Web Design Discussion

The meta robots tag is not one of the common tags to include in your web pages. I decided to mention it here because you see it used on some sites when it has a clear purpose.

All web sites will naturally get indexed by the search engines without using this tag.

The code for the robots meta tag must be included within the header tags of your web pages.

Top 7 Benefits and Uses of the Robots Meta Tag

1. Tell search engines not to index your pages (noindex)


<meta name="robots" content="noindex">


2. Tell search engines to index your site but not to follow links (nofollow)

Use this code for pages which contain useful content but have links which are irrelevant or obsolete.


<meta name="robots" content="nofollow">


3. Tell search engines to not index or follow links on your web page (noindex,nofollow)

If you include this code in the header of every page of your web site, it will not be indexed.


<meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow">


4. Tell search engines to index your site and follow links (index,follow)


<meta name="robots" content="index,follow">


Because search engines index and follow links naturally, there is no need to add this tag.

5. Tell search engines not to cache your pages (noarchive)


<meta name="robots" content="noarchive">


6. Prevents a description appearing below the page in the search results and prevents page caching (nosnippet)


<meta name="robots" content="nosnippet">


7. Prevent search engines from displaying DMOZ data in the search results of your site (noodp)


<meta name="robots" content="noodp">


The above code prevents all search engines from using this information for the page’s description.

To specifically prevent Google from using this information for a page’s description, use:


<meta name="googlebot" content="noodp">


TIPS

A. A word of warning about using content value “NONE”


<meta name="robots" content="none">


Some webmasters use content value “NONE” to indicate no robots restrictions, however they unknowingly block all search engines from indexing the content on their web pages.

B. If you add the robots meta tags to a framed site, make sure you include them on both the FRAMESET and the FRAME pages.

C. Rather than use the meta robots tag to not index a web page use the robots.txt file to block crawler access to pages.
What is robots.txt file?

Conclusion
If you don’t specific the robots meta Tag on a web page, the spiders will index that page and all its links by default. Only use this tag when you don’t want certain parts of your web page indexed.

Resources

Yahoo Provides NOYDIR Opt-Out Of Yahoo Directory Titles & Descriptions
http://searchengineland.com/070228-140603.php

The keywords tags are the least significant of the meta tags. The major search engines don’t crawl them therefore they has almost no affect on your rankings. Many web sites don’t even bother to include them but focus on the title and description meta tags plus weaving their keyword phrases into the web copy.

So should you include the keywords tag?

My recommendation is to include it anyway because some of the smaller search engines still crawl it.

Here are the top 4 strategies to use:

1. Correct coding

Incorrect coding of your meta tags may prevent the search engine spiders fom crawling your web page. HTML errors throughout your web site slows the loading of your web pages. Slow loading causes customers to click off your web site.

HTML


<meta name="keywords" content="keyword1, keyword2, keyword3">


XHTML


<meta name="keywords" content="keyword1, keyword2, keyword3"/>


2. Length of tag

The keywords meta tag should be under 800 characters. Use commas of spaces between each keyword.keywords (comma seperated, do not repeat a phrase more than 3 times)

3. Keyword repetition

You may repeat the keywords in your keyword phrases however don’t repeat your keyword phrases more than three times. ie

dog grooming and training,dog caring,dog training

Include the keywords used in your title and description tags and web copy.

I use spaces instead of commas so the search engines can automatically pick up the combinations and I don’t have to repeat keywords as much.

Instead of using commas ie

dog grooming and training,dog caring,dog training

I’ll use spaces instead and have less words ie

dog grooming training caring

4. Word order

Place your most important keywords or keyword phrases at the beginning of your keywords meta tag.

Conclusion

The best investment of your time in optimizing your web site is to do thorough keyword research. Keywords are what people enter into the search engines to find your web site. If you include these keywords within your web copy and in the meta tags you have a much greater chance ranking well for your web site.

Keep in mind there are other major factors you need to consider to rank well such as lots of relevant high quality links pointing to your web site.

Site owners don’t often put much thought into meta descriptions tags. They will write anything that comes into their heads without considering who’s going to read them.

What are meta description tags?

These are the tags you insert after the title tags of your web site. The description displays under the title of your web site in the search engine results pages (SERPS).

7 Top Strategies for Optimizing Description Tags:

1. Include keywords

Don’t duplicate the keywords used in your title tag. Try to vary them a little ie if you used the plural form in the title tag use the singular form in the description tag.

If you used an abbreviated word in the title tag use the full word in the description tag.

2. Write a different description for every web page.

Make sure the description adequately describes what the web page is about so the visitor knows immediately what to expect.

3. Get into the head of your visitor.

You only have a few sentences to make an impression on your visitor. A well-crafted description will help differentiate your site from your competitors. Try to understand what will draw the visitor into your web site. Make sure you write full sentences, not an abbreviated ones.

4. Length of description

The search engines will read anywhere from 150 to 250 characters. Google displays about 150 to 160 characters. If it is over 160 characters it will be truncated. Other search engines allow more characters. A general rule is to write 200 characters (approximately 25-30 words.)

5. Include keyword phrases used in web content

Search engines give more weight to sites which include the same keyword phrases in the web copy and description tags therefore incorporate keyword phrases used in your web page content.

6. Word order

Place your most important keyword phrase at the beginning of your meta description tags. It should also be a phrase that captures your visitor’s attention so they will want to check out your web site.

7. Correct coding

Errors in your code slow the search engine spiders or they may not read your description correctly. Check your code by running it through an online validator at: http://validator.w3.org/

The description tag is coded differently for HTML and XHTML.

In HTML the tag has no end tag. ie


<meta name="description" content="7 Top Strategies for optimizing description tags">

In XHTML the tag must be properly closed.


<meta name="description" content="7 Top Strategies for optimizing description tags" />


Conclusion

Optimizing the description tags is is not as important as optimizing the title tags because the description tags don’t impact your rankings as much. Instead focus on providing a well-written description that will make visitors want to check out your web site.

To read 1-5 please visit Top 10 strategies to optimize your title tag

6. Don’t place your company name at the beginning

When surfing the web you’ll notice many sites place their company name or web site address at the beginning of the title tag. You’ll probably rank No 1 for that term however it does not help your rankings. Place your best keywords or keyword phrases at the beginning followed by your company name. ie

dog grooming and training - Dog Care Inc.

7. Use a divider

Use spaces, dashes (-) or bars (|) to separate your keyword phrase from your company name. This will help you to rank your page for both phrases.

8. Repeat the keywords in your headline and content

The header tag (h1) is often used for the first headline on your web page. Include the same keywords in the headline as your title tag.

Your content should reflect the keywords you chose for your title tag. Be sure to sprinkle them throughout your web copy. This tells the search engines the theme of your site and rank it accordingly.

9. Don’t use the same title tags for all web pages

Create unique title tags for each web page by using different keywords for each title tag. Then use these keywords in the content on your web page.

10. Write for your visitors

Keep your web site visitors in mind when writing. Create attractive and descriptive titles. Your description tag and web copy should expand on the contents of your title tag.

Conclusion

Title tags are crucial in attaining high search engine rankings. Take time to craft a short, concise and attractive description for each of your web pages. Most of your competitors have not read these top 10 strategies so your site has the potential to outrank them.

Title tags are the most important tags of your web site regarding search engine optimization. If you optimize the tag correctly you will be well ahead of your competitors.

Top 10 strategies to optimize your title tags

1. Keyword research

Find the most targeted keywords related to your web site content. I use Search It because it contains all the brainstorming tools you need in one place ie

Wordtracker free keyword suggestion tool
Google adwords keyword tool
Seodigger keyword tool
Yahoo keyword selector tool

2. Length of title tags

Limit the length of the title tag to 70 characters (including spaces). Search engines usually truncate the title after 68-70 characters. This means you can use approximately 6-7 words. This increases your chances of getting all your words to display in all three major search engines.

3. Use keyword phrases

Don’t use single keywords. These are far too competitive to attain high rankings. Instead use 2-4 words that include your targeted keyword phrase.

4. Word order

Place your most targeted keyword at the beginning followed by your second most targeted keyword. This not only helps your ranking in the search engines but it’s what will be displayed at the top of your visitors browser when they visit your web site.

If your keyword phrase is “dog grooming and training”

instead of writing:

the top 7 tips for dog grooming and training

write this for your title tag

dog grooming and training - the top 7 tips

5. Don’t repeat keywords

Don’t use the same keyword more than once. This may be considered spam by the search engines and you may see a drop in your rankings.

Are you constantly trying to keep abreast of all the latest search engine strategies?
Do you often visit forums or read newsletters to stay on top of the current trends?

Read the rest of this entry »

If you want to redirect several domains to your main web site, you need to use a 301 redirect placed inside the .htaccess file on your server.

Definition of 301 Redirect

A 301 redirect tells web browsers and search engines that a web page(s) or web site(s) has been permanently moved to a new location. The 301 redirect code includes the web site address to which the resource has been moved. Web browsers will automatically redirect the person to the new location.

When to use 301 Redirect

A 301 redirect should be used to move a web site to a new domain name (URL). Search engines will preserve the search engine rankings the web site had at the previous domain.

Requirements

Apache server (the 301 redirect described will only work on apache servers. Most servers used to host web sites these days run apache.

.htaccess file - this file contains the 301 redirect code and must be placed in the root folder of your server (same location as the inidex.html page)

Same DNS- all domains you wish to redirect should have the same DNS information.

Parked domains - all domains you wish to redirect should be parked on top of your main web site.

301 Redirect Code for redirecting Multiple Domains


Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.domain.com[NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.newdomain.com/$1 [L,R=301]


1. First block you need once only.

2. Second block: you need one for each domain.com that needs redirecting.

3. Third block: you need one for each www.domain.com that needs redirecting to www.newdomain.com.

4. Remove all of the blank lines from the above example.

5. Place all code in the .htaccess file in the web root folder.
Check if there is any code in the .htaccess file already as you may overwrite it. If there is, place the 301 redirect code
under this code.

6. Upload file to server - place the .htacess access in the public_html folder or the same folder as your home page.

7. All redirected domains should be parked on top of your main web site. You can usually do this from within the cpanel
that comes with your hosting plan.

8. Prevent duplicate content issues by redirecting all non-www domains to http://www.domain.com/


RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^domain.com [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.domain.com/$1 [L,R=301]


These domain name variations:

domain.com
http://domain.com
www.domain.com

will now get redirected to http://www.domain.com/

9. Redirect www.domain.com/index.html to http://www.domain.com/
Within your web site navigation structure, you often have pages linking to the home page with the file name: www.domain.com/index.html. This will also cause duplicate content issues. Use the code below to redirect to your main URL…http://www.domain.com/


RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,9}\ /(.*)index\.(html?|php|asp|cfm)\ HTTP/
RewriteRule ^(.*)index\.(html?|php|asp|cfm)$ http://www.domain.com/$1 [R=301,L]


Tips

All spaces in the code are exact and important.
Make sure you copy and paste the code correctly.
Be sure to include a space before each [NC]

The code shown above must go before the other redirects otherwise it will create a redirection chain.

Conclusion

Now your web site can be accessed using multiple domains. The 301 redirect code used above prevents your web site from being accessed by both domain.com and at www.domain.com for each page of the site. If you did not use the 301 redirect code, Google would spider and index them both, treat them as duplicate content and then penalise one version of each page.

By creating the 301 redirect from non-www to www for each domain, only www will be indexed. If you own both a .co.uk and a .com you would redirect everything to www.domain.com if you wanted to be found globally; or if you want to rank well in UK results but are hosted outside the UK, you would redirect everything to www.domain.co.uk.

Resources

301 Redirects for multiple domains

How to Redirect a Web Page Using a 301 Redirect

Link building is crucial to attaining high search engine rankings, so I thought I’d mention some methods which are beyond the usual ones I’ve discussed in previous articles ie link exchanges, articles, forums, blogs, e-books, press releases.

Read the rest of this entry »

Finding keywords that a similar to your main keyword is
essential for expanding the audience for your business. The
ultimate goal of keyword research is to obtain high
rankings, increase traffic and boost sales.

Read the rest of this entry »

When web site owners try to tackle search engine optimization (SEO) themselves they often make some serious mistakes.
They erroneously believe their version of SEO will boost their rankings, attract more traffic and increase sales or subscriptions.

Read the rest of this entry »