The Truth about Meta Tags

Most businesses, whether they are based online or off, have seriously considered investing in search engine marketing (SEM). Search engine marketing includes services like search engine optimization, pay-per-click marketing, and conversion rate enhancement. Of these activities, search engine optimization (SEO) targeted at obtaining free natural rankings in search engines is by far the most desirable service. The following information introduces a common SEO myth which often steers many businesses and even well meaning webmasters in the wrong direction as they try to optimize their websites.

The Meta Tag Myth
A common myth which still permeates the SEM industry is that SEO is little more than the insertion of meta tags into an HTML document. Even respected organizations such as the Small Business Administration have fallen into the meta tag trap. For example, the SBA's website claims that the addition of keywords to your meta tags will get your website indexed by search engines.¹ The SBA is not alone in this thinking; most people involved with SEO still believe that meta tags are the single most important factor when pursuing higher rankings in search engines. The reason for this is clear: in the 90s, meta tags were one of the main factors in determining the ranking of a website. It was common practice back then to insert or "stuff" literally hundreds of meta tag keywords throughout your website. This tactic worked for several years. Today however, meta tags are only a very small piece of the SEO puzzle and are not enough to assure that your website will be indexed or ranked by search engines.

A Quick Meta Tag Test
Contrary to popular belief, Google doesn't rely on meta tags at all. This can be verified by performing the following simple 'test': Begin by inserting keywords into your meta tags that don't appear on any of your current web pages. (It is important that the keywords chosen are only within the meta tags and not found anywhere else on your website). Wait for a month or so to give the search engines time to "spider" your site again. Then, using a search engine's advanced search features, look for the keywords you entered into your meta tags and limit the search results to your website domain only. If no results are displayed, then you know that the search engine you tested doesn't look at meta tags when ranking websites. (Be sure to delete these unrelated meta tags after you try this test.) You can implement this test on the search engine of your choice, understanding that some search engines (such as Yahoo) often take longer to spider your site than others. Google and MSN generally spider sites at least once a month.

Do Meta Tags Matter At All?
The fact that meta tags are not as useful or reliable as they used to be doesn't mean that you should disregard them altogether. In fact, your webmaster may insist that meta tags must be inserted--that's okay. Meta tags should be inserted. They act as guides and indicators for the web developers working on your website. In addition, some search engines still utilize meta tags when analyzing your site. However, it is important that you and your webmaster know that meta tags are not nearly as important to search engine optimization as they used to be, and they're certainly not as critical as many would-be SEO "experts" would lead you to believe.

So, What Does Make A Difference?
All major search engine rankings are determined by complex algorithms which make the professional SEO process far more complex than it has been in the past. Today, effective SEO should include at least the following activities:

• Keyword Analysis is an essential part of the SEO process. Choosing the right keywords to target will make the difference between a frustrating SEO campaign and one that produces a high return on investment. Here again, inexperienced webmasters can do more damage than good if they don't understand all of the factors involved with good keyword selection. In addition to how many people search for a given keyword each month and how relevant a keyword is to your specific business (things that are relatively easy to identify), you must also take into consideration how competitive a keyword is. You must know how well optimized your competitors' websites are for any given keyword. Companies waste millions of dollars each year targeting keywords for which they may never get a ranking while completely ignoring keywords that could bring almost immediate results to their bottom line. In addition, the keywords you choose are often important to strategically positioning your business because they will be used to enhance website design and web content, as well as serving as a foundation for other SEM processes such as increasing conversion rates, PPC, and link recruitment.
  
  
• Website Design and Content Writing also make a big difference in the SEO process. HTML modifications, keyword-specific cross links between pages, specific text to keyword ratios within content writing, and additional formatting requirements are all important factors for every major search engine.
  
  
• Link Recruitment is perhaps the single most valuable, long-term investment you can make to your SEO efforts. Once your keywords have been chosen and your website has been properly optimized, getting high-quality links to your site will deliver more value than anything else you can do. Google made this concept popular and now every major search engine has followed Google's example. Contact your SEM specialist about additional ways to get more links that will produce higher rankings.
  
  
• Web Analytics and Conversion Rate Enhancement activities are also vital to any successful SEO campaign. It is of little value to bring a lot of new traffic to your website if that traffic isn't converting into leads or sales that improve your bottom line. When used properly, good web analytics tools provide you with information that will help you:
  
  
  • Discover your online customers' likes and dislikes
  • Discover where it is on your website that you are gaining or losing customers.
  • View your online ROI via consistent reports
  • Convert your visitors into buyers
  
  Increasing your conversion rate by just 1% can make a huge difference on your bottom line. Don't sell yourself short by focusing only on traffic while neglecting the importance of converting that traffic into revenue.

If you view your website as an important factor to the success of your business and are considering investing more heavily in an SEO campaign, our advice is that you don't believe everything you read or hear about the importance of meta tags. Make sure that you are investing in SEO activities that will provide you with consistent, effective progress that makes sense for your business.

¹ http://www.sba.gov/oit/info/Guide-To-Exporting/BITG3rd_Chpt2.pdf

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