The Basics of Writing Effective Meta Data and How Good Meta Data can Increase Website Traffic

1. Meta Data consists of a title, description and keywords that are placed into the code of every web page to be seen and read only by search engines
2. The goal of writing Meta Data is to enable Search Engines to accurately index a web page. Poorly written, inaccurate or absent metadata on a web page will result in poor Search Engine listings for that page -- and fewer people visiting that page.
3. Search Engines like Google, Yahoo, AltaVista, index all web pages on the Internet by looking at the meta data (and content) listed on each individual web page.
4. The more accurately the meta data (title, description, keywords) matches or reflects the unique content on a page, the better the ranking of that page in Search Engine search results.

How to Write Meta Data

1. Review the content on your page (ie the article) and list the words and phrases and themes that best represent the content of that page. Try to choose words or short phrases that people might type into search engines to find that page or information about that subject).
2. Now write for each web page – title, description, key words – as follows:

Title: The meta title hould be under 10 words, summarizing the content on the page. Ideally the meta title will include one or two of the most important keywords from the content of that page. The meta title should be 30-60 characters, including spaces, be engaging & interesting, causing people to want to visit that page. Don’t confuse this “meta title” with the title of the page that website visitors see. The public does not see any meta data in the content of a web page. The meta title you write will often be the same title Search Engines will use to list your web page. Of all three types of meta data, the title is most important – so make sure it clearly explains the content of your page. Do not just copy the title of the article on a page to create the meta title.

Description: In a sentence or question, write the meta description by expanding upon the meta title, describing in more detail what’s on the page. Again, use key words and make it interesting. This will appear on the search engine’s search results page “describing” your web page. Be under 15 words, 110-150 characters is good.

Key words: List meta keywords in priority, from most important to least important, separating each keyword or key phrase with commas. Never repeat key words more than 3 times. Using approximately ten keywords is more effective than having a long list of keywords. Never use keywords that have nothing to do with the content of the page they’re put on, but instead use meta keywords that match the content (actual words) on each individual page.

Search engine placement research shows that 8 out of 10 times, search engine listings actually dissuade web searchers from clicking on a link because the meta title and meta descriptions are written poorly. Write interesting meta data that directly relates to the page it describes and you'll be on your way to generating more free "organic" search engine traffic.

Sample Meta Data (for ChilliwackLife.com)

Title: Chilliwack BC Canada - Chilliwack Life
Description: Your source for living, working and playing in Chilliwack BC
Keywords: Chilliwack BC british columbia canada

What the actual meta data looks like in HTML

<TITLE>Chilliwack BC Canada - Chilliwack Life</TITLE>

<meta name="DESCRIPTION" content="Your source for living, working and playing in Chilliwack BC">

<meta name="KEYWORDS" content="Chilliwack BC british columbia canada">

Notes: in the above example, the most important keyword phrases for a particular page on the ChilliwackLife.com website are “Chilliwack” and “Chilliwack BC” so notice how those keywords appear in the title, description and keywords. Do not repeat the name of your website in the meta title and the meta description.

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