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No single web page component will absolutely make the page relevant to all search engines. In addition to relying on the body text and headings of a web page for relevancy, search engines also explore the unseen portions of the HTML source code for additional information. The following discussion focuses upon specific areas of HTML program code used in the "head" section of a web page. For more on the all components of web page programming, see Danny Sullivan, Search Engine Features for Webmasters. Because the area in the “head” section of the source code is largely invisible to the search engine user, web designers have repeatedly sought to improve their web hits by manipulating this area through the use of excessive and often unconnected keywords and phrases. Equally important as the particular keywords used, are the locations of these components. Also because it is located in the “head” area of the webpage (which comes before the body), this information will be read, copied and indexed by the search engine robot first, even on long or complicated web pages. “Head” Section for the current page:
Title TagOften considered the most important element of the webpage, especially in reference to first generation search engines, the title tag is the text shown in the windows-bar of the browser window (as shown in “The Clean Living Company” web page excerpt below).
Not only does the text included in the title tag become the browser window title as well as the default text of the bookmark or favorite, it also weighs heavily in the determination of the web pages search engine relevancy. Depending on the algorithm used and the weight given to the title tag within this algorithm, the web page is more likely to gain in relevancy with greater use of relevant keywords.
Therefore, though the title tag may in fact contain only the title of that particular page, that information will only improve the web page relevancy only if the that text contains an appropriate number of important keyword phrases that may be used by search engine users as a query. If not, the web page may only be shown as relevant for the title itself such as in the above case where the HTML is:
Though highly relevant for the term “Clean Living Company,” and variations of that text in a Google search, the title does not directly relate to the subject matter of the web page. As a result, a search for the subject matter of the web page, without use of all or a significant portion of “Clean Living Company” name, may produce little relevant connection to the desired web page. Though second generation search methods are altering the title tag’s importance, generally, the relevancy of the web page improves significantly where the title tag includes important terms and keywords.
In the preceding example, the more relevant title tag would be:
Meta TagsUnlike the title tag, meta tags give no indication of their content to the web page visitor. Also included in the head area of the web page, meta information is used to communicate information with which a web page visitor may not be concerned and may not even directly relate to the terms used in the search, such as the instructions supplied to the browser program to use a specific set of characters or whether a web page is self-rated in terms of adult content. On the other hand, the meta tags contained within this section may also include important terms and keywords not otherwise used in the title tag or body of the webpage and yet important to improving the web page’s search engine relevancy. While some web pages include meta tags such as “author,” “channel,” and “date,” these tags are not used by web-wide search engine robots, but instead are often used for internal search engines. For broader application, the most important three meta tags for search engine optimization are those for the Keywords, Description, and Robots. DescriptionFor search engine robots that support the description meta tag, this text allows the web page designer to influence the description of the page as it is presented in the search results. Why is this important? For search engine users unfamiliar with the target web page prior to the search, the description is vital to attracting their attention. Even if the web page is highly relevant in the search results, this is wasted if the person conducting the search never goes to the web address. Description Meta Tag of the current page:
Unfortunately for web designers, not every major search engine uses the description meta tag when indexing the internet. Some, such as Google and Lycos, ignore the description meta tag altogether and instead automatically generate their own descriptions from the body of the page itself. Others, such as Teoma compromise by taking a portion of the displayed description from the text of the description meta tag and generating the remainder automatically from the body of the page. KeywordsThe keyword meta tag allows the web designer to provide keywords or key phrases of relevance for the search engine robot to index along with the body of the web page. For search engines that use the keyword meta tag, the practical effect of the text is to add to the web page’s relevancy based on keywords that may not appear on the body (displayed) portion of the web page. This allows for use of synonyms, alternate spellings of key terms, and additional but highly relevant terms to be used for the search even if not included in the body text. As a result, the likelihood of inclusion in a search under varying terms increased. For example, including “spider” and “robot” in the keyword meta tag of a page that only uses the term “crawler” improves the chances of the web page’s inclusion in the result listing. As an added benefit, the terms within this meta tag may improve the relevancy of the entire page based on their relation to other terms in the meta tag as well as those in the body text. The Keywords Meta Tag of the current page:
As noted above, not all search engines use the keyword meta tag. In fact, few search engines robots continue to use it at all. Search engine companies have altered their algorithms to exclude this data due to the high potential for abuse. Not only did less scrupulous web designers, especially adult content providers, include several irrelevant terms in this section to increase the chances of showing up in the search results, but others used the keyword meta tag to attempt to direct traffic away from competitor’s by using the competitor’s trademarked or copyrighted information on their own page. RobotsFully supported by most major search engines, the robots meta tag specifies to a search engine robot which web pages should not be indexed, and thus not included in any search result of that engine. The robots meta tag and the associated robot.txt file are discussed further at Robot Exclusion. If seeking to avoid this current page’s inclusion, the appropriate robots meta tag is:
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