Keywords and Meta Tags

A keyword is the word, or pair of words, around which your site is built. When a search engine visits a page of your website, it should have no trouble figuring out what it's about.

Within reason, you should use these words early and often. (Two terms used to describe this technique are "keyword density" and "keyword-rich".)

Don't overdo it, though. Your visitors won't like it and will likely respond by clicking off your site. The search engines won't like it, either. Too much of a good thing can get you penalized.

Search engines spiders aren't human . (You probably already knew that!)

However, they're designed to "think" like humans. Each search engine has certain proprietary (in other words, they're not telling) algorithms that constantly change.

Actually, "evolve" might be a more apt description. Keywords and meta tags are a good example of this spider evolution.

Meta tags are part of the text file that is used to create a web page.

One tag is used to describe the content of the page. The other tag is used to list keywords.

At one time, meta tags mattered a lot to search engines. Since then, they've become far less important.

Keyword stuffing is much of the reason.

In their zeal to rank well, some webmasters list dozens of keywords inside the meta keyword tags. Some of these words may only be loosely related to the content.

Meta tags still matter. Use keywords in moderation, though. More than a few will dilute the importance of them all.

Nancy Richardson
CreateYourMarket.com publisher

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Quick Tips:

Enclose a business card promoting your website with each piece of outgoing mail.

Ask customers who frequently do business with you for a testimonial.

Promote your website URL offline on everything from bumper stickers to your answering machine message.

Want to reach the highest percentage of your target market?

Advertise in specialty publications including newspaper supplements devoted to a specific topic.

Marketing is crucial, but it doesn't always have to be serious.

Some of the most effective advertising campaigns rely on humor. Don't be afraid to make your customers laugh!

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