As a directory editor, I often come across sites that are submitted to me that do not have any meta tags. With this in mind, I would like to take this opportunity to
express how important meta tags are on your website and how they play a role when using other services.

If you are unsure of what meta tags are, meta tags are HTML tags that are inserted into the header of a web page between the <head></head> tags.

The reasons for having meta tags in your web pages are:

  • Better Search Results - For better results in SERPS (Search Engine Ranking Pages), it is best to have meta keywords included in your website for people searching for just a phrase in your website. Meta keywords are one-word descriptors of your website’s purpose and products and will better help your site’s visibility in Google and other search engines if your meta keywords are inserted in your website’s code.
  • Better Directory Inclusion - If you are submitting your website to directories, more than likely their crawlers will be skimming your website for your description tag for your directory listing. If you do not have a meta description present, the directory will more than likely pick a sentence from your website that does not describe your website’s purpose or products. Also, if a directory is human edited and you do not have any descriptions anywhere on your site that describe your website’s purpose, a directory editor will turn to your meta tags for more information.

For better search results and optimization, it is best to keep the meta keywords section from 10-20 words that best describe your website and a description length of approximately 170 characters.

Be sure to choose your keywords and description wisely to best suit your website’s purpose and audience. You will also want to update your meta tags from time to time, because your website’s products and purpose may change. If you do not have access to add or modify your website’s meta tags, please contact your webmaster for more information on how to modify these.

Please feel free to leave any feedback or tips on how meta tags have improved your website in our comments section and how they have impacted your website’s optimization, search results, and traffic.