This collection of articles focus on the area of: on page SEO. This article is lesson two out of five and covers the topic of Meta descriptions and keywords.

On Page SEO -Meta Descriptions
Meta descriptions are tags which are placed within the section of your HTML code. The purpose of Meta descriptions for on page SEO, is to give a brief summary of the page content. This description will often appear below the main page title in the SERP. It acts as an additional blurb that potential visitors will read along with your title.

The importance of the Meta description has waned over recent years, many SEO specialists claim that this element is no longer an important part of Search Engine Optimisation. The description tag may hold less clout in SEO terms but is still useful for:

• Snippets
Within most SERP’s the Meta description will be used to form the snippet, the snippet is a useful part of text as a call to action to bring in more visitors. This may not be a strong element of SEO but is definitely a good source of internet marketing.

• Directory Submission
A point to bear in mind is that some listings from certain directories will use the meta tag as a page title within their listings.


On Page SEO – Meta Keywords

Like the Meta description the Meta keywords also feature within the HTML. You will find them within the section at the top of the page HTML. The purpose of this section is to provide the search engine with the keyword information for that specific page to help in the process of indexing.

It is common SEO knowledge that the backbone to any Search Engine Optimisation campaign is keywords. Keywords feature throughout all content on and off your site and help build up importance with a specific field. Although keywords are such an important part of any SEO campaign the Meta keyword tag doesn’t hold so much importance. This point may be of importance but it is still advisable to use these keyword lists as they act as a good reference point when creating additional copy specific for certain pages on your website.

Try and adhere to the following SEO pointers:

• Each word within your keyword list should be broken up with a comma but no space is needed.
• User lowercase for all keywords
• Use the most site wide relevant phrases
• Never use more than 50 words in the Meta keyword tag, try 35 words for each page
• Ensure that keywords appear at least once within your on page elements

Both Meta tags described above are not the most important SEO elements but must not be overlooked as they form an integral part of a Search Engine Optimisation campaign as a whole.