Header Tags/Meta Tags

[Guest]

I just don't get the header/meta tags thing. Should I have them for every page? for every product in my catalog? Can anyone give me an example of title, description and keywords for pages and meta tags for products? Perhaps there is a good resource guide out there that someone can let me know of. This stuff is frustrating me...but so is not being ranked by Google.

 

Thanks,

Liz

[Jack_mcs]

You should have them for every page you want to have listed in the search engine listings. Definately for all of your product and category pages. The title and meta tags are unique to each site so an example may not help but I will try. First of all, don't worry about the products and cateogories pages if you have Header Tags installed (probably holds true for Dynamic Meta Tags too but I can't say for sure). Those page will be automatically setup if you installed it properly.

 

So let's consider your home page, which is the most important part of the site simply because it is the first one the SE's see. You have to come up with a keyword (or two or three, but no more) for that page. What is the keyword? If someone wanted to set down at google and type in a word that would return your site, what would you tell them to type in? Let's say you sell fish. Typing in apples wouldn't do that person any good in trying to find your site. Typing in fish would be a lot closer but does that really describe your product? Maybe fresh fish would be better. You have to put a lot of thought into picking the keyword. It is the single most important part of any page in regards to SEO.

 

Once you have you keyword picked out, let's assume it is Fresh Fish, then the title of your home page should be Fresh Fish. You can add the name of your site after it if you want but if the text is too long or not related to fish, then it may not help.

 

Your meta description should contain a sentence or two about your site. It should mention your keyword, Fresh Fish, and the sentence should start with it if possible. Although this is difficult to do and still have the sentence make sense. So, you might have something like: meta description = "Fresh Fish sold here daily. Our fresh fish is the freshest fish sold anywhere."

 

Then move to your meta keywords, which should be easy now since you have put all that research into finding the correct keywords. In this tag, you just put your two or three keywords and separate them by comma's.

 

The page still needs to be optimize for the keywords but that will get you started. Optimizing a page is not difficult but it does take time to understand what to do. Fortunately, it is one of the most popular topics hear on the forums as well as on the net so you should be able to find a lot of information about it.

 

Jack

[Guest]

You should have them for every page you want to have listed in the search engine listings. Definately for all of your product and category pages. The title and meta tags are unique to each site so an example may not help but I will try. First of all, don't worry about the products and cateogories pages if you have Header Tags installed (probably holds true for Dynamic Meta Tags too but I can't say for sure). Those page will be automatically setup if you installed it properly.

 

So let's consider your home page, which is the most important part of the site simply because it is the first one the SE's see. You have to come up with a keyword (or two or three, but no more) for that page. What is the keyword? If someone wanted to set down at google and type in a word that would return your site, what would you tell them to type in? Let's say you sell fish. Typing in apples wouldn't do that person any good in trying to find your site. Typing in fish would be a lot closer but does that really describe your product? Maybe fresh fish would be better. You have to put a lot of thought into picking the keyword. It is the single most important part of any page in regards to SEO.

 

Once you have you keyword picked out, let's assume it is Fresh Fish, then the title of your home page should be Fresh Fish. You can add the name of your site after it if you want but if the text is too long or not related to fish, then it may not help.

 

Your meta description should contain a sentence or two about your site. It should mention your keyword, Fresh Fish, and the sentence should start with it if possible. Although this is difficult to do and still have the sentence make sense. So, you might have something like: meta description = "Fresh Fish sold here daily. Our fresh fish is the freshest fish sold anywhere."

 

Then move to your meta keywords, which should be easy now since you have put all that research into finding the correct keywords. In this tag, you just put your two or three keywords and separate them by comma's.

 

The page still needs to be optimize for the keywords but that will get you started. Optimizing a page is not difficult but it does take time to understand what to do. Fortunately, it is one of the most popular topics hear on the forums as well as on the net so you should be able to find a lot of information about it.

 

Jack

 

Thank you! That was so simple...yet so helpful. Now, do you have any idea why my default description and keywords keep continuing to pop up? The default title has stayed...

[Jack_mcs]

I'm not sure I understand your question but if you are askingwhy the default tags are showing up it is because you have the HT boxes checked. Try unchecking them and see if that helps.

 

Jack

[Guest]

Permissions were set to 777...so not sure why it wasn't working. I just edited the header_tags.php manually and it seems to be working.

 

Thanks for your help with the tags...now on to the keywords...

 

Thanks!

Liz