Do meta tags still matter?

There once was a time when meta tags seemed to rule the world. Nestled up in the header section of the HTML code, the meta tags told the world the name of your website, gave a description, and listed out the keywords that identified what you were all about. Depending on how many tags you chose to use, they could also let the world know who created the site, what program they used, what version of that program, when it was created and when updated. The Dublin Core meta tags, popular in the industry several years ago (and still found on many academic sites created during that time) were designed to help early versions of Netscape and Internet Explorer understand what your site was supposed to look like, so that they could display it properly.

Then came the Dark Ages of the meta tag: The Age of Spam. Lo, it came to pass that meta tags were ruthlessly exploited for personal gain. Flamboyant title, lengthy descriptions, hundreds of keywords. The same keyword would be used 700 times, in every conceivable misspelling, to try to ensure that every person in the world who searched for that term on a search engine would be led to your site, no matter how badly they spelled it, no matter whether or not your site really had what they wanted -- or even matched that term. Exceedingly popular search terms began falling like rain into every site, even though many of them had nothing whatsoever to do with computers, sex, or the television show "Friends".

And so it came to pass that those who programmed the Google ranking algorithm, and the Lycos ranking algorithm, and every other search engine spider, did not look kindly on the meta tags, and tried to make sure that an internet surfer got what they really wanted, and worthy sites would stay on top. And meta tags were no longer the only thing used to determine what your site was about and how you should rank.

You might consider this as one of the first battlefields of the search engines vs. the webmasters, as the internet began to come of age and grow from an underground information source into the big business that it is today. As any internet marketer can tell you, there have been many battlegrounds since, ranging from hidden text to spammed alt tags and most recently link farms. Each, in their turn, have been devalued after being exploited to excess.

So where does that leave the meta tag? The High Rankings Advisor, an industry newsletter that I am almost always in complete agreement with, states the following: "It really doesn't matter how many characters you put in the Meta tags because they're ignored and/or not given weight with the search engines."

For once, I am forced to disagree with Jill Whalen. While it is true that meta tags are nowhere near as important as they once were, they can still be used to your advantage -- provided that you use them properly. Meta tags can reinforce your company name, your site content, your navigation and your alt tags, and they can work as a team to help you out on the search engines. Meta tags are, indeed, completely ignored by many spiders today, but not by all of them. Many spiders still use the title tag, at the least, and some still use the description. However, if either one is spammed, too long, or otherwise inappropriate, it can and WILL be ignored. Here's the quick guidelines: Your title should give your company name. If you wish, you can add a few accurate words describing your company but keep it BRIEF. Likewise for the description. LookSmart used to require no more than 255 characters for the description, but I would personally say this is on the long side. For the description to be worthwhile, it should be short and sweet. 10 - 15 words that read like real English, and accurately reflect your website and your business. Go ahead and add keywords but for heaven's sake be conservative. If you use too many, some or all will be ignored. Keep it to 20 - 30 if you want them to carry any weight at all in the spiders that still care.

AND NEVER NEVVER NEEVER SPAM SPAM SPAMM SPPAM SPPAAMM THEM!!

Comments

[Donnie Svederus]

Great article and history lesson on meta tags, I always wondered if meta tags really mattered anymore. I've seen some sites rank higher without using a single meta tag. Even though they don't seem as effective anymore, I still use them on websites that I make. Thanks for the info on Meta Tags.

Sincerely,
Don

[Tom V]

I agree good article.

Don, Meta tags are still very important for getting rankings, they are just not the only factor anymore.
I do a little search engine optimization on the side and I can tell you straight up if you don't use meta tags to their full potential you will never get a good rank..