Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Blogging Tips Weekly - Meta Tags - Are They Important for SEO?

Do you want more visitors at your blog?

C'mon! What kind of blogger doesn't want people to stop by? In fact, the more, the merrier. To gain more visitors, however, bloggers not only need to market themselves, but also become searchable.

By "searchable," I meant search engine friendly, which requires a little SEO magic. This involves playing with html meta tags and crafting relevant keywords.

So, Girlie Blog is definitely not search engine friendly right now.

What is SEO?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, an organic or algorithmic process for improving a website's visibility on search engines. 

While search engines' algorithms, like the complicated yet efficient logic Google uses, are not released to public, a few well-known variables do impact how well websites rank on search results -- and all of them want to be number one.

One of these variables is keywords.


Serious bloggers and websites often purchase the best SEO companies to optimize their content, and use expensive SEO tools -- nothing I can afford for the Girlie Blog. But I can add my own keywords to increase Girlie Blog's chances for being discovered, and I'll need meta tags for that.


What are Meta Tags?

In computer science, metadata stands for data (or information) about the data within your website. A meta tag, then, is used within your blog's code behind to describe the metadata about your blog.

An easy way to look at this is to view your blog as a book, and your meta tag as the summary or synopsis. The information within meta tags, the summary, gives readers (in this case search engines) a brief overview of what they are about to read through.

Meta tags contain information that read like a book's summary.

Why Use Meta Tags?

There are many kinds of meta tags, including description, author, keywords, and content type. For search engine optimization, description and keywords are most important.

Description gives search engines an understanding of your blog. Keywords get your blog to the top of search results.


How to Add Meta Tags (on blogger)?



So, this is the fun part. If you use blogger or blogspot platform, follow the steps below. Otherwise, try navigating to your source code (usually html, xhtml, or xml document), and reach the head section.


Step 1

Log into your blogger account > Go to "Design" tab.



Step 2

Click on "Edit HTML" link (below all the tabs) > Should arrive on html template > download full template to back it up.



Step 3

Ctrl-Find and type in the following code:



<title><data:blog.pageTitle/></title>



Step 4

Place the following code above the line you just searched for:



<meta content='Your blog description' name='description'/>
<meta content='keyword, keyword, keyword ...' name='keywords'/>
<meta content='noodp' name='robots'/>
<meta content='index, follow' name='robots'/>
<meta content='3 days' name='revisit-after'/>




Step 5:

Of course, replace "Your blog's description" with a proper description of your blog.

Replace "keyword, keyword, keyword..." with relevant keywords that describe your blog.

**NOTE: Search engines prefer 20 keywords or less per site.


Step 6

Save template and view blog.


Are Meta Tags Important?


This is debatable. It all depends on how ambitious you are with your blog. 

If you blog for enjoyment, don't want many visitors, and could care less about being picked up by search engines, then meta tags and seo are certainly not important. 

However, if you want to be discovered by optimizing search engine results, then perhaps meta tags, along with other elements, can help you achieve that?

Thanks for reading.




Do you use meta tags for keywords?






Do you use any SEO tools or SEO services?






How do you make your blog search engine friendly?





49 comments:

  1. Thanks darling, I just did this! Why not optimize who can come to blog right?

    xoxo,
    Chic 'n Cheap Living

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  2. I do use a lot of SEO stuff as a matter of fact. I'm trying to do everything I can to keep my site relevant. :)

    Btw I recently wrote a post on fake MAC makeup and counterfeit makeup in general. Hope you can drop by and leave your opinion. :)

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  3. Ok, this was SUPER helpful and I'm totally going to do this later tonight!
    Sarah
    http://comingunstitched.blogspot.com

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  4. very useful tips and great how to!
    thanks for sharing!
    xo

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  5. Great post!! I didn't know anything about this. :) Thank you!!!

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  6. this is such a great post! thanks for sharing. I wasn't even aware you could add those to your blog!
    ♥ laura
    the blog of worldly delights

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  7. really informative- i add alt text but not meta tags. great advice xx

    My Blog: Boho Vanity

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  8. really informative- i add alt text but not meta tags. great advice xx

    My Blog: Boho Vanity

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  9. omg I love you so much right now! I had read about meta tags but had ignored it completely until now. Will add these tonight!

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  10. You rock, darling!
    Thanks for all this info!

    xoxox,
    CC

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  11. such a great post!
    thanks for sharing this.
    i am still new to everything and this helps a lot.
    kudos for your "helpful posts" :)

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  12. Thanks for the information!!!
    xoxo

    http://besosmulticolor.blogspot.com/

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  13. Hey thanx for sharing this! I'm so hopeless with all these html stuffs but u really make them look less daunting!

    Fang Ting
    ftashion

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  14. What a wonderful and information post! I haven't used any of these and now am going to look into it. . . fantastic post and thank you for this.
    Red Soles and Red Wine

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  15. This is incredible! I printed it. Thanks so much for the help (and the nice comments on my blog--you're a sweetheart!!)

    www.wayoutsidelookingin.blogspot.com

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  16. Thanks for the great info! Your Awesome!


    http://glamoroza.blogspot.com/

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  17. great advice!! I just added the meta tag...looking forward to seeing if it makes any difference! xx


    http://mycherrylane.blogspot.com/

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  18. I really enjoy reading your blog! Thanks for the tips too!

    Jo

    http://whiterosesandcoffee.blogspot.com/

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  19. I agree with this! :D I do the same actually :D This is very helpful to everyone who wants to increase their blog's popularity! :)

    http://bebe-doll.net | http://styleimprints.com

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  20. Good tips!!!! will definitely use them.

    Jae
    http://stilettolife1.blogspot.com

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  21. Thanks for this post! I will definitely look into doing this.

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  22. Great post very informative and love the walk through you did I'll have to do this to my blog asap!
    -Ash

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  23. Great post! Thank you! Will work on this :)

    http://nyorkeratheart.blogspot.com

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  24. I hate putting in meta tags! LOL but I do!

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  25. This is very helpful! I just got an email this week from a company that offers SEO consulting, their price? $299 a month...I think I'm going to try this! I do want more visitors to my site and wasn't totally sure about SEO but you just helped me out ALOT!

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  26. cool post! i get lots of page views from google and google images froma ll the post i do on my fav tv shows like gossip girl and pretty little lias, because people are always googling for pics from the shows!

    x
    TOPSHOP BRAND ‘LOVE’ GIVEAWAY!

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  27. I was not aware of this. Thank you so much. The tutorial is fabulous! You take us step by step! Thanks :)

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  28. I love your tips on blogging. I think I'm gonna add this, but the html isn't quite speaking to me at the moment.

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  29. I don't use meta tags, but this post is very helpful. :)

    casual-beauty.blogspot.com

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  30. WOW! Amazing informative post, really great helpful read - thanks x

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  31. Thanks for this great article! I have heard of SEOs before but have just general knowledge about it. Thank you for this thorough explanation! -A

    blurbs|blog

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  32. thank you for this awesome tutorial!! so helpful :D

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  33. Wow, you are fantastic, you know so much about the web, I always wondered what SEO meant. Would post advice on how to monetize a blog, I have been trying but it says you need to add cookies or something like that and I am no computer wizard so I am afraid of making a mess. By the way, there really is no butter in those cookies (except the peanut butter of course) because I used apple sauce in place of butter. Thank you for stopping by!

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  34. Very helpful post. Thanks swts. Will try to change metatags.

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  35. Hi baby i join your blog,i love it:)
    Pls visit my blog and join:)
    Kisses from TUrkey:)
    Duygu

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  36. Thanks so much for this easy-to-follow tutorial and explanation. I added meta data to both my Blogger blogs. We'll see how it goes ...

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  37. Thanks for the info! I would never have known how to do this or that it even existed! You make it seem pretty easy!

    Lindsey Turner
    http://thriftandshout.blogspot.com

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  38. You just rocked my tiny little blogger brain! Thanks for this post :)

    www.rosehorseshoe.com

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  39. Wow! That's super helpful. Thank you! Thanks for commenting on my cake truffle guest post yesterday :) I'm a new follower now!
    <3 Ashley

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  40. These are great tips. I've always wonder what meta tags where. I'm going to add this tonight!!

    http://www.lyzhang.com

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  41. If I were blogging for profit instead of just fun, I'd probably pay more attention to things like meta tags. For now I just try to post good content and participate in the wider online community so people can get to know me.

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  42. Very informative. I've yet to use this valuable tool, but I do use other SEO, mm, guidelines. For instance, when I give a title to my post I 1) Capitalize important words to make it easy for the search engine to read what my post may be about and 2) I try to use key words within the title rather than make the title merely playful, if that makes sense...I will put this tip down on my list of things to do. =)

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  43. META Tag update - it really does work!! I've been getting loads of views through google since I added the meta tag...thanks so much for sharing this!! xoxo

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  44. Hello,
    I don't use any of these tools.
    I'm not good in programming and computing, but I wiil definitely try to install Mega Tags.
    Thank you for sharing this info!!!

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  45. hey sweety.
    I've just done the whole thing but I think I did something wrong as I can't see that stuff on my blog. Should I be able to see it? or is it just there? HELP. :(

    Karola

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