Meta Tags
The importance of Meta tags and modern Internet search engine optimization is often misunderstood. What are meta tags? A meta tag is code located in the head (<HEAD> </HEAD>) of an HTML document.
Meta tags were created during the 1990′s to improve webpage identification, but in the late ’90s ‘BlackHat’ webmasters, especially the Internet porn industry, developed methods of manipulating the Meta Tags to dominate search engine rankings. Most search engines like Google have since discontinued the use of meta tags in their ranking algorithims, Google now only indexes Google Meta Tags and ignores standard meta tags altogether. However, there are some search engines that still use meta tags.
Meta Tag overview:
Recommended Tags
Meta Content Language (non-US English ONLY)
Meta Content Type
Meta Description
Meta Language (non-US English ONLY)
Optional Tags
Meta Abstract
Meta Author
Meta Copyright
Meta Designer
Meta Google
Meta Keywords
Meta MSN (No ODP)
Meta Title
Not Recommended Tags
Meta Content Script Type
Meta Content Style Type
Meta Distribution
Meta Expires
Meta Generator
Meta MS Smart Tags
Meta Publisher
Meta Rating
Meta Refresh
Meta Reply-To
Meta Resource Type
Meta Revisit After
Meta Robots
Meta Set Cookie
Meta Subject
Meta VW96.ObjectType
The following list describes the various meta tags and their recommended usage.
Meta Abstract: To give a short summary of the description.
Used primarily with academic papers. Normally, the content of this tag will be 10 words or less.
Example: <META NAME=”Abstract” CONTENT=”Short description of page”>
Recommendation: Optional. Will not assist you with the major search engines. If, however, your content is highly specialized, the use of this tag will allow search engines in your field of expertise to index your site properly. According to testing, Google, Yahoo! and MSN do not use this tag as part of their algorithm.
Top
—————————-
Meta Author: To declare the author of the document.
This meta tag reference’s the name of the person who created the HTML document being viewed. If you use this tag, it is recommended to use the author’s first and last name, but it is not recommended to include the author’s e-mail address due to a heavy increase in Spam. If the author wishes to be contacted, it is recommended to include a contact form on the HTML page.
Example: <META NAME=”Author” CONTENT=”George Costanza, gcostanza@vandalayindustries.com“>
Recommendation: Optional. If you have many individuals contributing to the content of your site, use this tag to help track the author. The tag is not indexed by Google, Yahoo! or MSN, so it will not help you in search engine ranking, but it is recognized as part of the “Meta Tag Standard.”
Top
—————————-
Meta Content Language: To declare the natural language of the document.
Used by robots to categorize by language.
Example: <META HTTP-EQUIV=”Content-Language” CONTENT=”en-GB”>
Recommendation: Use only if your webpage is written in non-US English. While we have not tested this tag, we have had reports from our members that it helps non-US English sites get properly catalogued by search engines.
Read more on Meta Content.
Top
—————————-
Meta Content Script Type: To specify the default scripting language of the document.
Example: <META HTTP-EQUIV=”Content-Script-Type” CONTENT=”text/javascript”>
Recommendation: Do not use. Search engines do not need this tag to detect scripts, they can do so on their own. Browsers do not use this tag either, as they have other detection methods in place.
Read more on Meta Content.
Top
—————————-
Meta Content Style Type: To specify the default Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) language for the document.
Example: <META HTTP-EQUIV=”Content-Style-Type” CONTENT=”text/css”>
Recommendation: Do not use. Search engines do not need to know the style sheet. Web browsers also do not look to the meta tags for style sheet information.
Read more on Meta Content.
Top
—————————-
Meta Content Type: To delcare the character set.
It is now recommended to always use this tag even if you use a DTD declaration above the Header. Failure to do so may cause display problems where, for instance, the document uses UTF-8 punctuation characters but is displayed in ISO or ASCII charsets. There are other benefits, but you will need to be a subscriber to our SEO Revolution Newsletter (paid membership) to get the full scoop of what this tag can do for your site.
Example: <meta http-equiv=”Content-Type” content=”text/html; charset=iso-8859-1″>
Recommendation: Always use this tag along with the DTD declaration format from the World Wide Web Consortium. Failure to do so may cause display problems. For example, this tag helps properly display the page if the document uses UTF-8 punctuation characters but is displayed in ISO or ASCII charsets. There are many benefits to using the Meta Content Tag. To get the full scoop, become a paid member and subscribe to our SEO Revolution Newsletter.
Read more on Meta Content.
Top
—————————-
Meta Copyright: To include copyright, trademark, patent or other information pertaining to intellectual property.
Example: <meta name=”copyright” content=”© 2007″>
Recommendation: Not required. Please know that this tag will not protect your site’s content or your intellectual property. Consult your attorney to ensure you are protected properly.
Top
—————————-
Meta Description: To give a description of the document.
This tag consists of a short, plain language description of the document, usually 20-25 words or less. Search engines that support this tag will use the information to publish on their search results page, normally below the Title of your site.
Example: <META NAME=”description” CONTENT=”Citrus fruit wholesaler.”>
Recommendation: Always use this tag. Make your meta description as compelling as you can, as your description often is the difference between getting your listing clicked in the search results. This tag is particularly important if your document has very little text, is a frameset, or has extensive scripts at the top.
Top
—————————-
Meta Designer: To declare the designer of the website.
Example: <META NAME=”Designer” CONTENT=”Art Vandaley”>
Recommendation: Optional. Usually this tag is used by web designers as advertising or to catch people who hijack their designs. It should be understood that this tag is not supported by any search engine.
Top
—————————-
Meta Distribution: To declare the distribution of your web content.
There are three classifications of distribution: Global (the entire web), Local (reserved for the local IP block of your site), and IU (Internal Use, not for public distribution).
Example: <META NAME=”Distribution” CONTENT=”Global”>
Recommendation: Do not use. If you want to restricted distribution, use the robots.txt tag or your HTAccess file.
Top
—————————-
Meta Expires: To delcare the date and time after which the web document should be considered expired.
Example: <META HTTP-EQUIV=”expires” CONTENT=”Wed, 26 Feb 2004 08:21:57 GMT”>
Recommendation: Do not use. While this is good in concept, it is impractical for search engines and not only do search engines not read the tag, but according to my testing, browsers ignore it too. Looking to stop Google from caching your site? Even if you use this tag Google will cache your page. This tag is worthless, don’t bother with it.
Top
—————————-
Meta Generator: To delcare the name and version number of the publishing tool used to create the page.
Could be used by tool vendors to assess market penetration.
Example: <META NAME=”Generator” CONTENT=”FrontPage 4.0″>
Recommendation: Do not use. If you have these tags, delete them if you can. They serve no purpose for your pages.
Top
—————————-
Meta Google: The following options are exclusively for use with Google:
googlebot: noarchive – do not allow Google to display cached content
googlebot: nosnippet – do not allow Google to display excerpt or cached content
googlebot: noindex – similar to the robots meta element
googlebot: nofollow – do not allow Google to pass any PageRank or link popularity to the link served.
Recommendation: Optional. You generally do not need to use these tags unless you want Google to do something specific with your site. The Google Meta Tag is one of the few meta tags Google will read, index and obey.
Read More on Google Meta Tags .
For more info straight from Google, see Google’s Remove Page.
Also referenced: meta tags google
Top
—————————-
Meta Language: To declare the language used on the website.
Webmasters who wish to declare the primary language of the webpage can use this meta tag.
Example: <META NAME=”Language” CONTENT=”english”>
Recommendation: Use only for sites in non-US English languages. No testing has been done in other languages to verify if this meta tag does indeed work.
Top
—————————-
Meta Keywords: To list keywords the define the content of your site.
Keywords are used by search engines to properly index your site in addition to words from the title, document body and other areas. This tag is typically used for synonyms and alternates of title words.
Example: <META NAME=”keywords” CONTENT=”oranges, lemons, limes”>
Recommendation: Use with caution. Make sure to only use keywords that are relevant to your site. Search engines are known to penalize or blacklist your site for abuse. This tag also exposes your keywords to your competitors. Five hours of keyword research can be hijacked within just a few minutes by your competitor.
Top
—————————-
Meta MS Smart Tags: Smart Tags were part of a beta test of Internet Explorer that was removed due to negative press and feedback from users.
In short, Microsoft would sell keyword phrases, then Smart Tags would allow for those keywords to be highlighted on web pages that would take the user to the advertiser’s site. This would mean your site could advertise your competitor’s site without your consent.
Example: <META NAME=”MSSmartTagsPreventParsing” CONTENT=”TRUE”>
Recommendation: Do not use. Microsoft discontinued this technology. If you are working with an SEO firm that demands to insert these tags, quickly find a new SEO company.
Top
—————————-
Meta MSN (No ODP): To use your description in the MSN Search results instead of the description used in DMOZ.
Example: <META Name=”msnbot” CONTENT=”NOODP”>
Recommendation: Optional. If you are unhappy with the description from DMOZ, which most webmasters are, use this tag. While this is only good for MSNBot, you can sub “ROBOTS” for “MSNBOT” in the tag to be valid for all bots. As of right now, however, MSN is the only engine using descriptions straight from DMOZ.
Note: Using this tag will not remove the DMOZ listing immediately. It can take up to four weeks.
Top
—————————-
Meta Publisher: To delcare the name and version number of the publishing tool used to create the page.
This is the same as the Meta Generator tag. Could be used by tool vendors to assess market penetration.
Example: <META NAME=”Publisher” CONTENT=”FrontPage 4.0″>
Recommendation:Do not use. If you have these tags, delete them if you can. They serve no purpose for your pages.
Top
—————————-
Meta Rating: To display a content rating.
Example: There is not a set form of this tag.
Recommendation: Do not use. The fact that there is not a set form of this tag suggests you would be better off getting a rating from the International Content Rating Association.
Top
—————————-
Meta Refresh: To specify a delay in seconds before the browser automatically reloads the document or URL specified.
Example: <META HTTP-EQUIV=”Refresh” CONTENT=”3;URL=http://www.domain.com/page.html”>
Recommendation: Do not use. Search engines can detect the use of this tag and they consider it Spam. Penalty is either ignoring the page or banning your site completely from the index. You should use a 301 or 302 redirect instead. To get more information on how to do redirects properly, subscribe to our paid membership and check out the SEO Revolution Newsletter archive.
Top
—————————-
Meta Reply To: To harvest e-mail addresses.
This is a spammers tag. The tag picks up your e-mail address, then hits you fast and hard with offers a plenty.
Example: <meta name=”reply-to” content=”your.email@address.com” />
Recommendation: Do not use.
Top
—————————-
Meta Resource Type: To declare the resource type of the page.
Example: <META name=”resource-type” content=”document”>
Recommendation: Do not use. Use the DTD Declaration instead.
Top
—————————-
Meta Revisit After: To inform search engines when to come back and index your site again.
It has been stated that this tag will boost your site’s rankings with search engines that credit fresh pages. This information is false.
Example: <META NAME=”Revisit-After” CONTENT=”30 days Days”>
Recommendation: Do not use. Search engines do not obey this tag.
Read More: Meta Revisit After
Top
—————————-
Meta Robots: To control search engine robots on a per-page basis.
Tell Robots they may traverse the page, but not index it.
Example: <META NAME=”ROBOTS” CONTENT=”NOINDEX,FOLLOW”>
Recommendation: Do not use. This tag is often ignored by search engines. If you need to control the search engine robots, use a robots.txt file or modify your HTAccess file instead. Many people are concerned that if a bot comes to their site through a subpage and not their home page, the robots.txt file will not be read. This is false. The robots.txt is read each time a good bot comes to a new domain. You can verify this through your web logs.
Top
—————————-
Meta Set Cookie: To set a cookie in the user’s web browser.
If you use an expiration date, the cookie is considered permanent and will be saved to disk (until it expires), otherwise it will be considered valid only for the current session and will be erased upon closing the Web browser.
Example: <META HTTP-EQUIV=”Set-Cookie” CONTENT=”cookievalue=xxx;expires=Wednesday, 21-Oct-98 16:14:21 GMT; path=/”>
Recommendation: Do not use. While this meta tag was used years ago to set cookies, cookies can now be set and customized very easily. If you need assistance with cookies, our programming staff can assist you for a nominal fee.
Top
—————————-
Meta Subject: To declare the subject of the web site.
Example: <META NAME=”Subject” CONTENT=”Web Page Subject”>
Recommendation: Do not use. This tag is not supported by any third party agent, including browsers and search engines.
Top
—————————-
Meta Title: To declare the title of the page.
This tag would normally have the same title as contained in the <TITLE></TITLE> tag.
Example: <META NAME=”Title” CONTENT=”Page Title Here”>
Recommendation: Use with caution. According to testing, Yahoo! and MSN index this tag, but its effect on the algorithm is unknown due to inconsistent test results.
Top
—————————-
Meta VW96.ObjectType: To define the purpose of specific pages.
Based on an early version of the Dublin Core report, using a defined schema of document types such as FAQ, HOW TO, etc.
Recommendation: Do not use. These meta tags are not supported by any search engine or major browser.
Top
