Are keywords dead?

Back in March, we asked this question.  Most of you thought if they weren't dead, they were probably on life support.  Here's what Google had to say recently -

Google doesn't use the "keywords" meta tag in our web search ranking.

What does this mean? Should we eliminate keywords?  There are those who say save the space, don't include them.  Google acknowledges keywords neither help or hurt you at this point (your not penalized for having them), and there are some other sites that still look at them.  Further, Google hasn't ruled out that it may revisit using them in the future. 

Bottom line it's the content that makes the difference.  If you want to have your site show up in Google, there will be need to be some keyword density in your text.

Meta Tags

Meta Tags

Let’s start at the beginning. A Meta Tag is information that web page designers and programmers insert into the “Head” area of your website’s HTML code like a “header” on a Microsoft word document. Unlike the Word document header, the information in the Meta Tag is invisible to website visitors. The only way people can read the Meta Tag is to look at the actual source HTML code, the program used to generate the webpages on the site. Even though it is not part of the customer interface of your site, the Meta Tag is very important because it is the clue many search engines use it to correctly categorize, and rank your website for customers (Meta Tag indexing). And of course customers, in turn, use search engines to make an ordered list of where on the Internet they will shop for goods and services. If your site has no Meta Tags, search engines (and customers) will likely pass it by. If you have the wrong Meta Tags, your search engine rankings will be so low on the search results that your customers will miss it.

You may be thinking that Meta Tag indexing is a haphazard means for search engines to categorize, and rank websites. The good news: there has been a decline in Meta Tag indexing by most major search engines in favor of more reliable search algorithms. Meta tags, however, are by no means obsolete. They are still very much a useful tool, if supplemented by appropriate web page content and web page title tags. But small businesses easily achieve better search engine rankings on their own, if they successfully implement a few simple characteristics into their website’s design. Even if you are unfamiliar with computer programming and HTML code, structuring effective Meta Tags is straightforward, if you follow the framework of the example below.

SEO 101

SEO 101 - Why Doesn’t Anybody Visit My Website?

Using Meta Tags and Search Engine Rankings to Make an Impact
By Chris Freise

So, you’ve built a website and posted it for the world to see. Having launched your global marketing campaign, just sit back and reap the rewards. Sounds too good to be true? That’s because it is.

A successful website must be accessible to customers. So, unless customers can find your website, it doesn’t matter how amazing it is or how good your product is. In January 2003, there were more than 40 million commercial (.com) websites on the Internet, and the number is growing. With all that spam and cyber noise, how will you lead your customers to the treasure on your site?

Source: Internet Software Consortium (http://www.isc.org/),

Distribution of Top-Level Domain Names by Host Count Jan 2003

You have to leave clues (search words, Meta Tags, and computer language markers) so search engines can recognize the value in your site, and lead your potential customers directly to you. Your clues must be clear so that customer web searches by key “search words” will return your website first in the list of results, at the top of the customer’s “search engine ranking”.

But what if this is the first you’ve heard of Meta Tags, search word and search engine rankings? Do you need to hire a specialist to optimize your Internet website? Or do you take the time to develop another skill that you can easily add to your expertise as a self-sufficient entrepreneur? Often businesses do not have the budget to hire an outside firm expressly to increase their site’s search engine rankings, and many who do have the budget will find it useful to learn the ins and outs of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Below, are some basic techniques to enhance your website’s visibility on the Internet. Welcome to SEO 101.