# Meta Tags



## nEighter (Nov 14, 2008)

Keywords and Meta Tags.. how do they differ? is teh best thing to do is to put each tag or keywords on each page? And are Meta Tags the same as keywords? Or/how do they differ?:blink:


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## nEighter (Nov 14, 2008)

I checked my site (albeit it is not fully done) to see how it is from a computer's perspective. This is what I got:



> *Keyword density check on atlascoatingsandconstructio...*
> 
> Keyword density can affect keyword ranking. Too much keyword density can cause your site to be tagged as spam and too little keyword density can cause the search engines to consider the page as not very relevant for those keywords.
> 
> ...


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## nEighter (Nov 14, 2008)

> *Meta tag check of atlascoatingsandconstructio...*
> 
> 
> *General results*
> ...



:blink: why is it like that??


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## DarthPainter (Jul 26, 2009)

nEighter said:


> Keywords and Meta Tags.. how do they differ? is teh best thing to do is to put each tag or keywords on each page? And are Meta Tags the same as keywords? Or/how do they differ?:blink:


Meta tags are html elements that search engines can use to narrow down the appropriateness of webpages for their searches. Keywords are a specific subset of meta tags. 

For example, you can use meta tags to classify what type of document your webpage, which is it's own class of meta tag, or you can use keywords, which simply will show up when someone searches for a particular keyword.

However, meta tags are largely irrelevant these days as they had been abused for things like google bombing and luring people into sites that weren't related at all to their search listings. Most search engines don't bother with them anymore.

If you're still looking to use them anyways, place them on every page and only use keywords that actually are in your page, or else they won't really work.:thumbsup:



> why is it like that??


Not sure, but you can't really trust sites like that to tell you things about style and rules. Standards for html vary wildly across the board. Internet Explorer basically destroyed standards years ago, and meta tags stopped being relevant a while ago. The only test I bother with anymore is the Acid3 test. But then again, I'm a huge technophile and a perfectionist.


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## RCP (Apr 18, 2007)

True ^^
I noticed only one of your sites pages is indexed by Google. Did you install the code on each page?


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## nEighter (Nov 14, 2008)

running late. I will check this thread out later. Hey thanks for the responses guys. And again.. it is not done yet. Hopefully by the end of this next week it will be pretty much wrapped up.


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## RCP (Apr 18, 2007)

It is never done, my friend!


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## nEighter (Nov 14, 2008)

so what is the difference between Meta Tags and Keywords? AND do I write different ones per the page so that each page is more specialized and can be picked up under searches for that topic? > think I already answered my question... but would like to know what you guys have done.


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## DarthPainter (Jul 26, 2009)

Ha, I already explained a few posts up, but: Keywords are just a specific subset of meta tags. Meta tags describe the nature of your site, but there are more than one type of meta tags. There tags that describe zipcodes and locations, which would help narrow down searches for painters in your area. There are also tags for description which will help summarize what your page is about. And you have keywords, which are just a set number of words that are relevant to your site as most people don't search google using a full sentence.


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## nEighter (Nov 14, 2008)

oh sorrry, I just saw you and rcp replied.. I just got back and saw hers and didn't read yours  Sorry bout that! :thumbsup:


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## nEighter (Nov 14, 2008)

thanks Darth.. just reread your responses


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## DarthPainter (Jul 26, 2009)

No problem 

I've had a slow, boring day, aside from a tiny bit of painting, so I spent the day here anyways.


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## nEighter (Nov 14, 2008)

so when entering your keywords, you specifically address what the page is about right? That is per the page you do that?


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## DarthPainter (Jul 26, 2009)

nEighter said:


> so when entering your keywords, you specifically address what the page is about right? That is per the page you do that?


yes, the more keywords that are both in the meta tag and physically on the page, the higher your chances are of getting a hit from the engine.

By doing it for each page, you simply increase the number of possible hits you can get since not all traffic is directed to the main page.


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## RCP (Apr 18, 2007)

Have you indexed each page and submitted a site map?
I would also add links to each page at the bottom of each page.
Also make those paint logos hyperlinks.


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## nEighter (Nov 14, 2008)

no because I have not completed the actual content yet. After it is satisfactory then I will. Then I will build off it. So if the site map has not been submitted that means that I won't get much if any traffic from it huh? I gotta try to carve away some time for it this week then.


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## 1800PAINTJOB of SD (Dec 3, 2009)

Meta tags aren't looked at much by search engine spiders anymore (but you should still use them). Your best bet is to make a good title for your page. example (my company): "san diego painting company for over 20 years." This is what google will post in bold on its searches

Meta Description: this is what google will post under the bold link for a search. you want to put keywords in this that you think people will search for.

Then on your home page you want to use keywords. Header tags are a good way to show the search engine spiders whats important on your website.

To see what good keywords are for your company go to http://www.keywordspy.com
under the search bar click "keywords" and type what you think people search for. It will tell you approximately how many people search for those words per month. So for my company i found out more people search for san diego painting (9,900 views per month) vs. San Diego painter (2,900 views per month. So i made "san diego painting" my keywords.

If you want to see what your competitors keywords are click domains under the search bar and type your competitors website URL.

Sorry if this information is kind of scattered lol. If you need more info just let me know


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## RGordon (Mar 22, 2010)

I see people already explained what they are, so I will skip that part.

BUT, a few things to note:

1. META keywords are essentially worthless these days and will have ZERO impact on your search engine ranking. They can't hurt, but they won't help.

2. the Title tag is VERY important for SEO. Make sure you have a brief, but keyword rich title tag.

Your current home page title tag is pretty bad. It's WAY too long and nonsensical and trying to do TOO much 
(Interior/Exterior painting wood rot repair company serving Olathe, Overland Park, Leawood, Stilwell, Johnson county, Kansas City.)

Change it to something like "Licensed Kansas City House Painter | Atlas Coatings & Construction"

(keep in mind the title tag is also the blue headline people see in google, you want it to make sense and grab attention, not be a long list of words. Nobody clicks that)

Also, if you want to optimize for inter and exterior keywords, make seprate pages for those and use appropriate title tags (e.g. "Exterior House Painter in Kansas City | Atlas Coatings & Construction")

Also, make sure you have a unique title tag on each page of your site.

3. The META description has no affect on your search engine rank (people think it does, but it doesn't). BUT a good description will get more clicks, and thus more traffic. Write a description that sells your services and has some relevant keywords. Make sure it's unique for each page.

hope that helps!


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## parodi (Mar 15, 2010)

RGordon said:


> I see people already explained what they are, so I will skip that part.
> 
> BUT, a few things to note:
> 
> ...


Meta tags are almost meaningless now and have been so for quite some time. You're right, title tags are much more important but something to keep in mind is that Google (60% of all searches) only indexes the first 64 characters of the text in the title tags....so be very selective about keywords especially on the home page. 

nEighter, One obvious keyword missing from the Atlas site title is Missouri or MO which sets the main geographic locale for searchers. Try to lead off in the title tags with the most obvious generic search which is probably "House Painter Kansas City MO" then follow with "Painting Contractor." If you do a lot of commercial work put that in the title.

One thing that has been left out of this thread is the importance of unique content. Content is king with google. Look at what your competitors in Johnson county DON'T have on their sites (in terms of content) and include it in yours. I like your keyword phrase "radiant barrier coatings." You own that keyword phrase in your town. (Just go to Google and put in "radiant barrier coatings Kansas City MO" and see that you are 1st page , 1st slot in results)

Put put your denser content further into the site and leave the home page clutter free. Once you have unique content try to get other sites to link to it. In-bound links to unique content are golden to google.

PHOTOS: Use every photo with a keyword caption and don't forget the alt tags. Alt tags are much more important than meta tags ever were. (Alt tags make your site accessible to the blind and google is a very PC organization which will reward you for being sensitive to the handicapped.) You have too many photos with Oleathe in the caption. Push your important town names in every photo caption like "Wood Rot Repair in Mission Hills MO", "Insurance Restoration job in Lionsgate MO"

This tip is for everyone who puts up galleries of their house exteriors. 
Check the weather forecast. Wait for a forecast of low humidity and puffy cumulus clouds. Low humidity means deep blue skies. The sky takes up one third of every exterior shot....use it to your advantage. If you do "before and after" take the *before* on a cloudy day and the *after* on a day as described above.

One last word about the Atlas site. You have way too much drop shadow in text which is making your text look blurry. Also you are switching fonts from serif to sans-serif. Once you pick a font (which should be sans-serif) stay with it. The only time you use a serif font on a computer screen is for banner graphics and such. 

Hope this helps, good luck


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## luisp (Jun 5, 2010)

*I can.....*

I can really give a whole technical explanation, but in my NON technical opinion Keywords are the ones you are going to insert inside your website so it can help you rank better. 

Meta Tags = You can use your keyword to build your meta tags which are locate inside your Code <META>

However this is only like 1 percent of the whole explanation.

You can check On Page SEO to have a better understanding.

If you want to take your knowledge to the next level check Off Page SEO.....


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