Improving Search Engine Visibility with META Tags

Using description and keywords META tags in your project's Web pages may improve how they are found in certain search engines. META tags are pieces of HTML code that can be used many ways, including to refresh a page, set a cookie, redirect a site visitor to another URL, specify an international character set, or associate words or a description with a Web page. For information about the other uses of META tags, see Web development sites like Builder.com or Webmonkey.

Why Use Description and Keywords META Tags?

Search engines sometimes use descriptions within META tags as page summaries to include in their search results. Keywords META tags, on the other hand, may help search engines index your pages, increasing the chances of users finding your site. Many Web sites, however, do not use these META tags, perhaps because the site is well-known or has detailed, written content that full-text search engines like Google can capture and index effectively.

However, well-crafted keywords and descriptions will never hurt your Web site. They may also be useful if your site is relevant to a category or subcategory that is unnamed in your pages. For example, the Seattle Times' Web site contains thousands of pages of individual articles about bank robberies, murder, and politics. These individual pages belong to the larger class of "Northwest news," which might not be reflected in the text of the articles. Seeding "Northwest news" as a keyword might help users find the Seattle Times when they are searching for regional news stories.

Although you can customize descriptions and keywords for every one of your pages, it is probably just as effective to place the META tags only on your home page or to recycle the same ones on every page. Unless you have wildly divergent topics on your site, you should plan to use only one set of descriptions and keywords.

An Example

META tags go within the HEAD section of your HTML code. This example was taken from the MIT Media Lab's home page.

Do Not Rely on META Tags

Even carefully crafted keywords and description META tags may not boost your Web site's placement in a search engine's results. To maximize the impact of your Web site, consider advertising your URL in other ways such as adding it to your business card or asking associates and affiliates of the project to link to your site from their own. Do not rely only on META tags to increase your Web site traffic.

Another HTML coding technique that may improve your appearance in search engines' results include writing good TITLE tags for your pages. Visitors may not feel compelled to click to pages entitled "New Page 1," "Untitled," or "UW ABC." Writing unique names for each of your pages is a good practice to help visitors distinguish between the different pages of your site.

Writing a Description and Choosing Keywords

The description should be a succinct summary of the main topic or purpose of your site.

The keywords that you choose should not merely repeat the text that is already on your site. They can also include concepts, categories, or ideas that your site is associated with, but might not explicitly mention. For example, some keywords that might be included in a site that discusses a therapeutic board game are "therapeutic game," "play therapy," "counseling," and "self-esteem."

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