SEO by Chris Estes

Meta tags are frequently talked about. Why? Meta tags are arguably the most important factor in Search Engine Optimization. There seems to be a meta tag for everything. But what do they really all mean?

The three primary Meta Tags for SEO and the others have little or no bearing for search engines due to past abuse or overuse.

1. Title – <title>The name of your page should go here</title>
2. Description – <meta name=“description” content=“The description of the content should be contained withing these quotation marks” />
3. Keywords (less relevant in recent but may or may not be read by search engines so should be used with less focus) – <meta name=“keyword” content=“keyword1, keyphrase2, keyword 3″ />

By putting these between the head tags in the html source code give significant help to Search Engines. Using these tags should describe the page. A page about cooking oil should look like these:

1. <title>Cooking Oil proper disposal</title>
2. <meta name=“description” content=“Cooking oil disposial done correctly is environmentally safe and has the least damage to our environment” />
3. <meta name=“keyword” content=“vegetable oil corn oil olive oil disposal” />

In the past there has been debate about whether to use commas or not in the keyword meta tag since they aren’t really all that important don’t get caught up in the debate. Do what ever flows or isn’t included in the other tags. Spend more time SEO copywriting the page than on the Keyword Meta Tag.

Meta tags are not required for display in a browser. Meta tags are invisible to the eye or at least relatively. You can see meta tags by right clicking a page and viewing it’s source. They are typically near the top of the page. So what makes Meta Tags important to Search Engine Optimization? The content in meta tags are displayed in Search Engine Results.

Displays:

In the case when meta tags aren’t used, search engines typically generate the description used in search results from text on page. For the obvious reason pages that don’t have the description meta tags don’t typically perform well.

Using the meta tags properly will come in another post later that you will be able to find over at Birmingham SEO.

There has been some recent discussion in the SEO community about Search Engine Standards. I have not yet formed an opinion on the standards. Really there hasn’t been any hard proof or evidence presented to me one way or another. Knowing politics and different administrative bodies, until something is put into writing in an official capacity nothing will be done. Basically what I am saying that it is a whole lot of wasted time and energy until something is done about it.

A few days ago I posed a question to a respected friend in the SEO community, Kalena Jordan. Kalena heads up the Search Engine College and as an old timer in the industry earns more than just my respect.

I asked:

Hi Kalena

This may be a little off your normal topics… But, you always seem to have such a well thought out view that I want to know your opinion of SEO Standards?

What do you really think about the idea? Good and bad?

Adios
Chris

You can see her response on the Ask Kalena Question and Answer Blog.

I still have not formed an opinion on Search Engine Standards and probably will not until I see a first draft of the proposed standards in front of the governing body. My only thought is what happens if the anti-internet regulation people get involved or even the pro? I wonder what kind of political mess that would turn into?

Many people ask what is the key to successful SEO? In a short answer there is no one exact scheme or plan that fits every website, except to have a plan. Like in a business if you don’t have a plan then you are destine for failure. With any effective plan you have to know what you want for an end result and how to get there. Effective plans begin with:

• Target Keywords and Key Phrases
• Targeting your audience
• Writing effective content

 Simple right?  If you can maintain and understand those basic things you have a the basis for an effective SEO campaign.  There are many detail postings and strategy oriented Search Engine Optimization articles, always remember to keep it simple.

The word optimization means streamline, simple, and easy.  Keep it simple.  If it seems complex then you should change it. 

What is branding? Answers.com defines branding as: A trademark or distinctive name identifying a product or a manufacturer. Branding your business and maintaining your image is important.

A traditional example of branding and image is pizza places. Most everyone has gotten fliers from the pizza place dot matrix neon pink flier that is hard to read. Then there are the fliers from the big chain places printed on a smooth high quality paper, with vibrant earth tones, and a picture of delicious looking pizza. Both places carry the same exact product with the same exact prices. Now which one are you most likely to buy? The one on the smooth nice paper. You spend a lot of time. energy, and money on your product don’t let it fall because of a bad image.

So how does branding apply to SEO and online advertising? If you don’t have a good web-site design you are giving good traffic to your competitors. No matter your SEO power, no matter how good your product, if you website is hard to read and unusable, no online plan is going to give you a maximum return on your investment. If your website is poorly designed or not usable you might as well stick with the neon pink flier.

Online branding is as important to your image as the cleanliness of your store front. Protect your online brand with a clean up-to-date style.

It has been a while since I have posted. Over the past few weeks there have been some interesting developments in Search Engine Optimization. One of the most interesting developments has been the discussions of Yahoo! and Microsoft’s Live.com merging together. There is a lot of speculation about what the consequences would be. The truth be known until it happens little will be known about how the merger will unfold.

Over the past few weeks increased additional security has been added. An Secure Socket Layer (SSL) to secure and encrypt data via the internet has been installed.

I have also done a lot of server work. Including .htaccess like the previous article. I have also been doing some design work for Bagley School. What started out as fixing broken image tags turned into a design and upgrade. You can see the work in progress here. Suggestions are welcome. I have taken this on for free using open source and currently available resources.

If you have been following this blog you know that I do this for entertainment and hold down a regular day job… Well, over the past few weeks I have been undergoing career changes. I am currently between jobs and actively seeking full-time employment. Being between jobs theoretically leaves more time for blogging. I have found that assumption to be the opposite. If you know of job opportunities please let me know. Don’t hesitate to share my online portfolio which includes my resume. portfolio.chris-estes.com Comments and corrections are greatly appreciated.

In other news you will notice some changes to Search Engine Optmization by Chris. In the month of January a new brighter more colorful design has been added. Also, Yahoo Publisher Network ads sponsored ads have been added. A different placement of ad’s has been put in to offer you a a much better range of services. As a supporter of Search Engine College I recomnd taking a look into one of their classes. All thought a class will help you get up to speed on SEO basices but n0thing is going to be as sufficient as an experienced professional. As always I have some affiliate marketers online that would like to put ads on the blog. So stay tunned to some deals I am tyring to work out for you the readers Discount programs and discounted SEO and other equipment.

You don’t want to miss out on some of the exclusive deals I am working out with companies like, Apple, Itunes, and dell stay tuned by subscribing to my feed.