How To Start An Internet Business – Meta Tags and Keyword Density

Okay, you have a domain name, layout and content. Now we get to the step that will go a long way to determining how the site will rank. Yes, we will focus on two well-known topics, meta tags and keyword density.

Meta Tags

Meta tags are html code blocks that “knows” the search engine what is on a particular web page. Meta tags are not visible on your pages, the search engine robots but focus on them. Three different meta tags that should appear on every page of your site.

Meta title essentially acts as the title page. When you do a search on Google, meta title is the first underlined text within each list. The contents of the meta title should include the keywords you want to encourage with the most important listed first. Each word must be entered no more than 2 times and the total number of words does not exceed 13 words.

Meta description tag allows for the expansion of the meta title. Use short sentences to emphasize the who, what, why and where your business. Make absolutely sure that each keyword in your title also appears in your description.

One annoying thing about search engines is how they use the meta description. Most just choose a specific part of your description. When your link appears in the results, a description may make little if any sense. Unfortunately, not much you can do about it.

Historically, meta keywords are very important factors in the ranking process. How times have changed. Google did not even see them, while MSN and Yahoo provide marginal value. You still have to use them, if no other reason, then it forces you to focus on your keyword phrases when creating content.

Keyword Density

Keyword density simply refers to how often keywords appear on the page as a percentage of the total text. Several years ago, it is common practice to cram and hide keywords throughout the page. You probably remember seeing pages with thousands of keywords that are listed at the bottom. This no longer works and is considered spamming by search engines.

Just as the meaning of life, the best keyword density percentage is a hotly debated topic. Theories and opinions ranged from 1.5 to as high as 20 percent. We just ran a test with a page that only has the keyword phrase on it, thus representing 100% keyword density. The search engines that react only are Yahoo, which listed it at number 1 for 25 days before dropping it. Although this test, the simple fact is that nobody really knows the optimal density, except for the programmer in search engines. Rumor has it that they are permanently locked in the Himalayas, so there is not much hope of getting any information from them.

Our experience is keyword density really does not matter if you have flowing text on the page. The point of your site is to sell, so write a complete copy of that goal. After you finish copying, modifying it to make sure the important keywords appear at least once in the first paragraph. Do not force keywords into sentences; just make sure they appear at least once. We have a client with a number 1 ranking on Google, Yahoo and MSN that have keyword density ranged from 0.5 to 18.5 percent. Yes, it is ranked keywords with a lot of competition and traffic.

In Closing

In my opinion, meta tags and keyword density is too much confusion. They are an important factor, but the content on your pages so much more. Be wise with your content, pursuing targeted linking campaign and rankings will follow.