SEO Basics : Lesson Three : Unique Meta Information
Posted by weslinda on May 23, 2007 under SEO / SEM | 
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Today we will cover the final topic in our series on SEO Basics series. These lessons show companies that there are some basic things that can be done to their web sites that will improve their search rankings.
Our final topic is a discussion on the importance of Unique Meta Information for each and every page of your site. There are three tags that everyone should be concerned about. Title, Meta Description and Meta Keywords.
First, we’ll discuss the title tag, this is the first piece of information a search engine will see on your page and should be directly on target for the content within your page. I cannot express just how important a quality on target Title tag is for each of your web pages. The information should be kept as consise as possible, flow and contain keywords that describe the actual content on that page. Remember, not only do the search engines read this tag, but it is typically used as the first line in the results by the major search engines, so it should be enticing as well as on topic.
The second tag, which is the second most important tag is the Meta Description tag. This is a more in depth phrase that describes the page in more detail than the tittle. Think of this tag as an intro or snippet for the page. Many times this is used as the long description in the search results so you’ll again want to make sure that this tag is well written and contains information that will entice a potential click on your link. I have seen a number of web sites rank well without the Meta Description tag, however, I would recommend using it as a tool to improve click through rates from the search engines.
Finally, there is the Meta Keywords tag. While many consider this tag to be almost obsolete, we feel that you should still include it but keep it short and sweet. Don’t stuff it with 800 words that are relative to any piece of information that people might look for on your site. Keep it short and sweet and on topic for the page.
By combining these three tags on each page, and developing unique tags for each page on your site, you will be offering a solid benefit to all visitors of your site and in the long term you’ll reap the rewards of targeting those that are specifically looking for the information you are sharing.
Starting tomorrow, we’ll begin to look at each of these SEO basics in more depth, giving you tips and ideas on how you can implement these ideas into your site and jump ahead of your competition.