases is in the title of your page in the hyperlink listings on the search engine results.
Through this hyperlink, surfers will be able to leave the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) to go to your website.
Syntax for the Title Tag is:
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Creating Successful meta tags, list of all meta tags, title tag limit, href tag, meta tag
analysis</TITLE>
</HEAD>
Useful Tips for Writing the Title Tag
As we previously mentioned above your Title Tag plays a vital role in allowing search engines to learn what your website is about and where to rank it.
And this ranking counts, so it is important that you choose the right words to appear in your Title Tag and to be careful to put them in the right order.
They do after all provide a summary of the kind of content that will appear on the web page. So what do you put? The best description we can offer is to view the tag as a sales pitch. It needs to contain all the relevant keywords and phrases which best describes the web pages content.
Another aspect/phrase you could include is a mention of your product/service. You could even include the product name in your Title Tag instead of your company name.
Take for example the following. You have got a website that promotes a diversity of weight loss products. Instead of having a title of www.naturalsupplements.com, you could make your Title Tag keyword focused using “weight loss pills: a natural alternative to weight loss surgery'' In this one title alone you can cover several keyword phrases: ‘weight loss’ and ‘weight loss pills’.
And keeping your Title Tag keyword focussed could prove very beneficial. Especially as most users search for specific products when they browse on Google and not for particular companies.
Of course you can still include the company's name within the Title Tag, but we recommend you put this at the end and focus more on your products. They will be the most beneficial to your websites ranking.
Another useful tip for making the most of your Title Tag is to have your most important keyword phrases at the beginning of the Title Tag. Why? Because this helps to display your title in bold in the SERP (search engines results page).
Similarly, it will be these keywords that are captured by surfers when they come to bookmark your page.
The next step is to bear in mind its length – and what you include in it.
Google for example will only read the first 90 characters of your Title Tag. So make sure you use your strongest keywords during this 90 character length and use it to your full advantage.
Now before you start adding a Title Tag to every page of your affiliate website, there is one point you need to remember – not all your web pages have to have the same Title Tag.
In fact you can write a Title Tag for each page that thoroughly surmises its content, and is customized to its theme. But don't worry. Our article on Title Tag Optimization can help you to do this effectively.
Meta Description Tag
A Meta Description Tag is not that different from a traditional Meta Tag. The only difference it that it allows you to give a shorter, more concise summary of your web page content.
Similarly, the exact words you use within this Meta Tag are translated into the SERP and will act as a brief description of your page.
And this description is important in helping to convert your surfers. You see when a surfer goes to the Search Engine Results Page, once they have read the Title Tag of the page, they will use the description you have provided to determine whether or not they want to come to your site.
For this reason it is important that you take the time to make sure your Meta Description Tag perfectly describes your product and what you are offering, whilst offering at the same time enough enticement to make them want to take the next step.
Syntax for Meta Description Tag is:
<HEAD>
<meta name="description" content="Successful Meta tags: What are meta tags? Meta tag analysis, list of all meta tags, title tag limit, creating meta tags, background meta tags. This article covers the most important aspects of meta tags in relation to website optimization or SEO.">
</HEAD>
Tips on how to write Meta Description Tag
When it comes to Meta Descriptions Tags, you have got 2 options. You can either write one or you can let search engines provide one for you.
Now whilst letting search engines do the work for you may feel tempting, the sections of text they may pick from your site to use, might not always depict your website in the right way.
You see the way search engines usually pick a section is to either take the opening sentences of your website - which may be okay, if you have used your opening to summarise who you are and what you do - or they take text from the page that contains your most searched for keyword phrases.
Now whilst each of these could potentially work out in your favour, if the search engine focuses on the wrong aspects of your website, then they could effectively do injustice to your website.
So what do you do? We recommend that you write the Meta Description Tag in such a way that it instantly grabs the surfer’s attention, and makes the appeal of your product/service all the more temping to explore.
But the most important thing you need to remember when writing your Meta Description Tag is to keep it brief yet informative. Aim for about 25-30 words (a third of a traditional Meta Tag) and make sure you include keywords/key phrases.
Now whilst these keywords are important in determining how search engines define them, it is vital that you avoid repeating them. Yes you can mention them a few times within your various web pages, but do not put them on every single page.
Take Title Tags for example. They are all customised to their particular web page. The same rule should be followed with your Meta Description Tag. All the words/keywords you use should be focused on that web pages theme.
If you are still not sure what to include in your Meta Description Tag, don’t worry. Our Meta Description Tag Optimisation article can provide you with all the extra details you need.
The Meta Keywords Tag
As we mentioned at the beginning of the article, most search engines no longer read Meta Keyword Tags anymore, so if you wish you can ignore these section of the guide. But if on the other hand you feel more comfortable using them, then the following outline could prove quite useful.
We recommend that you use about 15 important non-repetitive keywords in this Tag. Once you have picked these 15 keywords, all you need to do is separate them by commas.
Take the following example.
Syntax for Meta Keywords Tag is:
<HEAD>
<META name="keywords" content="Keyword phrases that describe your web page">
</HEAD>
Meta Robots Tag
You may remember how you can use Meta Tags to specify whether or not search engines should index a web page or simply follow the links which appear on the page. Well Meta Robot Tags can do just that. They can give you this control over which of your web pages you want to be ranked.
You don’t need to use Meta Robot Tags though if you are already using within your website a detailed robots.txt file. This simple device does a similar job of blocking any specific indexing.
To find our more about robots.txt file, read our article on Working with the robots.txt file.
Index: this command does exactly what it says. It allows the spider to index that chosen web page.
Noindex: this does the opposite of the above command and instructs the spider to not index the web page.
Follow: when spiders spot this command they know that they are to follow the links from that page and index them.
Nofollow: this command does the opposite of the one above and instructs the spider to not follow the links from that page for indexing.
<HEAD>
<meta name="robots" content="index,follow">
<meta name="robots" content="noindex,follow">
<meta name="robots" content="index,nofollow">
<meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow">
</HEAD>
NOTE: You should only use one of these commands at a time.
Now if you are comfortable with your entire web page/ website being indexed, then you can simply choose to not include these Meta Robot Tags. Why? Because their absence indicates to the spiders that they are free to index all the web pages and its links.
So if there are particular sections/links that you are certain that you don’t want indexing, utilising these effective little tags, can enable you to control which get indexed and which don’t.
All the different Meta Tags we have mentioned above are the most popularly used ones, but there are other which are less popular that too could be beneficial to your website.
Meta Refresh Tag
All a Meta Refresh Tag does is allow you to redirect a visitor from one page to another or refresh the page.
The refresh side to this Meta Tag, can be quite useful if your website is continually changing and updating itself. If for example your website contains stock prices, this refresher tool can enable surfers to see all the latest features and be kept up-to-date.
The way this Meta Tag exactly works is that it is inserted into an HTML document. Once there it causes the surfers browser to keep reloading the same web page (or move to a new web page) every few seconds. The length is dependant on you and your web page, but it can be extended to longer lengths of time.
This Meta Tag of course is only useful on particular types of website, so be careful as to where you use it. In the past this Meta Tag has been abused by webmasters who have used it as a tool to “bait and switch” a user from a doorway page.
In other words, they have used it to direct surfers to the exact pages they want them to visit. So be careful.
To refresh the current web page:
<HEAD>
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="60">
</HEAD>
In this Tag we have chosen for the web page to refresh after 60 seconds, which you can clearly see in the ‘Content = "60" section of the code
To redirect the surfer to another web page:
<HEAD>
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="2;url=http://www.seorank.com/">
</HEAD>
There is one clear disadvantage to using a Meta Refresh Tag as a means to redirecting a surfer to another page. As the method is seen as a doorway page in search engine algorithms, search engines read them differently causing your website to drop in ranking.
For this reason we recommend that you only use a Meta Refresh Tag if it is completely necessary.
Meta Author Tag
This Meta Tag is only really useful if you want surfers to know who the author of your webpage is. Otherwise it is an unnecessary tool.
All they really include is the name, e-mail address of the Webmaster, name of the company or the Internet address.
<META name="Author" content="Author Information">
Meta Distribution Tag
All this Meta Tag does is identify the level of distribution your web page should get and how it should be classified as a whole in the World Wide Web. The Meta Distribution Tag itself comes in 3 forms:
‘Global’ – this allow search engines to see that your web page is for mass distribution.
‘Local’ – this tag allows you to focus your web page locally and to specified areas.
‘Internal Use or IU’ – this is a more targeted tag that specifies that your document is only for internal use and that it is not to be distributed externally.
Syntax for each of these different Meta Distribution Tags
<HEAD>
<META name="Distribution" content="Global">
<META name="Distribution" content= "Local">
<META name="Distribution" content= "IU">
</HEAD>
Please Note: only use one of these Meta Tags at a time.
Meta Revisit Tag
The common belief behind this Meta Tag is that Meta Revisit Tags can help specify how often a search engine visits your website for re-indexing. But this has yet to be proven.
Under this belief though, webmasters believe they can show how frequently their content is updated, and show when it is ready to be re-indexed by search engines.
Now whilst this capability would be highly beneficial to webmasters, it is not possible to command the re-visit frequency of any search engine. Not unless you choose to follow the PFI route.
<HEAD>
<META name="Revisit-After" content="X Days">
</HEAD>
Please Note: X indicates the number
List of other Meta Tags
Believe it or not, but the above Meta Tags are just a sample of the many that are available. Take the following Meta Tags for example:
Abstract Meta Tag
This Tag acts as an abbreviation of the entire web page, and usually comes in one sentence.
<HEAD>
<META name="Abstract" content="Abstract phrase">
</HEAD>
Copyright Meta Tag
This tag details all the copyright information about your page.
<HEAD>
<META name="Copyright" content="Copyright Statement">
</HEAD>
Expires Meta Tag
This tag is useful for search engines as it tells them when the content on your web site is set to expire.
<HEAD>
<META name="Expires" content="Mon, 22 Jan 2004 17:45:05 GMT">
</HEAD>
Language Meta Tag
This tag is language focused and defines which language is to be used on your web page.
<HEAD>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Language" content="EN">
</HEAD>
Ratings Meta Tag
This one almost acts as a censor telling search engines whether your site is for general, restricted or adult audiences.
<HEAD>
<META name= "Rating" content= "General">
</HEAD>
Affiliate Marketing Tools and Resources
Domain Registration
- GoDaddy – is the number one domain name registration service that we have found to date.
- RegisterFly – is slightly less reliable as a domain registration service but does offer cheaper prices on certain domain name types.
Hosting
- AnHosting – is renowned for hosting up to 10 domains under one account. Included in the package is CPanel and Fantastico; it is WordPress friendly, and has got many other scripts and statistics tools to offer.
- BlueHost – will host up to 6 domains under one account; is WordPress friendly and includes within its package CPanel, scripts and tools.
- HostGator – is a hosting service that has got CPanel; is WordPress friendly, and contains scripts and statistics tools.
- MyriadNetwork – is a hosting service with CPanel and is also WordPress friendly.
Website Editors
- Dreamweaver - is a professional HTML editor, ideal for working with our MoreNiche templates.
- XSitePro– is a great asset for creating small review websites for marketers who have got little or no knowledge of design and HTML. This tool can’t be used with free MoreNiche templates.
Photo Editing Software
- Adobe Photoshop– professional photo editing software.
Keyword Research Tools
- KeywordElite– specialises in keyword research features. This tool will collect and find for you a range of keywords that you can incorporate onto your website. It is used by most top SEO and PPC marketers.
- WordTracker– is probably the most popular on-line keyword research service available, and offers advanced keyword research and suggestions.
Search Engine Optimisation
- SEOElite– is one of most popular SEO tools on the market, containing multiple functions such as competition research to automatic link exchange approaches, plus much, much more.
Email Marketing Tools
- Aweber– is one of the best email marketing services to date. It works by capturing emails, creating multiple campaigns with double opt-in function and has a great partnership with major internet providers to ensure your emails gets delivered and read.
