Hi Guys, In my last post, I have explained you why meta tags are important for getting the blog content indexed by search engines. You can refer to my previous article and then come back here. Choosing Good meta tags is very important for any webmaster.  The ‘Keyword’ meta tag and the description meta tag is what determines the position of your site’s listing on search engines.

How is Description Meta Tag used by Search Engines

Before giving tips on choosing meta tags, let me explain what search engines do using the ‘Description’ meta tags that we provide. OK, lets say I have typed in”enhanceblogger.blogspot.com” in google search engine. Here is a screenshot of how it appears.

Have a look at it. The short description which is present below the heading is exactly the same meta description which I have added to my template. So, we can say that google extracts the “description meta tag” and shows to visitors in this way. Let me show you another screenshot which is not SEO optimised.



Look at the description of this site. What do you understand by it? Nothing right? Its probably because the site owner has not added any description tag to it. So you now know the importance of meta tags.

Optimizing Meta Tags

Description Meta Tag :

The second screenshot tells you one more thing. Look at the last line. Its saying”publish your post . . .” . It means that the description of the site is not yet over. Therefore the visitor cannot get a good impression on that site, right? To avoid search engines showing ‘. . .’ at the end of description, restrict your description meta tag to a maximum of 100 letters. Your Meta Tag should be short and sweet. Tell them honestly what your blog is about , and what do you provide them, That’s enough because you have to limit your description tag.

Keywords Meta Tags

Lets talk on how can you get the maximum out of Keyword Meta Tag. Suppose that I search for something like “Blogger Tricks”, those blogs will be listed which have their Keyword Meta Tag as “Blogger Tricks”. Lets see how many results come out. There are About 49,600,000 results that are listed under the word blogger tricks. Lets search for something more particular, “Blogger Tricks and Tips”. Now there are About 25,500,000 results for the word “Blogger tricks and tips”. Lets search for “Blogger Tricks,Tips,Hacks”. Now About 21,700,000 results.

Conclusion: Use Phrases as keywords, not a single word. This will make sure that you have less  competitors for a particular keyword and the chances of you being at the top of listing will be high.

Include some words that you often use while you write posts. For Example: I write the word “SEO” a lot of times when I blog. Therefore, I have included it as a keyword. All Search engines look for relevancy between the actual content and the keywords that you specify. If they find out that you have simply included keywords which do not match your content, there are chances that your listing will get blacklisted. At the same time, include some keywords that are highly searched. Also make sure that you often use that keyword while writing your posts.
This much of SEO should get you higher in search engine listings and the traffic should increase. However have a look at google’s tips for good descriptions and keywords here –>http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35264
Drop in comments and tell us whether this has made any changes in traffic to your site. Also add in your views and tips so that readers can find it useful.