How do search engines use meta tags?

Part 2 of What are Meta Tags?

We now know what are meta tags (previous post) and that they are really only two that we care about (well most of us, there are some additional ones that should be in a webmasters tool kit). So how do search engines use meta tags?

Keywords meta tag:

It used to be that you could put the keywords you wanted to rank for into the keyword meta tag, and the more the better right? Then you could sit back and consider yourself done with your SEO efforts. This has not been true for a while. Google completely ignores this tag and has for years, and while yahoo and bing probably look at the tag, it is not clear that they give it much weight in determining how to rank your site. Regardless, do not put 30+ keywords into this tag, this is known as keyword stuffing and will only harm your page. Keep it to 10 at most. If you do use adsense or other context driven ads on your site, there is evidence that they use the tag to determine what ads to show.

Description meta tag:

Technically this meta tag doesn’t help your web page rank any better, but it is still important. Why? Because if this tag is set, google will often show it as the snippet underneath the title in the SERPs (search engine results pages) rather than grabbing some random chunk of text off your page. I’ve seen some funny snippets over the years, usually from sites that have no text, so you get a snippet that says “you need flash version xxx to view this site”. Is that going to entice you to click? You can think of your description meta tag as the “welcome” mat to your site. Put together a catchy description (no more than 160 characters as that is all that will show) that will invite your reader to click through to find out more.

PPC as a Vital Internet Marketing Tool

Pay per click or PPC advertising is one of the several internet marketing strategies used by online marketers today. Recent polls showed that next to search engine optimization and blogging, PPC is the most recommended marketing tactic by experienced business marketers.

How does PPC Work?

PPC advertisers post their PPC ads on content sites, blogs, search engines, and other networks, which they pay a certain amount every time a user clicks on their ads. PPC offers a means of income for bloggers and an attractive package to online marketers as well.

In the major search engines like Yahoo and Google, pay per click advertisers usually bid for keywords they want to target. Such keywords may have been the product of extensive keyword research done by the Internet marketers. Once competition, if any, for the desired keywords are eliminated, these keywords are then inserted in the PPC ads, which are then posted.

Every time someone puts up a query for the keyword, the PPC ad is pulled out by the search engine and shown along with the search results. Other content websites require a fixed fee for ads instead of bidding. Pay per click boosts any Internet marketing campaign because it allows the advertiser the freedom to choose where his ad will appear.

There are various PPC providers online marketers could turn to but as of today, Google Adwords, Microsoft adCenter, and Yahoo Search Marketing are the leaders in PPC advertising. The costs per click to be paid by business marketer differ, depending on the search engine and the competition for the targeted keywords.

Long Tail Marketing… What Does It Mean?

Recently there is a huge stir around the phrase “long tail marketing.” It primarily deals with retailing online and makes some real interesting points you should consider. The concept is by Chris Anderson and you can get his book at Amazon.

But what does it all mean? It means get busy with keywords and content to get all the searches possible to your site. People do search differently so you must consider all keywords that relate to you.

An example is a hobby site. Imagine the “length of the tail” in how many keywords that could be. Everything from backyards to zebras. It’s the length of the tail when all of those keywords are connected that can bring you more business. Think about a big tail on a huge animal, it covers a lot of ground and gets your attention when connected to an alligator! Internet Marketing

So to coin a phrase, “get your tail moving” and leave no rocks unturned. Some search for refrigerators and for some it is an ice box or the fridge. Think about what people name things in other parts of the world that are the same thing in your world.

In keyword research it is easy to spot and grow niches. Low search counts at the top 3 search engines can mean business for you when there is no competition. Use Wordtracker to find out what these less used search engine searches can do for you. So what if there are only 6 searches a month for an item; if you happen to sell that item and no one else does, you want that business. Internet Marketing

The long tail of search phrases will build traffic. You can not count on 80% of your traffic coming from 20% of your top used keywords based on readings at Google. Because competition for highly used words is so big, long tail marketing makes perfect sense.

If you are an Adsense publisher, imagine how many more relative ads you could display on all of those new low competition keyword pages. It is the total searches from all of those less used words that make using them worthwhile.

Create your content with a broader base of keywords to see the effect. Watch your site stats and be amazed at all of the new search terms you’ll be found with. Many will tell you more content or more products would be easy to market.

With search engines today it is all about content and keywords, and Google flat out says so in their webmaster guidelines. Long tail marketing is real easy with search engines. All you have to do is know the words people use. Visit Internet Marketing