Why are meta tags important?

I expect you’ve all heard about ‘meta tags’ and that they’re “something to do with search engine optimisation”. Yes, meta tags are an important part of your optimisation, but they must not form the basis of your optimisation alone.

So, what are meta tags
Meta tags are tags which are placed in the html source code of a website. Visitors on your website cannot see them, but the search engines can. These tags typically are the ‘meta description’ tag and the ‘meta keywords’ tag. The other tag that is extremely important is your title tag. Although not a ‘meta’ tag, this tag is even more important than your website’s meta tags.

Why are they important?
Firstly the title tag. This is the title for each of the pages on your website. They are a descriptive title reflecting the content that is on that web page. Since each page of your website is unique, so should be your title tag. You shouldn't have the same title tag on each page of your website. This tag is displayed in the search engine results page and is the clickable link through to your website.

The meta description tag is an objective description of your web page. It should be compelling and not too wordy. Lists of keywords are definitely a no-no! This tag is displayed below your title tag in the search engine results pages, so ideally you want your link to be clicked on instead of your competitors' in the list of search results.

Finally the meta keywords tag. This is much less important now as it used to be open to abuse by spammers. However, some search engines still read it so it does no harm to include it. Don’t list every keyword you can think of, just the targeted keywords of the web page the meta keywords tag is on.

To demonstrate the above points, here are the tags in the source code of the Forty First website:

And here they are in the search results:

The rules to follow with meta tags:
1. Remember that your title tag is one of the most important tags in your optimisation.
2. Write unique title tags for each web page which include targeted keywords.
3. Don't just list keywords as your title tag or meta description tag – it’s lazy and won’t compel anyone to click on your link in the search results.
4. Write different meta description tags for each page if appropriate.
5. Include keywords in your meta keywords page that are appropriate to your web page, or website if it is small – don't include irrelevant keywords.
6. Meta tags are not the be all and end all of your optimisation – meta tags alone will not get high rankings in the search results.

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