This all has to do with SEO, which is Search Engine Optimization: Goal is to get your website or blog to the top of the list. Bottom line, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) it is optimizing the text (in terms of key words that may be searched for when looking up your product, service or topic) contained in your website and/or blog pages, links to your website or blog (ask your network to link and reciprocate!) and ultimately the secret coding (the stuff you can’t see but your website developer can) so that the search engines can “crawl” and “pickup” keywords and associations for seaching on google, yahoo, bing, etc. The items they pickup are called Meta tags.
A fun example : if you are picking up after your teenager, with the intent to sell their “stuff” online – and you created a list as you went of names associated with all of the items; names that you would want someone who would be interested to put into a Google Search, you might come up with the following list (which would be become your meta tags):
Socks, underwear, video games, dvds, guitar, ipod, shirts, shorts, sneakers…..you get the drift.
Wanna see meta tags in other people’s websites? Let’s take my art website http://www.threadplay.com. If you go to browser’s menu and under View > Page Source:
When you do this, you will see the underlying invisible secret code that makes up the homepage of my website:
Notice : the Meta name “description” of me? This does not appear on the actual page; however, it is picked up by the search engines in the secret code.
(Tip: if you see a meta tag list or word you like, you can copy and paste it into a Microsoft Word document for later use-to send to you website administrator).
Check your website with the View > Page Source and see if you have any Meta Tags! If not, give your website administrator a scolding! Here is a great article on Meta Tags as well.
How To Use HTML Meta Tags – Search Engine Watch (SEW).
What Meta Tags have worked for you? Please Share in the Comments.
Related Articles
- SEO 101: Does the Description Tag Matter? (conversationmarketing.com)
I don’t have a website at this time, just a blog. One of my goals for next year is to have a website by the end of the year with a link to an etsy shop. I am learning so much from reading your posts. I’d never heard of metatags before. Thank you.
Great post, Lisa. Many artistic web sites actually could use more text on their pages to help elevate the site in search rankings. Just having images of artwork doesn’t help in moving up the ranks.
Good content, just what I was browsing for.
ЎUf, me gustу! Tan clara y positiva.
Gracias
Ilias