X SEO

by Jayson DeMers

Volkswagen has embarked on a new bid to capture an even
larger piece of the pie in the American auto marketplace, and Internet
marketing techniques are playing a big role in that campaign.

Let’s face it, if your company was founded by Hitler, you start
off with a public relations deficit that to most of us might seem
insurmountable. But Volkswagen (German, “people’s car”) did a
spectacular job of erasing that deficit with the Beetle in the 50s and 60s. The
company dealt with a threatened slump in the 70s with new models such as the
Passat, the Golf, and the Jetta.

Volkswagen’s current bid to maintain and even enhance its
dominant position follows a different strategy. It is not based on new models,
even though they occasionally appear, as do new generations of the tried and
true models like Golf, Passat, and Scirocco.

New models do not drive the current marketing strategies
of Volkswagen. Instead, the thrust of the campaign is based on using up to date
online marketing tools, like search engine optimization, and social networking
sites. These are turning out to be a bonanza. They’ve even used some clever SEO tricks to create
special effects on Google Images.

Volkswagen
And Proper SEO – A Lovely Marriage

A look at the site “Why
VW” (a site that was recently commended
by a writer on Forbes) will show how their campaign strategy works. The
introductory text uses phrases like “our philosophy,”
“celebration of … people,” and “everyone deserves a better
car” (a concept also dear to the hearts of Henry Ford and Der Führer, whose
leadership is a seldom emphasized part of the company‘s prehistory). The meta-name of this page, embedded in
the source code, reads as follows:

“Why VW? Our reasons are built on years of experience
making cars. For our drivers, their reasons are as diverse as they are. Start
exploring now.”

Keywords,
Social Tools

Keywords for what follows are listed under
“Values,” a buzz word designed to give the shopper a sense of high
purpose; they include “Performance,” “Design,”
“Quality,” “Environment,” and “Safety.” Of course
the first three of those one might find in any pitch aimed at consumers
interested in buying an auto. “Environment” shows sensitivity to a
more current issue, one that gives the buyer the feeling that he or she is
acting in good conscience with a Volkswagen purchase.

And of course “Safety” has assumed tremendous
importance for today’s auto buying public. The second section of the Why VW
page may be the more crucial one, however. It is entitled “Stories,”
and it really functions as a social networking site for VW owners. The meta
name reads as follows: “This is a place for stories about where we’ve been
and where we’re headed. Every ride in a Volkswagen is an adventure, and we want
to hear your story too.”

Addressing the user with an invitation to share is a
brilliant sales ploy, as is the use of the word “adventure.” Another
keyword and heading that shows up is “Enthusiast,” which is quite
telling, as the whole idea here is to create a group of enthusiasts for this
vehicle, much in the same way that ads for the Beetle in the 50s and 60s
created enthusiasts for their “bugs.”

When discussing the social
networking quadrant it would be wise to remember that
these sites and their
supporting technologies are not ignored either. The site includes links to
a Facebook site, Twitter, YouTube, Google+, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Instagram,
as well as a local blog.

Volkswagen has definitely entered the SEO era in its
marketing strategies, and is sensitively using social networking tools as part
of an up to date sales strategy. They’ve unquestionably “made it cool
again,” and their marketing campaign will be worth watching.

Be sure and visit our small business news site.

by Chris Warden

Local Search Ranking Factors

Google Places Listing

One of the main ranking factors in local search is an
optimized listing using some of Google’s own properties, most notably Google
Places.

Fill out the standard information first, such as:

• Business name
• Address
• Phone number
• Hours of operation
• Contact email
• Website address

Fill out all the information required. An incomplete profile
certainly isn’t doing you any favors. Your goal, above all else, is to earn
trust from Google so that they rank your site favorably in their local
listings.

When selecting your business name, don’t use your keywords
in the title unless it’s a natural part of the business. Google doesn’t take
kindly to spam in their Places listings.

Once you’re done filling out the standard parts of the
profile, the optimization begins.

You’re going to select a category (or categories) for your
business as well as write a description. Choose a category that is as close to
your target keyword as possible and feel free to add more than one category
(lawn service, landscaping, etc.) but don’t go overboard.

Next you’ll have the opportunity to select your service area
(if you provide in-home support, delivery, etc.) or decline this option
entirely (people have to come to you) as well as some other pretty standard
information (payment options, etc.) and the option to add photos or video.
Studies show that photos of your business (even just the outside of it) entice
more people to click than those without photos.

At the bottom of the page, you have the option to add
additional information. This is where you can start using some keywords.
Remember, don’t go overboard by adding too many. Google takes spam on Google
Places very seriously, and they might remove your listing.

Your best bet here is to provide a list of your services offered
(which typically happen to be your keywords).

Once you’re finished, you’ll have to verify that you are the
owner of the business by accepting a call from Google and entering the PIN they
give you.

Social Media

The next point of attack is to claim your Facebook page and
to start creating social media accounts. Social indicators are a huge part of
local search, and your Facebook listing is amongst the most important of them
all. Google uses social accounts to verify the information in the Google Places
listing, so it’s important that the website, address, phone number and all of
that information appear the same across all platforms.

To claim a Facebook page:

• From the page, click the gear icon and select
  Is this your business?
• Follow the steps that appear on your screen. Add
  and verify information about your business such as the address and website,
  click Continue.
• Facebook will then ask you to claim your page to
  prevent other people from becoming an admin without your permission. Choose to
  verify your connection to the business by Email
  or by uploading Documentation. If
  you choose email, you must have an email address using the site as the domain.
  A generic provider like Yahoo or Gmail won’t be sufficient for claiming a page.
• Click Submit.

Once you’re an admin, write your description and ensure that
all of the pertinent information is correct (address, phone number, website,
etc.).

After claiming your Facebook page, you might want to start
thinking about other social accounts you can link your business to. Yelp,
Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram are popular options, but
there are literally hundreds or thousands to choose from.

You don’t have to be active on every social site, but it’s
important to claim the account (or create it) in order to keep others from
taking it in the future.

Pick two or three social networks and start posting on them
semi-regularly. Popular choices are Twitter, Facebook and Google+, but you can
choose anything that fits your business. If you’re a photographer, for example,
Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook might be better choices. If you are a
contractor, Angie’s List, Google+ and Twitter might be your best bets. Use your
head and try to decide where your content is the best match.

These social media updates aren’t indexed by search engines,
per se, but they do provide a point of reference for your business and the more
updates you put out the more chances Google has to verify that this is indeed a
real, and trustworthy business.

Additional steps:
Join a small business or social media group on LinkedIn to find out what’s
working for others.

Be sure and visit our small business news site.

Studies Reveal SEO Analysts are in High Demand was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips.

It’s a good time to be an SEO analyst. Why?

• Studies show a 112 percent year-over-year increase in demand for SEO professionals with salaries as high as $94,000, as reported by Conductor, an SEO technology company based in New York.
  
• Earlier this month, Search Engine Land surveyed the SEO industry and found that 93 percent of respondents expected their SEO business to grow by the end of 2013. It makes sense, then, that 82 percent of respondents also reported plans to hire additional SEO staff this year.
• Last month, Digital Journal proclaimed “there is no doubt that a career in an SEO agency as an SEO professional can be an exciting and rewarding one. Stress levels would match the lows found in other online positions, while the employment opportunities in such a fast growing business are obvious … Mid-level strategist and management roles can earn from $60,000, while senior marketing directors can expect to approach six-figure sums.”

SEO Analysts at the Highest Level

What skills do you need for this profession? These are Bruce Clay’s standards for experienced SEO analysts:

• Excellent communication skills. SEOs live in a constantly changing space between marketing and IT, and have to communicate needs that cross the divide. Of course the best SEOs communicate in the universal language of the bottom line, translating technical requirements into the business benefits they serve for laymen business owners and managers.
• In-depth understanding of HTML, CSS and web programming languages. While SEOs need not be programmers, a sufficient literacy in the most common code is needed to manage client SEO projects.
• Strong knowledge of Google Analytics. ‘Nuff said.
• 3+ years of proven SEO experience. We feel that 3 years studying Google guidelines, interacting with search features and technologies,  testing optimization tactics and listening to the goals and pains of businesses is required before SEO proficiency is possible.

Develop and keep your skills up-to-date with our SEO training — whether you’re interested in a career as an SEO analyst or want to be able to optimize your own site, SEOToolSet™  Training can help you strengthen your skills. All Bruce Clay, Inc. SEO analysts take SEOToolSet Training once each year, continually honing their skills in the information-packed event.

The week-long standard and advanced courses are being presented this week in Simi Valley. The next time you can catch the full training event is here in July. You can also attend a condensed version, excellent for marketing managers, business owners and the C-suite looking for a intensive foundation setting SEO workshop at SMX Advanced in Seattle on June 13.

Search engine optimization is a rapidly growing field with tons of opportunity to learn and grow! We welcome the findings of these surveys and signs of growing demand for our professional SEO power in the bright future ahead. We’re proud to be part of the SEO education institution and look forward to continued evangelism for adoption of white hat SEO methodology.

Here’s the full infographic on SEO careers from Conductor:

Where do you see the SEO career field heading? Share with us in the comments.

Fast changing trends and serious competition has digital marketers chasing the latest and greatest tactics like hamsters on exercise wheels.

Good advice is both hard and too easy to come by. Search “social media marketing” on Google and there are over 1 billion results.

All the scrambling often means core skills are overlooked. In fact, one of the easiest things a company can do to improve online marketing performance is to stop sucking at the basics.

When it comes to optimizing for search and social media, well implemented basics are as good for search engines and social networks as they are for your customer’s user experience.

Here are a 8 fundamentals worth applying to your organization’s daily content creation, amplification and optimization process.

1. Be the Best Answer: Start by answering a few questions of your own:

• What does your brand want to be known for?
• Is that thing what your customers really care about?
• Do you deserve to be known for that thing?

Look at leaders and authorities for the topics that matter most to your business and observe the deep and meaningful resources they provide. Tap into what makes others so authoritative and incorporate those characteristics in your own marketing. Start the journey to become the first choice amongst your customers for those topics that matter most.

2. Win Friends & Influence People: People are social and so too, should your online and search marketing. Some social networks are better than others as stand alone communities for brands, but make no mistake, social signals matter for people and search engines. That means creating, engaging and promoting brand content on social networks to inspire shares and links from people with authority on topics you want to be known for.

Use social search and influence scoring tools like Traackr, Kred, Klout, Little Bird and FollowerWonk to triangulate where the influencers are, topics that matter and incorporate that insight into your content, PR, social and optimization.

3. It’s Not About You, Or Me Or Us. And Definitely Not Them:  With content for the web or social, avoid overuse of personal pronouns like “I,” “you,” “she,” “he,” “it,” “we,” “you,” “they” and objective pronouns “me,” “you,” “her,” “him,” “it,” “us,” “you,” and “them”. Instead, use more descriptive keyword phrases where social sharing widgets will copy your message and where Google is looking in page titles, file names, text links between pages, image alt text and in body copy.

Keyword use is also a fundamental that should not be overlooked. But remember, the priority is on optimizing for people and the experience they have with your content. Copy should flow smoothly and not read like it’s unnaturally using keywords. Find out what phrases your competitors are using to attract search traffic by using SEMRush, SpyFu or Keyword Spy.

4. Facts Tell, Stories Sell: Figure out why customers buy and create keyword optimized content that tells stories about how and why your products solve customer problems.

Talk to sales staff and ask them about how they are so successful and about the discussions they have with customers. Those stories are a goldmine of ideas for great content that matters to people who want to buy your products and services.  Content sourcing and ideation can be challenging, but tapping into the Q and A around topics that matter during the sales cycle reveal a never ending source of meaningful ideas.

5. Optimize for Search & Share: While a lot of optimization emphasis is placed on creating web pages and media (images, video, audio) around topics and even specific keywords that customers are actually searching for, it’s also important to make social sharing compelling and easy.

To do that, start mastering the art of title writing to catch people’s attention but also include search phrases. Example, “10 Essential [keyword phrase] Tips & How to Boost [keyword phrase] Performance.

Also be sure to include social sharing widgets in your content and experiment with the best formats and networks for your audience. Most of optimization is simply about making it easy for people to do what you want them to do. Finding and sharing your content is certainly near the top of the list.

6. Links Are Like Electricity: Light up useful content on your website by sharing with topically relevant social networks, through blogging and byline articles in industry publications. Find out where your competitors are getting their links by using tools like Majestic SEO, AHerfs or Open Site Explorer.

Do not underestimate the power of media relations and PR for getting into industry publications that also result in links. Whether through feature articles or guest blog posts, contributing content or insight to respected publications that also include a link to your brand’s social or web assets helps brand credibility, sends traffic and influences search visibility.

7. Tune Up Your Engine for Search Engines: Have your website audited by a SEO professional to ensure keyword targeting in content, technical friendliness to Google and Bing, inbound links and social shares. Pages that load fast for people and search engines is good user experience and good SEO.Web Developers and content management systems can be your worst enemy if left unoptimized for search.

8. Live the ABO: Always be Optimizing: Optimization is a continuous process of creating and promoting keyword optimized content on social networks, through industry media and online communities, then monitoring performance through analytics and making refinements.

Be sure to allocate resources for monitoring social networks (Trackur, SproutSocial, or  Sysomos among many others), tracking and evaluating web analytics and applying conversion rate optimization best practices to ensure your findable and sharable content is influencing action.

The blocking and tackling of online marketing may not be the most glamorous, by why leave so much marketing opportunity on the table with skills and tactics we all claim to be so good at?  Optimized marketing requires a solid foundation and if your organization is having difficulty scaling performance, then maybe it’s time to take a look at the fundamentals.

I think Optimize is a book that covers these fundamentals pretty well, so be sure to check it out.

What are some of the online marketing basics that you see often overlooked?

Gain a competitive advantage by subscribing to the
TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.

© Online Marketing Blog, 2013. |
Want to Improve Your Online Marketing? Master These Search & Social Media Tactics | http://www.toprankblog.com

In March, Google’s chief web spam fighter Matt Cutts promised that the Penguin Update designed to fight spam would get a big refresh later this year. Today, Cutts gave an update — keep waiting. It’s still a few weeks off. Along the way, there’s some confusion about whether…



Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

The other day, I found the very first web site audit that I ever performed for a client’s site, way back in 2000. The page load times were hilarious!

But it got me thinking about how things have changed over the years and how sophisticated web site audits need to be these days. From the conversations I’ve had, there is still some confusion over what should be included in a web site audit.

This prompted me to write an article What to Include in a Web Site Audit which has been published over at SiteProNews.  Let me know what you think!

In 2012, I was privileged to handle SEO for some of the biggest Norwegian e-commerce sites. This is the story about how I doubled (and even tripled) revenue for them by following a simple, easy, yet unconventional approach that anyone — even you — can implement starting today. At the…



Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

There are quite a few studies showing that companies publishing more blog posts and more content in general equates to generating more business than those that don’t.

I suppose if you’re starting from scratch, adding any kind of content has the potential to improve a company’s ability to attract people seeking to buy.  Since content creation is one of the biggest obstacles to companies realizing gains with content marketing, it’s no wonder that advice about how to produce articles, blog posts, infographics, white papers, and visual marketing has become so popular.

Which brings me to the point of this post. When looking for help with content marketing and content creation, there’s a difference between what one gets from a SEO agency and a content marketing agency. That difference is not so much about one being better than the other, but more about sizing up which is most appropriate for your situation.

In fact, it would be nonsensical to limit one’s options to just SEO and content marketing, so keep in mind this post is intentionally narrowly focused.

Many pure SEO agencies have added content marketing to their mix of services in the past year if not completely re-inventing themselves that way. This is the nature of SEO, adapting to the changing nature of the industry to provide current services for improved online marketing performance.

Starting as a Public Relations firm in 2001, TopRank has been in the content creation business (messaging strategy, press releases, case studies, newsletters, white papers, email marketing, etc) for a very long time. As we evolved into more of a digital marketing agency, those PR centric content efforts evolved into blogging, social media content, ebooks, infographics, video and other visual content. But we don’t create a diverse array of content types simply because we can. We create them when it’s the right thing to do for a certain audience to affect a particular outcome.

Therein lies the fundamental difference between today’s SEO focused content and what content marketers offer.

SEO is accountable to metrics like search visibility, organic search traffic and any measurable actions that lead to and result in conversions. The more content that can serve as a “hook in the water” of search results, the more the SEO can show an impact on the investment.

As I’ve been saying lately, SEO anticipates demand through an understanding of keyword popularity and content marketing creates demand driven by producing content based on the customer journey. Optimization is an effort to improve search visibility of existing content and digital assets as well as the creation of new content according to a target list of keywords.

Content Marketing is an approach that emphasizes the thoughtful creation of content for a particular audience designed to influence an action or outcome. Rather than keyword popularity driving content creation, an effort is made to understand the customer buying journey and to architect a content plan that provides the right kind of information and experiences along the buying cycle.

When a marketing strategy calls for demand creation, a content marketing strategy will provide for a holistic approach to content where ever the there’s an opportunity for customers to interact with it. That might mean online to offline as well as an intersection with other tactics like advertising, email marketing, rich media and certainly social media.

SEO is a critical partner to content marketing. Search represents a substantial opportunity for information discovery at a time when customers are actively looking for a solution. SEO plays an essential role for information discovery across the spectrum of customer lifecycle content. SEO assumes the buyer is firm in what they are looking for and that is not always the case.

Many companies are making a transition of sorts, from SEO and a focus on creating “more” content to a content marketing focused strategy that emphasizes targeted content mapped to stages of the buying cycle. Such a shift should consider a number of factors from the resources and culture of the marketing organization to a short vs. long term view towards online marketing.

Many SEO agencies have added content marketing to their mix and can provide resources for optimized content creation.  The most common form is to evangelize creation of more content. As SEOs mature in their use of content, audience targeting, content planning across channels and integration with other types of content that have nothing to do with explicit search behaviors will emerge. For now, that evolution is not as common as the evangelism of “more as better”.

When a company is in need of a strategic approach, a content marketing agency will be able to help define audience segments, map buying cycles and develop a content plan that provides for storytelling that is optimized for discovery, experience and outcomes – across the customer journey from awareness to purchase to advocacy.

When it comes to SEO and content, how do you lead your online marketing efforts? Do SEO and keywords drive your content creation or do you plan content according to stages of tbe customer buying cycle? Do you define content marketing as creating more content or have you created a content strategy?

Image source: Shutterstock

Gain a competitive advantage by subscribing to the
TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.

© Online Marketing Blog, 2013. |
What Should Lead Your Online Marketing Strategy: SEO or Content Marketing? | http://www.toprankblog.com

by Chris Warden

What’s Local SEO?

When the term “local business” is thrown around, it doesn’t mean the mom and pop shops in small town America. Local business is merely a term that means, if you search for a specific business in a specific area, you’ll find a location close to you.

McDonald’s is a local business. So is Verizon. These businesses are huge, but when searching for specific establishments in a specific area, it’s all local search.

Local search is just what it sounds like, local customers (or potential customers) searching the Internet for products, services or stores near them.

Traditional SEO relies on Google’s algorithm, which weighs factors such as social indicators (Tweets, Facebook shares, +1′s, etc.) and incoming links. Local search is largely dependent on the optimization of your website, where it’s listed and who’s talking about it. We’ll get into all of that in a moment.

Unlike traditional SEO, local search isn’t at all complex. It all boils down to 3 essential ideas.

1.) Optimize your business website for mobile users and local search

2.) Utilize social networks wisely

3.) Get people talking

This is going to get more complex as the industry develops, and of course there’s more to it than just these three things, but anything local search-related can be stuffed into one of these three headings.

With less than 50-percent of businesses even claiming their pages on Google Places or Facebook, you can see how even small steps can prove to be a powerful force in a world of business that refuses to adapt to changing times.

Local SEO isn’t one of our product offerings at Spread Effect, so fear not; we aren’t selling anything. This guide has the sole intention of providing you with actionable steps you can use to improve the visibility of your business with laser-targeted local traffic.

This guide isn’t going to make you an expert in local search, but that isn’t the intention. The intention is to get you started in this fast-growing field and to make you more recognizable than your competitors. The more you get noticed, the more money you make. It’s that simple.

Local Is Mobile

With the rise in popularity of smartphones and tablets, conservative estimates state that mobile web traffic is set to exceed desktop and laptop browsing by 2014.

Read that statement until you truly understand the importance of what’s happening. You’re witnessing a colossal shift in the way people browse the Internet; and it’s happening as we speak.

We’ve all fallen prey to the “If I had just acted sooner” bug. This is your chance to take action and be ahead of the curve rather than watching your competitors pass you by. Remember, the statistic claiming 2014 is the year mobile reaches critical mass is a conservative statement. It could very well happen sooner. Time to act.

According to Bing, 53-percent of all mobile traffic is local search related. That’s a lot of traffic for those smart enough to go out and get it. Google has a more conservative estimate at 40-percent, but no matter which number you believe, it’s significant and growing each day.

Why is Local SEO Important?

So why is mobile blowing up like nothing we’ve ever seen online?

Have you heard that statistic that more people worldwide own smartphones than toothbrushes? I can’t back this up with numbers (does anyone work at Oral B?), but it’s been a pretty popular talking point lately when discussing the importance of local SEO and mobile optimization. True or not, the talking point is merely intended to show the significance of smartphones and the developing world.

Now, China and India aren’t going to help your local business, so let’s take a quick look at the numbers in the United States.

The smartphone has reached widespread adoption throughout North America, but the United States is the first country in this part of the world to break the 50-percent smartphone to non-smartphone ratio. Sitting at 55-percent, growth is expected to continue climbing as “dumb phones” are phased out. With a US-based business, this is a number that you need to pay attention to. Local and mobile are the two key sectors that could just determine the future of your business.

What Can Local SEO Do for My Business?

In the search industry we throw around the term “targeted traffic” all the time, but this is truly the holy grail of online traffic. These are the people that are looking for what you are offering.

In the United States, 90-percent of smartphone users use their phones to search for local businesses (comScore). With an estimated 55-percent (Nielsen) of all US mobile phone owners owning a smartphone, we’ve already reached the tipping point. In fact, 66-percent of all smartphone sales are to those 18-29 (Pew Internet Project), a chief buying demographic.

According to research by comScore, more than 4 out of 5 consumers that searched locally followed the online search with a visit to the store, a phone call, or a purchase. This means 80-percent of people who find your business online when looking for something specific are likely to visit you to follow up on their search.

In short, the tech savvy buying generation is looking for your business. Are you capitalizing on this opportunity?

If you aren’t yet, you’ll be playing catch up in the near future. Mark my words.

Be sure and visit our small business news site.

by Stoney deGeyter

If you were ever going to tell a “back in the day” story about SEO, it would have to include a discussion of meta tags. Long before links were built, before content was king and before social was sharable, meta tags were optimized. Meta tag optimization is the original SEO.

But gone are the days when throwing long lists of keywords into a couple of meta tags could move your site to the first page of Alta Vista, Excite or Webcrawler. For that matter, gone are Alta Vista, Excite and WebCrawler. Today’s SEO isn’t the SEO of, well, your slightly older sibling. While there is still some value to optimizing your meta tags, it just isn’t what it used to be.

What are Meta Tags and Where Are They Found?

There are lots of meta tags that serve a variety of purposes, but for SEO there are really only two that matter. Strike that. There is really only one tag that matters, but we’ll cover two tags just so you can slap the idiot that tries to tell you the keyword meta tag is still relevant. But we’ll get to that later (keywords, not the slapping).

Meta Description Tag

The meta description is intended to be a short summary of the content of a web page. Where the title tag is very limited, a meta description gives you a bit more space to summarize each page. Think of your meta description as a web page’s 10-second elevator pitch – that is, if your web page was in an elevator and someone asked it what it does for a living.

The description itself is encased in the meta code, found in your page’s <head> section of your code:

<head>
<meta name="description" content="This is your page description. Be specific and succinct so your visitors know what your page is about."/>
</head>

Meta Keyword Tag

The meta keyword tag is was intended to be a way to tell the search engines which keywords your page should rank for. Imagine SEO being so easy as telling Google, “Hey, rank this page for ‘mortgage broker,’” and Google replies, “As you wish.” Back in the day, keyword meta tags were filled with long lists of keywords as “SEOs” tried to work in ever possible keyword they want to rank for, regardless of the particular relevance for that page.

Like the meta description, the keywords are encased in the meta code, found in your page’s <head> section of your code:

<head>
<meta name="description" content="..."/>
<meta name="keywords" content="this, is, what, a, meta, keyword, tag, often, looks, like, some, people, use, commas, and, a, space, between, words, some,people,don't,use,a,comma,but,no,space,between,words, and some people use just a space without commas between words"/>
</head>

How and Where the Meta Tags Are Displayed

Meta Description Tag

The meta description tag frequently accompanies that title tag in the search engine results pages. With the page’s title generally being the clickable link, the meta description falls below that, providing additional information for the searcher. Highlighted below are three examples of meta description tags in the search results.

Google is pretty inconsistent in how, or if, it displays the meta tag in the search results. In the first image above you can see pretty much the full description displayed. In the second example you can see what happens when the meta description is too long to fit. Finally, in the third image, Google has chosen to only display the first line of the meta description and then filled the remainder of the space with information it assumes is relevant to the searcher. (I would take issue with this assumption!)

Meta Keyword Tag

The image below shows how searchers and visitors see your meta keyword tag:

Oh, wait. They don’t see it. Ever.

How You Benefit From Good Meta Tags

Unfortunately, neither the meta description or meta keyword tag do anything to help improve your search engine rankings. Both of these tags are completely ignored when it comes to Google’s ranking algorithm. Some suggest that Bing still use these tags, but the degree of value they add to improving your rankings is pretty minimal.

Without any ranking impact, what good are these tags? It’s all in the display. And since only the meta description tag is displayed anywhere, that means, it’s the only tag that really provides you any genuine benefit.

The displayed portion of the meta description in the search results is instrumental in increasing click thru rate from the search results to your website. Think of it as the “assist” to the title tag. Where the title is shorter and can’t be as detailed, the meta description provides a bit more context for the searcher to see what information they will get on the page.

Many searchers (I use the word “many” figuratively, as I’m just making crap up, assuming there are more people out there like me) will often place more prominence on the description information than the title info. Since the title is often optimized for the main phrase for the page, the meta description will provide more “long tail” context for that phrase that the title cannot be optimized for. This gives the searcher a broader perspective of the page.

Since you’ll never know how much of the meta description will be displayed in the search results (it can vary for each keyword searched), you want to maximize the first several words. In the third example above you can see that only the first handful of words is displayed. Don’t miss an opportunity to get your message across by fluffing up content in the front of your meta description. Get to the point.

There are also some instances when no meta description at all will serve you better. When no meta description is available the search engines will often resort to displaying a snippet of text that uses your keywords pulled from the page. If your page has a lot of text, say 2000+ words that covers a wider swath of content, you may be better off letting Google pull the snippet based on the search. This will increase your likelihood of the actual search terms showing up in the snippet (your meta description can’t fit them all), which increases the likelihood that the searcher will find your result relevant to their query.

How to Craft Good Meta Tags

Meta Keyword Tag

Crafting a good meta keyword tag isn’t rocket science. Since it’s a 99.9% useless tag for external search engines, you can leave it off the page all together. Putting your keywords into the meta tag is like advertising to search engines and your competitors that you’ve optimize the page for those keywords. However, since some sites use this tag for internal site search, there can be some value for including it.

Don’t waste too much time trying to figure out how best to create a keyword tag. Commas, spaces, length, context, phrases or whatever doesn’t really matter. As long as your internal search (and supposedly Bing) can read the words, you’re in good shape.

Meta Description Tag

Your meta description tag requires a bit more work. Remember, this (usually) shows up in the search results so you want to make it count for clicks, even if it doesn’t count for rankings. To write a good meta description there are a few ground rules to follow:

150 Characters: Google will display up to about 150 characters of your meta description. This is almost 60% more space than the title tag allows, giving you the opportunity to include more keywords and/or calls to action.

Use Keywords Early: Since it’s possible that your meta description will be severely truncated, you want to get your keywords as near to the front as possible. Feel free to add extended qualifiers and keyword variations throughout, as good sentence structure allows. Don’t stuff it with keywords, but instead go after some longer-tail words that might be part of any search phrase.

Unique for Each Page: If you are writing a meta description tag for each page (and you should), it should be unique. Don’t be lazy and copy/paste the same meta description from page to page. Write something that is relevant for that page only, even if the page’s content is similar to other pages. Either way, create a description that speaks to the content of the page that isn’t duplicated anywhere else.

Be Compelling: Above all else, your meta description should be a compelling statement. Use proper sentence structure rather than trying to throw in as many keywords as possible. It should read well and, ultimately, entice the visitor to want to click into your site. The better it reads, the more searchers will click, if the information matches their search intent.

While crafting a great keyword tag is impossible (like having a great appendix – ultimately it has no purpose and nobody cares if it’s there until something goes horribly awry), crafting a good meta description tag can be the difference between being noticed and getting overlooked as the searcher clicks on your competitor’s results. Crafting a good tag should take about 5 minutes per page, and it’s well worth the time.

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