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"Do It Yourself" SEO Plans |
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About the author: |
Tiby Richards is the Director of Sales at
VectorInter.Net/Australia.
He still has his "first" TAG.
It was sewn into his underwear by his mum, before he went off to summer camp as a young lad. To this day, He's still embarassed about falling out of the canoe, and the campfire "incident".
Send any questions or comments about HTML tags to TL1.AU@VectorInter.Net
Read about "How things work" in the VectorInter.Net newsletter archives.
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Guest Speaker Opportunities |
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We frequenly receive requests to speak at various charitable and business functions, in addition to our industry appearances.
The VectorInter.Net staff have presentations, on many topics, that we use on these occasions. We enjoy doing "career days" for school children and business association "lunches". These short talks are
done at no charge, as part of our commitment to education and growing the communities we live and work in.
We design staff training to fit your specific needs "on-site", or bring seminars to your convention program. The
retainers for these events is very reasonable.
Please E-mail your request to the office nearest you. Visit the contact us page of
our website. VectorInter.Net
has offices in Tampa, FL. USA, in Sydney, NSW. Australia, and in Bonn, Germany.
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Vanity E-mail addresses |
Looking for a relatively easy way to project a more professional image?
Use web site hosting services that include matching "vanity" e-mail.
When you use the very plain BusinessName@Hotmail.com or
BusinessName@AOL.com it gives the impression you are working from a closet at home
(even if you really are).
Build the credibility of your business and look like a web professional with an address that looks like You@YourDomainName.com.
VectorInter.Net has several value priced web site hosting options for small business and "home based" web site operators.
Every choice always includes FREE matching Email.
Have questions?
E-mail info@VectorInter.Net
Yes, you can also reach us at
VectorInterNet@HotMail.com
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As with many other scientific subjects, there is a lot of unnecessary mystery surrounding
the use of Meta Tags and Keywords on web pages. These small strings of computer code are nothing more than
specialized information inserted into the transparent "head" portion of a HTML web page. Search engines "look" at these information files to determine the content of
your web page, and therefore determine where your pages should be listed in its directory
of all "known" web sites. If your web pages are absent these Meta Tags, the ability of a
potential customer to find you is severely impeded. There are a number of meta tags, but
the most important ones are the < TITLE > Tag, the < DESCRIPTION > Tag and the < KEYWORDS > Tag. Any web site without these minimal HTML tags is starting the race
down the information super highway, in last place. Don’t make your marketing and
promotion plans work overtime. With a little planning and forethought, you can build
your own Meta Tags. Very simply, Meta Tags are a collection of "Keywords", those
content words and phrases, that most frequently populate your web page and best
describe each pages content. Search engines send out exploratory software programs that
roam the internet cataloging every web site and web page they can find. These "spiders"
only see HTML, and other computer code. ( "world wide web" and "spiders", get it? Who says computer geeks don’t have a sense of humor.) Spiders have no intelligence or
editorial skills. You must help them find your pages and then make it easy to correctly
catalog your pages. These are the basics of Search Engine Optimization. The biggest
mistake that "beginner" web page designers make is leaving the default Tags ( i.e.: home
page, new page, etc ) generated by the web page building software. FrontPage is
notorious for doing this. It is not difficult to go in and customize the Tags of each web
page. Most amateur or "Do It Yourself" webmasters either forget or don’t understand the
importance of Tags.
When you are ready to start, Follow the step by step process professional web site
designers use in creating new web sites. First, Review the entire site project and sketch
an outline before the first line of HTML code is written. Before any page scripts or search
engine optimization tasks can begin, it's necessary to conduct a bit of Keyword research.
What are the strategic words and phrases that searchers use to find products like yours?
If you are selling cameras, the Keywords could be the obvious: camera, cameras, film,
flash accessories, tripods, and the like, but better Keywords could be the specific brand
names and model numbers of the items you sell. Which potential customer looks "ready
to buy"? The search engine query of #1 is: > "cameras, info, on sale" or #2 > "Nikon
D100 digital camera on sale". If my store sold cameras, I want potential customer #2 on
my web site NOW! Using the most specific Keywords matching your products and
services will lead to better positioning in the search engine data base and visitor
"click-thru" at the query results page.
Once we know the "best" Keywords, we will use them in both the visible web page text
called "copy", ( a term from the early days of newspaper publishing) and in the
non-visible HTML code ( the < TITLE >, < DESCRIPTION >, and the < KEYWORDS > tags I mentioned).
The selection of the most productive words and phrases, coupled with skillful
copywriting in using these same words, is what will make your web site attractive to both
search engines and visitors. Choose your words carefully in the planning of each web
page. Once your visible copy is written, it's easy to create the meta tags Web surfers are
usually looking for specific information and have short attention spans. They're thinking
"What's in it for me?" and aren't interested in overdone sales pitches or flowery company
profiles. They may want to know more about the company later, but the first order of
business is to find the information they want or to purchase a product they need. Write
the copy from a customer viewpoint, then imbed your search terms strategically into the
text. Every web page should focus on the benefits of your products and services. If
descriptions for a product or its features are long, use teaser copy and a hyperlink to a
new page with the complete information. This keeps the copy short on your main pages,
so visitors remain focused. The details are just a click away, If needed. Creating a new
page for each topic or product you sell may take more time, but pays off in customer
traffic. Your strategic Keywords and phrases must be on each page, but each page may
have slightly different Keywords. This is a good thing. It diversifies the number of "entry
ways" into your web site. Successful web sites have each individual page uniquely listed
with the search engines.
One last thing, before I talk about each Tag in detail, Let me quickly mention a "growth
industry" you may have seen or heard advertised. As a new web site owner, you will be
approached by companies offering to do "search engine optimization" for you as an
add-on service. I hope you are begining to see that "SEO" is not something done after a
site is built. it is intregal to the building process, not added at the end. In some limited
applications, outside help can be a valuable service. Disreputable companies will make
great promises and claims about their ability to insure your web site is listed at the top of
the search engine "query results". This is an attractive lure. Any web site owner knows
that search engines ( can potentially) generate lots of visitors to a web site, so the
temptation to pay the upfront fees is great. We all assume that a web site in the first 3, 5
or 8 listings shown in the query results will likely see an increase in web traffic. The vast
majority of web sites DO NOT need to purchase this service! Why? I’ll tell you at the
end of this newsletter, but first we need to look at Meta Tags and see how they work. I
said the most important Meta Tags are the the < TITLE > Tag, the < DESCRIPTION > Tag, and the < KEYWORDS > Tag.
Lets look at each one, in that order.
The < TITLE > Tag
A good < TITLE > Tag is the most important single thing an amatuer web page designer can
do to improve a Web sites search engine results. On the Internet, your < TITLE > appears
in the navigation tabs at the bottom of your desktop and as the "page name" in search engine query results. You can see the complete Tag by placing your cursor over the navigation tab at the bottom of your browser window. Try it now. The < TITLE > on this page is
< TITLE > Search engine optimization is the keyword in this VectorInter.Net NewsLetter < / TITLE >
How important is a well thought out < TITLE > tag? Go to
Google.com ( or any search engine ) and query any single word/term. "Camera" or
"Giraffe" will do. If you look at the top ten entries, you will see that each listing has this < KEYWORD >
in the < TITLE >. Sometimes it is in there more than once. Plan ahead. When
writing your < TITLE > tag, include the "keywords" that are the subject of the page content.
Good < TITLE > tags read like a one-line advertisements Use compelling words to draw
visitors to your site. Some "Do it yourself" web page creation software will generate
"Home page" or "NEW PAGE" for your < TITLE >. You now see how wasteful that is. Don't
use Home page for your < TITLE >. Use your descriptive keywords to help ensure a "higher
score" with the search engines. Most search engines will also display your < TITLE > Tag
and your < DESCRIPTION > Tag on the query results page.
Suppose that your company is the World Widget Manufacturing Co. You specialize in
selling electric widgets, in Vector City, Vector county/province in the new Republic of
Vector. What should your < TITLE > tag be? Most people would opt for the name of
their company as the first word of the title. It makes sense and it looks good in the
browser navigation. It may help you get a better ranking in search results if your
keywords were < Widgets, electric widgets, Vector (city), World Widget, World
Widget Manufacturing, > You see my point. If you are a "Brand Name", ie: Coke,
Pepsi, Kodak or FujiFilm etc, then put your name up front. The first few words of your title tag are very
important. People may not be searching for "World Widget Manufacturing" , unless it is
a known quantity, but they will search for "electric widgets". Geographic location is a
debatable issue. Customers may want to purchase from someone in Vector city, or it may
not matter at all, if price or features are more important in the purchase decision.
Additional, if there are many widget companies, it will be difficult to get to the top of the
heap in a search simply for the term "widgets". But if the query is "widgets, Vector city",
your chance of getting a high ranking are greater. So, if you are in a very competitive
category and your potential customers don't already know your name, consider a
< TITLE > tag that features the page content prominently.
Insider Tip:
Some search engines have issued guidelines that dictate a < TITLE > tag of
no more than 50 characters, including spaces. Some designers "error" on the high side
without serious problems. The best < TITLE > tag is between six and eight words, without
repeating any keywords more than once.
The < DESCRIPTION > Tag
The second tag is the < DESCRIPTION > Tag. As the name implies, this tag describes the
web page and tells all web searchers what the page is about. Think of it as a written text
advertisement for your web site. This tag is critical for two reasons. First, When the
search engine robot "reads" your web page, it is looking for the words it needs to "know"
the page content. Secondly, As I mentioned above, this < DESCRIPTION > Tag displays your
written summary on the query results page, just under the < TITLE >. An interesting,
well-written and accurate description encourages surfers to click through and visit your
site. Do not just randomly repeat your < KEYWORDS >. Use standard sentences and proper
grammar. Potential customers will read these sentences before selecting your web site
from the query results display. Returning to our World Widget Manufacturing example,
you could write a < DESCRIPTION > Tag that reads: "World Widget Manufacturing is the
largest producer of electric widgets in Vector city, providing round the clock service and
warranties on all widgets." This description contains the keywords again and also says
something about the company. Notice that I did not repeat any keywords. Widget in the
company name, electric widgets, and widgets (plural) are three different < KEYWORDS > to
a search engine spider. The < DESCRIPTION > on this page is
< meta name="Description" content="Search engine optimization with "Do It Yourself" meta tags and keywords for your web site." >
Insider Tip:
The < DESCRIPTION > Tags should be less than 150 characters, about 15 to 25 words. This is
the industry protocol standard, but again it varies between search engines. It is a good
idea to be conservative, until you are already to learn the specifics of each individual search engine's index.
The < KEYWORDS > Tag
The third important tag is the < KEYWORDS > Tag. This is the HTML-coded tag that is the
source of a great deal of hype and folk-lore. Many companies claim to be "experts" at
search engine optimization ( "SEO" ) and charge outrageous fees to add or manipulate
this single tag. Not surprisingly, many search engines have stopped relying on the
< KEYWORDS > tag, because of this "gamesmanship". Google, Inktomi, Teoma and a few
others still use < KEYWORDS > to varying degrees, so it can only help to write this tag well.
Take the time to do an honest keyword list. With logic and forethought, you can do it
yourself. This tag is your opportunity to list, in one place, those words and phrases
representative of the web page when displayed. The < KEYWORDS > Tag does not have to be
in a coherent sentence form like the < TITLE > and < DESCRIPTION > Tags. Re-read the
content of each web page. The prominent words you use in the written advertising copy
on the web page are the same words that should be in your < KEYWORDS > Tag. Place the
most important of these keywords near the beginning of the list. All the keywords used
in the < TITLE > Tag and the < DESCRIPTION > Tags should appear again in the < KEYWORDS > Tag, if
you have done those tags correctly. Add to the list any prominent "buzzwords" that
appear in the visual text of the HTML page. For the World Widget Manufacturing
company you might select: "widgets, widget, electric widgets, Vector city, widgets in
Vector city, World Widget Manufacturing, service, warranty, warranties, " and other
word combinations You see the format. The < KEYWORDS > Tag on this page is
< meta name="Keywords" content=" search engine optimization, SEO, do it yourself, DIY, title tag, description tag, Keyword tag, meta tag, web page meta tags,vectorinter.net,
keyword, search engine optimization program, query, tag, html, author tag, ALT tag, documentation comments,Keyword Density, search engine query, title, keywords, meta tags,web page meta tag, query results, html web page, successful web sites, SEO program, response rates, html code,potential customers, vectorinternet" >
Avoid excessive repetition of any single keyword.
One or two listings in the Tag will do,
even if the word appears over and over on the displayed page. In our example the word
"widget" would appear many times in the onscreen page. This is known as "Keyword
Density". When writing the "advertising copy", or display text for your web pages,
remember you will be returning to write the < KEYWORDS > Tag. Write for good
Keyword Density, without making your page script read in an artificial style or phraseology.
Insider Tip:
How big should the < KEYWORDS > section be? 250-400 characters is a conservative
maximum. Remember that each search engine has its own set of criteria of what is
acceptable and what's not. One hard and fast rule you must never violate is adding
un-related keywords into your < KEYWORDS > Tag . The keywords used must be from the
page and reflect its true content. Adding unrelated words (sex) into the middle( naked
girls) of the correct (nude) keyword sting (bikini), is an old ( kinky sex ) trick. Some
disreputable SEO companies still suggest this. Every search engine will remove your
pages, as soon as they see you misrepresenting your pages content. This is one of several
gimmicks that fall under the industry term referred to as "spamming the search engines".
They don’t like spam any more than you do. Just like you can block spam E-mail, search
engines can block web pages using disreputable tricks. We don’t encourage or participate
in any of these SEO gimmicks.
The < TITLE > Tag, the < DESCRIPTION > Tag, and the < KEYWORDS > Tag are the most important, but
let me quickly mention three more useful Tags that can appear in your HTML page header.
The < AUTHOR > Tag
The < AUTHOR > tag is a documentation tag. Some web page designers will hide an
advertisement for their own web design company here, since it doesn’t display on the
screen. I think it poorly serves the client. If you have paid for the web pages to be built,
The AUTHOR tag should reinforce the page content. If an employee built your web
pages, an ego stroke never hurt company morale.
The < AUTHOR > tag for this page is
< meta name="AUTHOR" content=" Tiby Richards is very knowledgeable about search engine optimization. He helps clients with Title Tags, Description Tags, Keyword Tags, and other Meta Tag issues related to
achieving more traffic from search engines. As the Director of Sales at VectorInter.Net/Australia, Tiby wrote this newsletter too. It was hand-coded into ugly HTML by Tiby too.
Notice how the Keywords from the Title, Description, and Keywords Tags are repeated here. Notice how I used the word Meta Tag in natural sentence structure. All of the pages in the VectorInter.Net Newsletter archives are used as an evolving test bed for our ongoing research about "how" search engines work.
Some of the odd, misplaced, or missing HTML code pieces in these newsletter articles were done on purpose ( We hope ! ). Please don't copy this code without altering and verifying it's accuracy. >
The < ALT > Tag
The most often missed Tag is the "alternative text attribute tag", commonly called the
< ALT > Tag or the Image Tag. In your HTML code, the < ALT > tag inserts text words
into the spot on a web page where an image is missing for any reason. This is also the
pop-up text you see when you "mouse-over" a photo. Some search engines index the
tags assuming this would be an additional source of Keywords. Google and other
search engines are beginning to allow queries that seek specific images, so it never hurts
to describe your images with a keyword message. See an example, by placing your cursor over the image to the right.
The HTML code for < ALT > Tags looks like this:
src="images/atonium_brussells.jpg"
The COMMENT Tag
The last tag I’ll mention is not a proper HTML tag at all, but a holdover
from the old days of software programming. All computer code allows for the insertion of documentation
notes by the code writer. HTML can hold these COMMENT tags too, though as I said
it’s not treated as a critical component of a HTML-coded page. COMMENT Tags look like this:
< !--// VectorInter.Net can help you with your internet based business plans. We do more than just build web pages for the internet. We are VectorInter.Net / / --! >
Several search engines, ( Inktomi, HotBot, as well as others ) consider keywords found in this
documentation/comment notations. Why not use them. Write your comments as you
would a < DESCRIPTION > Tag. Use complete sentences, natural phrasing and proper
grammar. Comments can be any length, because the HTML code will never display it,
anything more than 40-50 words is starting to overdo it. Remember the only person
reading these comments will likely be a search engine automated spider and a nosey
computer geek!
A final Note:
Meta tags are an often missed first step to a
successful web site. As you've seen they are are not difficult to build, if you think and plan, before building your web pages.
Many web sites can be successful with only the basics I’ve mentioned here, but Meta Tags are not the only part of search engine optimization.
Good, logical navigation links from your home page to the inner pages of your site will allow search engine spiders to index deep
into your site. There are "intro" pages, "bait" pages, "doorway" and "hallway" pages and
pages built optimally for specific search engines. This newsletter will only get you
started, but you would be surprised at the number of web sites missing these important
elements. I mentioned earlier that the vast majority of web sites DO NOT need to
purchase SEO services. The reasons are both economic and practical. If you have read
and understood this very simplified discussion of Meta Tags, You can get 90% of the
benefits of a SEO program, with this "Do It Yourself" summary and some trial & error.
The last 10% is the most expensive percentage of potential customers to aquire. You will be competing with the
category leaders in your industry for these last few customers. Some leading web sites track response rates and change
Keywords weekly! If your web pages have well written copy that is dense in keywords, if
you have crafted your meta tags well, and your HTML code has no errors, you should see
your pages added to the search engine index at the next update. To see a "number one"
listing when "widgets" is the search engine query, does requires additional work. When
you are ready for that level of sophistication ( and cost ), please
contact the
VectorInter.Net office nearest you.
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