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meta tags necessary?

Discussion in 'Search Engine Optimization' started by whimsical1, Apr 1, 2005.

  1. #1
    I remember a long time ago lots of search engines used solely meta tags for matching sites with searches.

    Is this still the case with google and other engines, or are they starting to search the entire content of a page?
     
    whimsical1, Apr 1, 2005 IP
  2. mcfox

    mcfox Wind Maker

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    #2
    The whole page gets searched sure enough but meta tags still have a purpose and so should be included in your pages, even if it is just for the meta-search-engines. ;)
     
    mcfox, Apr 1, 2005 IP
  3. MattUK

    MattUK Notable Member

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    #3
    I'd put them in, but I wouldn't spend too long worrying about them. Most search engines don't give them much weight at all nowadays because they are too easily manipulated.
     
    MattUK, Apr 1, 2005 IP
  4. Blagger

    Blagger Peon

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    #4
    Despite many people disagreeing, I have found that google does use the description meta, but doesn't seem to tak any notice of the keyword meta. I think it is worth making an effort with the description meta, as I have seen my page ranked, for a certain keyword, well using just the description meta.
     
    Blagger, Apr 2, 2005 IP
  5. nevetS

    nevetS Evolving Dragon

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    #5
    It doesn't take a lot of effort to put them in place. It's one of those things that you should do if it's easy for you, but if you find it exceedingly difficult, the results might not outweigh the time invested. For new pages, definitely. For a lot of existing pages - update them over time. Turn it into a weekly project - where you commit yourself to updating at least, say, 5 pages a week.

    There are two areas that they provide benefit:
    1) some people put up directories, and a lot of spidering utilities will populate title and description for the directory based off of meta tags. I've done it once or twice and just knocked out the sites that didn't have data. If you have them, you'll get good keyword anchor text when this happens.

    2) Many bottom tiered SE's use the metatags. They don't generate a lot of traffic, but you never know.

    Then there's the "maybe they will eventually use the tags again" mentality. Who knows, maybe they will for sites that don't have keyword stuffed tags.

    I would keep the tags simple. There's no reason to stuff them with 20 sets of keywords. It just helps to flag your site as spammy.
     
    nevetS, Apr 2, 2005 IP
  6. Briank

    Briank Peon

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    #6
    it wouldnt hurt to put them in
     
    Briank, Apr 3, 2005 IP
  7. ziandra

    ziandra Well-Known Member

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    #7
    A good set of metas is better than no metas.

    A bad set of metas will hurt your site worse than no metas.

    So, if you are going to add metas, make sure you do it right. The hard part is making sure you do it right for all engines. I have found it real easy to get a page marked as spam, especially with the constant changing rules on metas.
     
    ziandra, Apr 3, 2005 IP
  8. clasione

    clasione Notable Member

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    #8
    clasione, Apr 3, 2005 IP