Hey all… concerning meta tags:
“KW”: It seems more and more highly ranked companies have fewer and fewer keywords listed in their meta tags… can someone tell me if this is just random and varies, if there is some standard where any keyword after the first 5 listed is basically ignored, or should I list all that I can? The thing is I am selling many different types of products, and many different terms are used even for the major categories so I find it hard to eliminate a lot.
“Description (& Title)”: First, should these 2 be the same? Also, I know the title length should be so that when it comes up on Google all the important info should not be cut off… but what about being keyword rich and the purpose, or should I just concentrate on the fact that this should be something thats useful and informative for the visitor/searcher only and not worry about SEO?
Thanks!
We’ve had this discussion many times before:
Recent discussion on keywords
Recent discussion on title and description
…and another
In a nutshell, no search engine worth worrying about pays any real attention to the keywords tag, since at least 5 years ago.
Description and title fulfil different roles, so should be appropriate for that purpose. Description is not used in determining ranking position, but it is often used to give the “snippet” so it needs to be human-friendly. Title is used in SERPs and also window titles, bookmarks etc, so needs to be something that makes sense in thsoe contexts without looking keyword-stuffed and spammy. Try not to exceed the character limits, but if you go over on the description it won’t be the end of the world.
Preemptive warning to everyone:
Any replies you give must specifically answer the original question as given here. Any generic information about meta tags that appears in the threads I’ve linked to without adding anything relevant to this specific question will be treated as fluff and deleted.