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Writing Effective HTML Tags for Search Engine Optimization

By Nancy T Willy

Tags are descriptive formatting codes used in the HTML language to indicate how inputs like text and graphics would appear on a web page. These tags, embedded in the source code of an HTML web page instructs the web browser on how to display the pages by formatting the content and also, they establish links to other pages. Here are some of the basic HTML tags:

Title tags <TITLE>

Meta tags <META>

Headings like <H1>, <H2>

Separators like paragraph <P>, line break <BR> and horizontal rule <HR>

Lists like the numbered <OL> and unnumbered <UL>

Anchor tags <A>

Table tags <TABLE>

Search Engine Optimization Techniques - HTML Tags

Some of the HTML tags are important from the Search Engine Optimization point of view. This is because, the search engine crawlers look at the tags to determine the structure of your web page, the relevant information on your web page, the links from and to your web page etc. We will go through each of the tags important in Search Engine Optimization and how you can optimize them in order to rank higher in search engines.

1. TITLE TAGS

Title tag is an HTML code that determines what would appear on the top bar of your web browser. In short, they are ‘the description of your web page’. Title tags come within the <HEAD> area of your source code and is followed by the meta tags. You can see the title tag by right clicking on any HTML web page and giving View Source. Title tags would appear at the top of the source code and reads like:

For e.g.: <TITLE>The importance of Title tags</TITLE>

Title tags appear as the clickable links when your web page is shown in search engine results. When someone adds your site to favorites, the title appears in their favorites list. Now that you know what are title tags and how they are important, let us look at it from the perspective of search engines.

Title tags and Search Engine Optimization Techniques

I already stated that title tags are ‘the description of your web page’. So search engine crawlers look at the title tags to determine what your web page is all about.

Your title tag is an important factor in determining which key phrases your web page would rank well in the major search engines. Here are some of the things you should look into while writing the title tag for a web page.

Be clear on what your web page is about and express that precisely in the title tag. The title tag should always be based on the content of the page. Read through the page carefully and determine the keywords that you would like to target. Then write the title tag based on these keywords so that it exactly reflects the content on your web page.
The title tag can be a meaningful sentence or a collection of phrases that include all the keywords that you are focusing for that particular web page. I would recommend that you use a collection of phrases than a sentence since it would be difficult to incorporate all the keywords into a sentence without making it sound too complicated or long-winded. A collection of phrases separated by hyphens or semicolons would be ideal. The keywords included in the title tag must be very specific.
For e.g.: If you are targeting your service at a particular region, it would be better to mention that in your title tag. You would fare better by writing "Computer Hardware Training - Florida" than writing "Computer Hardware Training" if you are targeting on Florida. This would bring highly targeted visitors to your web page.
You could use your company's name in the title tag, so that you get more visibility on the web. In case a particular page on your website gets a high ranking, it would be better for the title tag of that particular web page to show the name of your company.
Do not try to cram too many keywords into the title tag since it can get the search engine crawler confused on what your web page is about. And not get you good ranking anywhere!
Repeating words more than once is permissible and has been found to be effective to a certain extent. But do not place them right next to each other.
A title tag like "Computer Hardware Training- Training Institute Florida" can make the search engine ignore the words completely. So it is better to use the right keywords the right number of times in the right places.

Title tags are extremely important for good rankings in search engines. So make them effective and smart.

2. META TAGS

Meta tags come within the <head> area of your source code and follow the title tag. The information contained in the meta tags is not visible to the surfer and is meant for search engine crawlers. Meta tags do not determine the ranking of your web page in any manner, but they reflect the content of your web page. This is how the meta tags are seen in the source code.

For e.g.:
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Importance of Meta tags</TITLE>
<meta name="description" content="Meta tags and their importance in Search Engine Optimization. Types of meta tags, writing meta tags. This page gives an in-depth look in to how meta tags can be used in search engine optimization">
<META name="keywords" content="meta tags, meta tag optimization, meta tag analysis, what are meta tags, effective meta tags, writing meta tags, html meta tags, types of meta tags, meta tags html, meta description tags, meta keyword tags">
</HEAD>

Meta tags and Search Engine Optimization Techniques

We will have a look at the meta tags and how they are important in search engine optimization. There are 2 types of meta tags:

The Meta description tag
The Meta keywords tag

Meta Description tag

This tag helps you influence (yes, influence and not determine) the description of your web page in the results of certain search engines that support the meta description tag. The search results will display your meta description tag if the search engine query is the same as the phrase in the meta description tag. Most of the search engines take the descriptions from your web page content and not from the description tag. But it would be worthwhile to have a good meta description tag so that you would have the right description for the right keywords.

Meta Keywords tag

Meta Keywords tags are used to list all the important keywords that you target using your web page. Earlier, search engine crawlers considered this a reliable source. But since people tried to cram this tag with unnecessary keywords abusing the effectiveness, most of the search engines do not even 'look' at this tag. Some of the search engines look at the meta keywords tag to list the web page for specific keywords, but putting a key phrase in the meta keywords tag that has no relation to the content on your web page doesn't mean that you would get a good rank for that keyword. If your meta keywords tag reflects the content of your web page very accurately, your meta keyword tag would be given some weightage by these search engines. So be careful not to use unnecessary keywords in the Meta Keywords tag.
Here are some of things you should look into while writing the meta tags:

Meta tags do not affect your search engine ranking, but they do affect the way your web page would be described in search engine results in some cases. So be careful to have the right description and targeted keywords.
The Meta Description tag is displayed if the search query is same as the description given in the Meta Description tag. So do some research on what your customers would be querying for and try to include those phrases in an effective manner.

3. HEADER TAGS

Header tags are used to denote the manner in which the text within the tags would be displayed. They are generally denoted as:

Header tags and Search Engine Optimization Techniques

Out of these, the first three are important for search engine crawlers. There should be one <H1> tag per page. Be careful to use the right keywords in heading 1 and to support the keywords with variations and subtitles in <H2> and <H3>.

4. ANCHOR TAGS

Anchor tags denote hypertext links on a web page. The anchor tags generally look like:

For e.g.:<A href="www.seoabc.com/anchor-tags.php">Read our article on anchor tag optimization</A>

In the above example, the part "Read our article on anchor tag optimization" is called the anchor text and it would be displayed on the web page when it is seen on a web browser. <BR>
The URL: www.seoabc.com/anchor-tags.php denotes the landing page or the target page. On clicking the anchor text, you will be taken to the landing page.

Anchor tags and Search Engine Optimization Techniques

The anchor text must contain the keywords specific to the landing page. If your are linking to a page that talks about "Anchor Tag Optimization", the anchor tag pointing to the page must contain the term "Anchor Tag Optimization" in the anchor text. This can significantly affect the ranking of your web page in search engines.
Search Engines give much relevance to anchor tags and anchor texts. In Google, you have the option of searching allinanchor: followed by the keyword. This would show all the web pages having the keyword in the anchor text. This indicates the relevance that search engines give to anchor tags.
Anchor text Optimization must be done for internal links (links from other pages within your website) and also for external links (links from other relevant web sites). So when you get links from other websites, be sure to give them the right phrases to put in the anchor texts to your web page.
There is an option of having a title for your anchor tags.

For e.g:<A href="www.seoabc.com/anchor-tags.php" title="Anchor Tag Optimization"> Read our article on anchor tag optimization</A>

The title gets indexed in search engines and when the mouse moves over the text link, the title is displayed. This gives you an added visibility for your keyword.

So, be careful when you give anchor texts in internal or external links. Choose the right keywords and you will be right on top.

5. ALT TAGS

Alt tags (Alternative Tags) are the text displayed when you move your mouse over images in certain web pages. If nothing appears when you move your mouse over an image, it means that the web page has not used alt tags. Alt tags are generally used to describe what the image is all about. This is how an alt tag would look like:

For e.g:<IMG SRC="pictures/alt-tag-table.gif" width="189" height="80" border="1" alt="alt tags, search engine optimization ">

When the mouse is moved over the image, the text in the alt tag is displayed in a box next to it.

Alt tags and Search Engine Optimization Techniques

Search engine crawlers would go through the alt tags in your web page to see what it talks about. So having some keywords relevant to the page in your alt tag would give you an edge.
But please remember that alt tags are only supplements to HTML text. So HTML texts that talk about your product or service are anytime better than a page filled with images having alt tags.

6. BODY TEXT

The fact that this is placed towards the end doesn't mean that it is in anyway less important than the others. In fact, the <BODY> tag, which includes all the readable content on your web page, is the most relevant of all.

Body Text tags and Search Engine Optimization Techniques

Having lots of content pertinent to your service or product would make your customers happy. Fill in the keywords smartly within the content and the search engines would also love your site.
So go ahead, and use these tips. All good wishes for a site that would rank well in search engines attract lots of traffic and give you loads of work.

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