One of the first, and most basic, elements of search engine optimization (SEO) is META tags. Almost everyone quickly discovers the title, description and keyword tag located in the HTML coding of each web page. However, there are many misconceptions and myths floating around online. Let’s take a minute to go through the latest information about these tags so you’ll know what you need to create and why.
Title Tag
The title tag is actually not a META tag. It is simply the title given to a particular page of your site. If you’ll look in the source code of most any web page, you’ll see something that looks like this. (I’ve added bolding to make it easier to read.)
<html> <head> <title>Web & SEO copywriting course that increases sales & search engine positioning.</title> <meta name="description"content="The original Step-by-Step Copywriting Course teaches SEO & web copywriting. 209-page self-scoring copywriting course complete with assignments and answers."> <metaname="keywords"content="copywriting course, learn copywriting, SEO copywriting course">
The title holds a lot of weight with Google and other engines. It also is the first exposure searchers have to your website so it must play a dual role. First, it should contain at least your primary keyphrase. If there is room, insert others as well. Second, it should entice the searcher to click to your site as opposed to choosing any other option such as the other nine organic listings, 10-11 paid AdWords ads and possibly an eight-pack of local listings.
