correct use of meta data

[proactivator]

Hi,
I hope Bethers finds this thread because she seems extremely knowledgable about SEO matters, but I am sure there are many more of you who are savvy about these things. Lets see if I have this right.
1. Most SEs' do not use meta words when seaching, but we should use them anyway.
2. Is it right to only use words that appear on that particular page.
3.If you use your comany name in a page title, have it appear at the end.
I am a bit concerned because I am keeping text to a minimum and that might restrict my chances of being picked up by a Search Engine. Should I be cunning and decide on good words and build my text around them (could be interesting!). My site is in the early stages of construction but you will see what I mean about image led if you go to it at www.jamesbartondesign.com

[aconstas1]

Re: correct use of meta data

1. Many SEs do not use meta keywords like they previously did. My understanding is that basically previously whatever keywords you stuck in there were the keywords that your site would contend for in SERPS. Obviously that got spammed and abused. So, now most SE's don't use the keywords for that purpose anymore, but If my understanding is correct, some do compare your keywords meta vs your page's text to get a density report. Basically whatever your keywords you use in Meta, you want to use in your text as well. I've heard never to go above 7% and i've heard keep around 3%. I don't know which is better, but some people seem to do fine with 7%.

As far as description, you want a well structured sentence or two to describe your page. Preferrably with words actually used in your page and keywords in there... But dont make it a keyword list, as this would adversely affect your page's rank.

As far as the title goes, The title is what will actually appear in a search engine result for one of your indexed pages. So if your home page is titled HOME, that is what search engines would display. along with the beginning text that is closest to the back or highest in HTML source on the page. Your company name in title is useful once you build up your company name. So incase someone searches for your company title, there it would be displayed at the end of your title.

Titles play a major role in search engine results. You also don't want to name your titles the same because the SE's will probably only index one of them, but who knows. Some SE's check for uniqueness of content and you wouldn't want a SE to think all your pages had similar content because they were all titled the same.

The more words, the better, I even use keywords in the actual page names in case a SE picks up on some keywords in the page's file name.

I hope this helped and If im off on something, I'm sure i'll be corrected. There are others that are more SEO knowledgeable than I am.

[proactivator]

Re: correct use of meta data

Hi Alex,
Many thanks for all the very useful info. I shall now set too and see what I can do.
Regards,
James.

[Bethers]

Re: correct use of meta data

A few additions - the title is rarely, if ever used in the bit the se's display when they show listings. But the title is probably the most important thing you can do SEO wise for ALL pages - and yes, se's DO spider ALL pages. Having the same title, description or keywords on multiple pages can HURT your in the results for ALL the pages. Each page needs to be unique and have it's own information.

The description is often what is used by the se's (as well as any text they want to use on the page) for their search results. So a well written little ad for THAT page as your description is great - and putting a call to action in the description is also well recommended. Just make sure whatever you do - you are always gearing it to the people coming to your site FIRST. SE's are simply looking for the best results for those people who are using their search.

[proactivator]

Re: correct use of meta data

Hi Beth,
Thank you so much. I was so hoping you would come to my aid as from what I have been reading on the forums you seem to have this subject pretty much nailed. I am going to try and get the pages titled correctly and the right meta words as well. Does it matter that most of my pages will be images with very little text. It is an image led site for people to see the products I make. I am contructing my site with a separate page for each product (and I am attempting to have as few scrolling pages as possible) so with optimised images most pages are small as far as loading into the browser goes,with the idea that everything will load as fast as possible. There will be over 100 pages by the time I am finished. Is this the right way to go?

[Bethers]

Re: correct use of meta data

Yes, it matters a great deal to have text on the page. Each of those images need to be explained with text using the words people would use about those products. Text will not cause a problem with optimizing - it's images that have the higher loading time.

You need text - for people - not just se's. While a picture is good - it will not sell the product alone. Take a look at my 2 stores - with lots of pictures - and slower load times because of them - but people need the information about the products, the text - not just images. And se's need that info to send people to you - because when people type in - say "blue widgets" if the site only has pictures of blue widgets - but no text saying that's what they are - the se will find the site that has the text.