10 Rules for Keywords and Description Meta Tags of A Page in Search Engine Optimization

1. First let's assume that you already know what the page is about and have already created it. This is not a tutorial on how to write web pages. Rather guidelines for search engine optimization using your meta keywords and description tags.
   
   Depending on the type of page you are creating determines how many keywords you should use. For instance a sales letter is typically 2000 or more words. In that type of page you need to describe all the advantages of your product and why it is the right solution. You will want to get testimonials and place them in appropiate places. You may even want to tell a story relating to how well the product has performed. Don't over do the page or you will lose your prospect to boredom.
   
   The product page (different from the sales letter) should be between 500 and 750 words. All you are trying to do here is sell a product. Visitors that make it to these pages probably already know what they are looking for and are only looking for specific information. Your job is to convince them that your product is the right one. Beyond that and there is more opportunity for your visitors to disagree with your pitch and move on.
   
   The article page should be at least 1000 words and not more than 5000 words. Okay some might say that 5000 is too long and others have said that isn't 1000 words aren't enough words to describe what they have to say. Too long - some say that 500 words is good for an article page. So lets look at this: a person who can read 10 words a second will be through your page in 50 seconds. Not enough time for them to soak up your message. A person reading 3 words a second will take about 2-1/2 minutes. Plenty of time for your message to sink in.
   
   The average reader can read somewhere around 6 words per second. Which would take them 83 seconds to read your 500 word article. Barely enough time to get your visitors comfortable. At 1000 words the avearge reader will read your page in roughly 3 minutes. At 6 words a second your reader needs around 3 minutes to read a 1000 word article. This plenty of time for the reader to make a decision to click on your most wanted response.
   
   At over 2000 words the average reader will need 5-1/2 minutes to get through it. This is stretching the limit of time most visitors will spend reading one web page. At 5000 words the average reader takes over 13 minutes to read your page. This is well past the amount of time a visitor will need to decide to click on your most wanted response. If your article is really good most people will read all the way through it. If not they are off to the next website in a flash. If you have more than 2000 words you may want to consider breaking the article into 2 pages.
   
   Use the right amount of words for a particular type of page. Not too many and not too few.
   
2. Primary meta keyword (the first one) must be an exact match with the file name of your page. This lets the search engines match up your keyword with your page and give your page higher relevancy.
   
3. Use only 5 keywords in your meta keywords tag. More than that and the search engines might think you are keyword spamming and won't list your page. The search engines rank your keywords in the order that they appear. This makes the first one the primary keyword and the second one a secondary keyword and so on. You should line your keywords up in the order of relevance to the page.
   
4. Use all of your keywords in your meta description, with the primary keyword as close to the front as possible. Definitely within the first 5 words of your description. The search engines don't read your description verbatim, but can find and match them with your keyword list. So try to use them all but don't repeat them if at all possible. Again if your meta description repeats your keywords too often the search engines might think you are keyword spamming and not list your page, so don't do it.
   
5. Meta description should be between 100 and 200 characters. It is important to get a solid description of your page. Less that 100 characters and the search engine may not find it relevant enough to list. More than 200 characters and the search engines may truncate it. Which looks unprofessional on your part. Truncated meta descriptions may leave searchers with the impression that your content will be too wordy and full of you know what. Too short a description and your visitors may think there is not enough information on your page and move on to the next result. So try to get your description just right, not too long and not too short.
   
6. Line up your meta keywords up too resemble a sentence. Although search engines don't read your keywords as a sentence verbatim, it should reflect well what your page is all about.
   
7. Proof read your content twice. You should always proof read your work before you post for a lot of good reasons like spelling, grammar, placement and paragraph distribution. Once your page looks great proof read it again with your focus on keyword placement and repitition. You want your keywords placed in your content sparingly. What? you say. Again over use of your keywords might result in the search engines thinking you are keyword spamming. That isn't to say you shouldn't have too few. My rule of thumb is 3 uses of a keyword for every 300 words. This lets the search engines know that there is a lot of supporting content for the keyword.
   
8. Put your meta description all on one line in your html code. This will ensure that the search engines reads it all. I have noticed that some search engine results leave off the second line of a description. That may leave out some of your meta keywords if that happens.
   
9. Never use more than 3 words for your primary keyword (and file name). People rarely search for a keyword phrase over 3 words long. Too many words in a keyword phrase and the search engines may not find enough relevancy to list your page in the results. Two words in a keyword phrase (and file name) is ideal.
   
10. Use your primary keyword in the first and last paragraph of your page. The search engines will give more relevancy to your page if they find your keywords at the beginning and the end of your page. Also your primary keyword should appear in the first 90 characters of your content.

Use your primary keyword as a text link in your page only once. Not twice but definitely once. If you don't want your visitors to leave your page make that link an "add to favorites" bookmark. On a product page this works great because you don't want to give your visitors the opportunity to go else where.

About the Author: Tim Koen - web developer, http://www.best-website-tools.com. Tool Time blog. All the best website tools, tips and techniques to grow your online business.

Domain Name and Domain Extensions

The most common types of domain names are hostnames that provide more memorable names to stand in for numeric IP addresses. They allow for any service to move to a different location in the topology of the Internet (or an intranet), which would then have a different IP address.

By allowing the use of unique alphabetical addresses instead of numeric ones, domain names allow Internet users to more easily find and communicate with web sites and other server-based services. The flexibility of the domain name system allows multiple IP addresses to be assigned to a single domain name, or multiple domain names to be assigned to a single IP address. This means that one server may have multiple roles (such as hosting multiple independent websites), or that one role can be spread among many servers. One IP address can also be assigned to several servers, as used in anycast and hijacked IP space.

Hostnames are restricted to the ASCII letters a through z (case-insensitive), the digits 0 through 9, and the hyphen, with some other restrictions. Registrars restrict the domains to valid hostnames, because they otherwise would be useless. The Internationalized domain name (IDN) system has been developed to bypass the restrictions on character allowances in hostnames, making it easier for users of non-English alphabets to use the Internet. The underscore character is frequently used to ensure that a domain name is not recognized as a hostname, as with the use of SRV records, for example, although some older systems such as NetBIOS did allow it. Due to confusion and other reasons, domain names with underscores in them are sometimes used where hostnames are required.

Domain names are often referred to simply as domains and domain name registrants are frequently referred to as domain owners, although domain names, technically, are leased from a registrar.

The list of Generic Top Level Domain Name (gTLD) Extensions

• .aero - for the air transport industry
• .asia - for companies. organisations and individuals in the Asia-Pacific region
• .biz - for business use
• .cat - for Catalan language/culture
• .com - for commercial organizations, but unrestricted
• .coop - for cooperatives
• .edu - for post-secondary educational establishments
• .gov - for government entities within the United States at the federal, state, and local levels
• .info - for informational sites, but unrestricted
• .int - for international organizations established by treaty
• .jobs - for employment-related sites
• .mil - for the U.S. military
• .mobi - for sites catering to mobile devices
• .museum - for museums
• .name - for families and individuals
• .net - originally for network infrastructures, now unrestricted
• .org - originally for organizations not clearly falling within the other gTLDs, now unrestricted
• .pro - for certain professions
• .tel - for services involving connections between the telephone network and the Internet
• .travel - for travel agents, airlines, hoteliers, tourism bureaus, etc.

The following gTLDs are in the process of being approved, and may be added to the root nameservers in the near future:

• .post - for postal services
• .geo - for geographically related sites
• .cym - for Welsh language/culture

Country code top-level domain (ccTLD) Extesions

A country code top-level domain (ccTLD) is an Internet top-level domain generally used or reserved for a country or a dependent territory.

A

• ac – Ascension Island


• ad – Andorra


• ae – United Arab Emirates


• af – Afghanistan


• ag – Antigua and Barbuda


• ai – Anguilla


• al – Albania


• am – Armenia


• an – Netherlands Antilles


• ao – Angola


• aq – Antarctica


• ar – Argentina


• as – American Samoa


• at – Austria


• au – Australia


• aw – Aruba


• ax – Åland Islands


• az – Azerbaijan

B

• ba – Bosnia and Herzegovina


• bb – Barbados


• bd – Bangladesh


• be – Belgium


• bf – Burkina Faso


• bg – Bulgaria


• bh – Bahrain


• bi – Burundi


• bj – Benin


• bm – Bermuda


• bn – Brunei


• bo – Bolivia


• br – Brazil


• bs – Bahamas


• bt – Bhutan


• bv – Bouvet Island (not in use; no registrations)


• bw – Botswana


• by – Belarus


• bz – Belize

C

• ca – Canada


• cc – Cocos (Keeling) Islands


• cd – Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly
• zr – Zaire)


• cf – Central African Republic


• cg – Republic of the Congo


• ch – Switzerland


• ci – Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast)


• ck – Cook Islands


• cl – Chile


• cm – Cameroon


• cn – People's Republic of China


• co – Colombia


• cr – Costa Rica


• cu – Cuba


• cv – Cape Verde


• cx – Christmas Island


• cy – Cyprus


• cz – Czech Republic

D

• de – Germany


• dj – Djibouti


• dk – Denmark


• dm – Dominica


• do – Dominican Republic


• dz – Algeria

E

• ec – Ecuador


• ee – Estonia


• eg – Egypt


• eh – Western Sahara (not assigned; no DNS)


• er – Eritrea


• es – Spain


• et – Ethiopia


• eu – European Union (code "exceptionally reserved" by ISO 3166-1)

F

• fi – Finland


• fj – Fiji


• fk – Falkland Islands


• fm – Federated States of Micronesia


• fo – Faroe Islands


• fr – France

G

• ga – Gabon


• gb – United Kingdom (Reserved domain by IANA; deprecated – see
• uk)


• gd – Grenada


• ge – Georgia


• gf – French Guiana


• gg – Guernsey


• gh – Ghana


• gi – Gibraltar


• gl – Greenland


• gm – Gambia


• gn – Guinea


• gp – Guadeloupe


• gq – Equatorial Guinea


• gr – Greece


• gs – South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands


• gt – Guatemala


• gu – Guam


• gw – Guinea-Bissau


• gy – Guyana

H

• hk – Hong Kong


• hm – Heard Island and McDonald Islands


• hn – Honduras


• hr – Croatia


• ht – Haiti


• hu – Hungary

I

• id – Indonesia


• ie – Ireland


• il – Israel


• im – Isle of Man


• in – India


• io – British Indian Ocean Territory


• iq – Iraq


• ir – Iran


• is – Iceland


• it – Italy

J

• je – Jersey


• jm – Jamaica


• jo – Jordan


• jp – Japan

K

• ke – Kenya


• kg – Kyrgyzstan


• kh – Cambodia


• ki – Kiribati


• km – Comoros


• kn – Saint Kitts and Nevis


• kp – North Korea


• kr – South Korea


• kw – Kuwait


• ky – Cayman Islands


• kz – Kazakhstan

L

• la – Laos


• lb – Lebanon


• lc – Saint Lucia


• li – Liechtenstein


• lk – Sri Lanka


• lr – Liberia


• ls – Lesotho


• lt – Lithuania


• lu – Luxembourg


• lv – Latvia


• ly – Libya

M

• ma – Morocco


• mc – Monaco


• md – Moldova


• me – Montenegro


• mg – Madagascar


• mh – Marshall Islands


• mk – Republic of Macedonia


• ml – Mali


• mm – Myanmar


• mn – Mongolia


• mo – Macau


• mp – Northern Mariana Islands


• mq – Martinique


• mr – Mauritania


• ms – Montserrat


• mt – Malta


• mu – Mauritius


• mv – Maldives


• mw – Malawi


• mx – Mexico


• my – Malaysia


• mz – Mozambique

N

• na – Namibia


• nc – New Caledonia


• ne – Niger


• nf – Norfolk Island


• ng – Nigeria


• ni – Nicaragua


• nl – Netherlands


• no – Norway


• np – Nepal


• nr – Nauru


• nu – Niue


• nz – New Zealand


• nc
• tr – North Cyprus

O

• om – Oman

P

• pa – Panama


• pe – Peru


• pf – French Polynesia


• pg – Papua New Guinea


• ph – Philippines


• pk – Pakistan


• pl – Poland


• pm – Saint Pierre and Miquelon


• pn – Pitcairn Islands


• pr – Puerto Rico


• ps – Palestinian Territory


• pt – Portugal


• pw – Palau


• py – Paraguay

Q

• qa – Qatar

R

• re – Réunion


• ro – Romania


• rs – Serbia


• ru – Russia


• rw – Rwanda

S

• sa – Saudi Arabia


• sb – Solomon Islands


• sc – Seychelles


• sd – Sudan


• se – Sweden


• sg – Singapore


• sh – Saint Helena


• si – Slovenia


• sj – Svalbard and Jan Mayen islands (not in use; no registrations)


• sk – Slovakia


• sl – Sierra Leone


• sm – San Marino


• sn – Senegal


• so – Somalia(down, still is delegated to Monolith [ml
• org] Philadelphia, an entity defunct since end-1998)


• sr – Suriname


• st – São Tomé and Príncipe


• su – Soviet Union (deprecated; being phased out; code "transitionally reserved" by ISO 3166-1)


• sv – El Salvador


• sy – Syria


• sz – Swaziland

T

• tc – Turks and Caicos Islands


• td – Chad


• tf – French Southern Territories


• tg – Togo


• th – Thailand


• tj – Tajikistan


• tk – Tokelau


• tl – East Timor (formerly
• tp)


• tm – Turkmenistan


• tn – Tunisia


• to – Tonga


• tp – East Timor (deprecated – use
• tl; code "transitionally reserved" by ISO 3166-1)


• tr – Turkey


• tt – Trinidad and Tobago


• tv – Tuvalu


• tw – Taiwan


• tz – Tanzania

U

• ua – Ukraine


• ug – Uganda


• uk – United Kingdom (code "exceptionally reserved" by ISO 3166-1) (see also
• gb)


• us – United States


• uy – Uruguay


• uz – Uzbekistan

V

• va – Vatican City


• vc – Saint Vincent and the Grenadines


• ve – Venezuela


• vg – British Virgin Islands


• vi – United States Virgin Islands


• vn – Vietnam


• vu – Vanuatu

W

• wf – Wallis and Futuna


• ws – Samoa (formerly Western Samoa)

Y

• ye – Yemen


• yt – Mayotte


• yu – Serbia and Montenegro

Z

• za – South Africa


• zm – Zambia


• zw – Zimbabwe

What is the deal with Meta Tags?

Search Engine Optimizers often have two different views when it comes to meta tags. One this is unanimous meta tags have definitely been devalued for use in most major search engines but you will find they are still being used as the description often times when your site is listed in the search results.

Meta tags were started back in the early 90's when the Internet was just getting its brand new legs and they were used to help the search engines organize the growing number of web pages. This was an easy way to get your site indexed and listed high.

Soon after unethical webmasters started to abuse the meta tag by either spamming the page full of keywords or sometimes even made different websites appear in the results for a completely different keyword. Gambling sites would stuff their meta tags with more commonly used phrases in order to bring their sites to the first page and trick the search engine and moreover the user.

Now obviously, most search engines have discontinued the use of meta tags for organizing their search results. Algorithms have become much more technologically advanced and they use a number of other methods for indexing and sorting. The big question is if they are no longer viewed as a helpful tag, why do some SEO's still use them?

Meta tags come in a multitude of different names and uses, so which ones do you use? There are four that I often find myself using when I am optimizing a site. They are as follows:

• Meta Robots:This tag is still widely supported and it simply tells the search bots to either follow the URL through or you can ask them not to index certain parts of your site for aspects that may not be relevant to your actual site.
• Meta Description:My favorite tag. This is your first impression, if you don't have this tag search engines will just tag clips of your index page including the keyword that was being searched for by the surfer. First impressions often is the difference between a sale or no sale.
• Meta Keywords:A controversial meta tag, some use it, some don't. I still thinks it holds a bit of value if you keep it simple. Don't add more than 20 or so keywords, as I think it does increase your on-page keyword density.
• Meta Content Type:This is recommended because you may find that if you do not have this tag it could cause display problems.

Now, most search engines don't use the meta tags as they did in the early nineties, but as I explained you can still use them for a variety of other reasons. There is of course a number of opinions on this matter: Some SEO firms are strong believers in the meta tag and other firms are strongly against it.

In conclusion, my opinion is that meta tags can be used for a number of alternative reasons and still offer you a great place to sell your stuff.

I always will recommend the use of at least a small number of Meta Tags, and if used correctly they will greatly improve your chances of more sales and higher rankings.

About the Author: Carrie Haggerty has been working in SEO and Internet marketing for the past 3 years. She has started her own SEO Firm and also her own SEO article website.