Meta tags ??

[mikeee]

Hi
I have a few questions regarding meta tags
Thanks in advance to anyone that helps

1. How many should you use is it unlimited ?
or would too many have an adverse effect?

2. Should you only use words that are included in a particular page ?
for that page - meaning you customize the tags for each page?

Hope this makes sense
Any other views on meta much appreciated
Thanks
Mikeee

[mikeee]

please help!

[SVB]

My help: Meta tags are a waste of time

[mikeee]

thanks for your input
Great help

[SVB]

I'm being serious. You should focus on link building. Unless you are targetting search engines with a relatively low user base, as search engines such as Google will not care for your meta tags.

[mikeee]

yes I understand that
But surely they are not worthless

[bcyber]

I wouldn't say they are useless at all. Just make sure you use them like most every other site does. What does it take, like ummmm a minute or two to add them to any page?

[Ferre]

Keyword and description tags are actually useful for Yahoo and some others and it doesn't hurt having them at all.

[noob_0001]

Every page needs them - unique for each page (at least the first 3). Some SE and Directories use them. Will make submitting easier.

All you need is:
a title
a descriprion
a kewwords
a classification - Use DMOZ to find
a copyright
and robots - all (means follow and index)


The more you have in, the further you push your content down the page. Lower down mean lower value.

Just my 2 cents

[SVB]

Originally Posted by Ferre

Keyword and description tags are actually useful for Yahoo and some others and it doesn't hurt having them at all.

Yes exactly. It doesn't hurt, but i wouldn't use any sort of technique to determine which ones to use, because at the end of the day it will have little impact. I know that my yahoo results are soley down to links and on page content (no meta tags used at all), google rankings were soley down to links (none of the keyword text found anywhere on the site).

[Ferre]

Originally Posted by Stephen Bradley

Yes exactly. It doesn't hurt, but i wouldn't use any sort of technique to determine which ones to use, because at the end of the day it will have little impact. I know that my yahoo results are soley down to links and on page content (no meta tags used at all), google rankings were soley down to links (none of the keyword text found anywhere on the site).

Go here: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&l...ry&btnG=Search Look at the thirth page (mine) and see the description.(Based on ancient wisdom, modern science, and the belief in the enlightening and healing properties of cannabis.) Than click the site and see for yourself that this text is nowhere on the page, Google shows what I have in the description meta tag. On the site is only this text : It is our opinion that cannabis is the original sacrament of Hebrew, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Shinto, Buddhist, Rasta and more, and fulfills the prophesies to 'feed all our hungers'.
That's one reason for me to believe that even Google does use them tags somehow.

[SVB]

Yes that is what the description meta tag is used for by Google. Eg if you search for "computers", Dell's sites description is its description meta tag. Im not arguing that at all. But will this help with rankings at all? And will the "keywords" tag that many use have any influence on Google? As far as I have seen, the description tag provides a description for Google to use and nothing more, and other tags are ignored. Ive noticed Yahoo using my keyword tag on occasions, but for almost guaranteed results, Im one of these "get links..lots of them!" people!
But in my post above I should have said that the description tag provides Google with a bit of text to place beside your listing.

[Ferre]

Yep, I agree and I'm one of those get links people too. But I do learned to take the little effort and add a few tags to my pages, I used not to add them btw because I found them not having any influence for the serps.

[gorillaboy]

Remember when things were simple? All you had to do was have the right meta tags and keyword frequency.

That was fun!!!

[weblaunch]

Google has no use for meta tags. Some search engines use your meta tag to provide brief summary of your site, so the description tag is of some importance. As for search ranking, search engines are placing lower and lower value on meta tags (due to abuse). See this page for more info on meta tags.