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Are Meta Tags Really Dead?
Right in their Guidelines Yahoo Tells You that
Meta-Tags are Not Totally Dead and Buried
(The Below Information was Taken Directly From
the Yahoo Help File http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/ysearch/basics/basics-18.html)
Pages Yahoo! Wants Included in its Index
* Original and unique content of genuine value
* Pages designed primarily for humans, with search
engine considerations secondary
* Hyperlinks intended to help people find interesting,
related content, when applicable
* Metadata (including title and description) that
accurately describes the contents of a web page
* Good web design in general
Right in their Guidelines Yahoo States "Metadata
(including title and description) that accurately
describes the contents of a web page." By
Title MetaData they mean the text between the
Tags in your HTML Page. By Description Yahoo mean
the actual Meta Tag Name="Description".
So Meta Data at least as Far as Yahoo is Concerned
is Not Dead.
Let's Examine Some of the Key Points that Yahoo
states are important in their help file and see
how we can employ some simple methods to meet
Yahoo's Guideline.
Original and unique content of genuine value
Yahoo is looking for well written Keyword rich
Content that has useful information. Concentrate
on 1 Keyword or Keyword Phrase per Web Page. If
You web Page is less then 500 Words use a
Keyword Density of about 2-3àIf your Web
Page is Above 500 Words Use a Keyword Density
of About 5àTry to Keep your Web Pages under
750 Words.
Pages designed primarily for humans, with search
engine considerations secondary
Yahoo and Google are working hard to get rid
of those Robotic Page Writers. Your pages should
be fairly well written, It is OK to Optimize for
search engines as long as your content is Human
Engineered Well.
Hyperlinks intended to help people find interesting,
related content, when applicable
Try and have 3 or 4 Links to closely related
Content. It is ok to link to other web Pages within
in your site but 1 or 2 external links should
be mixed in when Possible. Make sure you use your
Keyword or Phrase in the Anchor text for your
Link.
Metadata (including title and description) that
accurately describes the contents of a web page.
Your Title and Description Meta Data Should Accurately
reflect your web page Content. Every web page
from your site should have unique Title and Description
Meta Data. Both Title and description Meta Data
should use Keywords and Keyword Phrases. Don't
use the same keyword or phrase directly next to
each other.
Title Meta Data
Keep your Title less then 80 Characters if at
all possible. Place your Title Meta Data First.
Place the exact same Title at the very top of
your Web Page Preferably inside the H1 Tag.
Description Meta Data
The Description Meta Tag should appear directly
under the Title Meta Data. Keep your Descriptions
between 100 and 150 Characters if possible. Your
Keyword Density in your Description should be
about 10àMake sure your Description accurately
reflects your web page. Where possible the text
in your description Meta Data should actually
appear Word for Word near the Top of your Web
Page.
Power User Super Tip - Where it fits use your
description within h2 tags as a Sub Page Header
Directly under your title.
Good web design in general
Books have been written about Web Design, Some
key points is to make sure your web sites is thematic
and pages are related to each other,. For every
page you create to target a Keyword phrase have
3 or more (as many as 10 related pages). Either
add new pages once or more a week or significantly
change current pages. Make your Web Pages easy
to crawl. Have a well organized Drill Down Site
Map. As an Example if your Web Page is about Real
Estate your Site-Map may look something like this
Real Estate Topics
1. Buying a Home
-- Your Perfect Neighborhood
-- Find that Lender
-- Hidden Deals in those FSBOs (For Sale by Owner)
2. Selling a Home
-- Picking a Realtor
-- Pricing your Home
-- Get Your Home Ready for the Sale
3. Investment Property
-- Landlord Tenet relations
-- The Perfect Lease
4. Commercial Real Estate
5. Vacation Property
6. Retirement Homes
It is Fairly easy to give Yahoo what they want
and improve your Page Ranking. Just give Yahoo
what they are telling you they want.
Copyright © 2005-2006 Mike Makler the Coolest
Guy in the Universe
About the author:
Mike Makler has been Marketing Online Since 2001
- More Articles by Mike: http://ewguru.com/tips
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