Are meta tags even important?

Discussion in 'Search Engine Optimization' started by libertygone, May 13, 2007.

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  1. #1
    I just built a website and forgot to put meta tags on all the pages. *stupid me*

    i was wondering if they are even that important.. if i don't have them what would happen?

    thanks
     
    libertygone, May 13, 2007 IP
  2. Richie_Ni

    Richie_Ni Illustrious Member

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    #2
    I wouldn't say if it's important or not,but it will help if you place meta info. in your site.
     
    Richie_Ni, May 13, 2007 IP
  3. libertygone

    libertygone Active Member

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    #3
    this is all i have on each page:

    do you think that's enough?
     
    libertygone, May 13, 2007 IP
  4. xooMan

    xooMan Peon

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    #4
    <meta name="description" content="your meta desc here" /> is also important. First of all, Google displays this description in SERPs. And also, this is one more place where you can put your important keywords.
     
    xooMan, May 13, 2007 IP
  5. mubheer

    mubheer Active Member

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    #5
    Meta tags are bit important. especially the meta description tag. meta keyword helps to rank high in yahoo results....
     
    mubheer, May 13, 2007 IP
  6. yogesh sarkar

    yogesh sarkar Well-Known Member

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    #6
    It doesn’t take too much time to create Meta tag so why skip it? Simply add description as well as keyword tag, if it works then good, if it doesn’t it didn’t costed you any thing!
     
    yogesh sarkar, May 13, 2007 IP
  7. libertygone

    libertygone Active Member

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    #7
    i didnt skip it.
    i forgot to add them to 300 pages...
     
    libertygone, May 13, 2007 IP
  8. Claudek

    Claudek Well-Known Member

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    #8
    Yahoo has stated that part of their algorithm does include meta tag keywords. It would be worthwhile to add them if possible albeit slowly so that you gain in SERP from Yahoo at least.
     
    Claudek, May 13, 2007 IP
  9. libertygone

    libertygone Active Member

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    #9
    i see.
    i have a site i am building with 300 categories (300 pages)
    should i make a different meta tag for each category and include the category name in each meta, instead of making one generic meta tag for the entire site?
     
    libertygone, May 13, 2007 IP
  10. sgorman

    sgorman Active Member

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    #10
    It is good practice to have meta: keywords and description; I also add author and owner.

    It is good for smaller engines. Yahoo have alternately said that they do and that they don't, depending on which year you ask. It definitely carries less 'weight' than 'link text', 'backlinks', 'title', 'H1 text' and 'page content'.
     
    sgorman, May 13, 2007 IP
  11. CRX

    CRX Guest

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    #11
    it is much better to have different meta for every page, because it is the page that is ranked not the whole site. Of course it is rather hard to create 300 different and unique meta tags, but try to have unique tags at least for the most important pages
     
    CRX, May 13, 2007 IP
  12. tradeya

    tradeya Notable Member

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    #12
    meta tags if important coz search engine will look fro your keywords from those first.

    you still need "title" "meta keywords" meta contents" sory to say that you have to redone all your site and reupload it again. :eek:
     
    tradeya, May 14, 2007 IP
  13. guia

    guia Banned

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    #13
    Meta tags are less important but still it is one factor for search engine optimization.Before you attempt to create meta keyword tags

    * Choose your relevant keywords.
    * Write the site's content based on these keywords.
    * Create a title tag using the same keywords.
    * Create a meta description tag as a marketing sentence, also based on these keywords.
     
    guia, May 14, 2007 IP
  14. libertygone

    libertygone Active Member

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    #14
    it's a myspace graphics/comment images site so the index page should be a general description of my site, and then each category (example category.. cats myspace graphics) i will narrow down the keywords to cats myspace graphics, kitty myspace graphics, cats myspace glitter graphics, cats myspace icons

    instead of just:

    myspace graphics, myspace glitter graphics, myspace icons, myspace comments

    does this sound appropriate?

    :confused:
    ---------------------------------

    Can someone give me a list of all the things relating to the meta tags that i should include in every one of my pages? All i have so far are:

    <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-type" CONTENT="text/html">
    <META NAME="keywords" CONTENT=" ">
    <META NAME="description" CONTENT=" ">
    <META name="Revisit-After" content="4 Days">

    What does the "revist-after" tag do and is it a good one to have?
    thanks so much for the help.
    :)
     
    libertygone, May 14, 2007 IP
  15. CRX

    CRX Guest

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    #15
    This tag says search engine bot to visit your page in 4 days.
    I am not really sure if bots obey this tag.
    It may be good if you are sure to have new content each 4 days, if not it is better to change amount of days or to delete it at all
     
    CRX, May 14, 2007 IP
  16. Dudibob

    Dudibob Peon

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    #16
    Search engines ignore this tag, there's only 3 tags you need in the <head> section.

    <title></title>
    <meta name="description" content="">
    <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-type" CONTENT="text/html">

    You can add a met keywords if you want but it gets practically ignored nowadays anyway. The description meta tag is very important, if the information is duplicate you can get hit by Google very hard for duplicate content (sucks I know) but I am unsure how Google treats it if it is missing. Just make sure the first paragraph is not the same on some pages and you should be alright
     
    Dudibob, May 14, 2007 IP
  17. xooMan

    xooMan Peon

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    #17
    I think Dudibob is right about the "revisit-after" tag. You cannot influence the frequency of Googlebot visits. Instead, it's all automated.

    I read somewhere the simplified description of how Googlebot visits sites. Here it is:

    Say, it starts with 90 day interval. It meets a new site and schedules the next visit in 90 days. Then it checks the site again (after 90 days). If it has some new content, then the next visit interval is decreased to 45 days. And so on. So, if you update your site frequently, the Googlebot will notice that and will visit your site as frequently as possible.
     
    xooMan, May 14, 2007 IP
  18. coolguy27

    coolguy27 Banned

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    #18

    It is important 'coz the meta tags are describe your sites information and description...
    <head>
    <TITLE>Your title here</TITLE>
    <META name=description content="description here...">
    <META name=keywords content="keywords here...">

    </head>

    you must put different tags for different pages you have... :D
     
    coolguy27, May 14, 2007 IP
  19. wdwp

    wdwp Peon

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    #19
    Keywords tag matters on Yahoo, is almost completely ignored by Google.

    I did an experiment couple months ago, adding a misspelling of my friend's name to the keywords on his personal site.
    Before, the site was #1 for a search for his name on G, Y and Msn (non-competitive term) and nowhere for the misspelling.

    Once the keyword for a misspelling was added, site started ranking #1 on Yahoo for the misspelled name, but nowhere close on google or msn.
     
    wdwp, May 14, 2007 IP
  20. boyponga

    boyponga Banned

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    #20
    Only the keywords, description, verify meta tags, and robots are the important meta tags in SEO.
     
    boyponga, May 14, 2007 IP
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