KEYWORD META TAGS ARE DEAD

Long Live
the Meta Tags

It has been YEARS since any significant search engine paid the slightest bit of attention to a Website’s Keyword Meta tags. However, it seems that something so easy to do and so completely misunderstood is apparently hard to let go of. That must be why many companies still tell agents and brokers that they will fix their Meta Tags, Optimize their Website and guarantee top search engine placement. If you don’t want to get taken in, it helps to know what is really going on. You can also get more information by visiting us online at http://www.sellrealestate.net. Check out the link about search engine placement.

KEYWORD META TAG

While search engines use the Title Meta Tag, the Search Engine Guru, Danny Sullivan, declared the Meta Keyword Tag Dead three years ago. The meta keyword tag is a way to insert text into a Web page that is not visible on the page itself but is visible in the Website’s source code. You can view any Website’s source code be clicking on VIEW and then select SOURCE. Search engines, of course, do pay attention to the Source code, just not to the Keyword Meta Tags.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

Back in 1996 a couple of search engines apparently did index the keywords in the meta keyword tag, but even then there was confusion as to their use. It was hoped and fervently believed by some that the way to get top placement for a Website was to enter the proper keywords into the meta keyword tag. It never really worked and most Web designers have known this for a long, long time but, as I said, the myth dies hard.

How to Impress the Search Engines

The way to impress the search engines is with good content on your Web page. Resist the impulse to overuse graphics or to use graphics that give their technology problems. The last thing you want to do is give the search engine robots any problems. Most important, you want to encourage other Web owners to link to your Website. You might offer to give them a link from your site if they will link to you. That way you both benefit.

YOU CANNOT FOOL THE SEARCH ENGINES

If you do decide to share links with others, do not think you can simply buy into a link sharing system. The search engines know if the links pointing to your site are all coming from the same server. I think if you understand why search engines value links, you will see that you must take the time to be real or honest about your link sharing.

WHY DO SEARCH ENGINES VALUE LINKS?

Search engines are programmed to think that any site that has a lot of other sites linking to it is an important site. They want to make sure that the most important and the most popular Websites receive prominence on their first page of results. If good search engine placement is important to you, please visit me online at http://www.sellrealestate.net/FreeWebPlan.asp. I’ll be happy to provide you with a Plan for getting there.

LINKS VS META KEYWORD TAG

Links coming to your site are extremely important but you must be able to share links with others. Entering your keyword phrases in the meta keyword tag will have absolutely no positive effect on your search engine placement. Sharing links with others will have a huge positive effect on your search engine placement.

Where Keyword Phrases Belong

Remember I said that good Web page content is very important if you want good, free search engine placement? Well, it is on your Web pages themselves that your keyword phrases belong. Search engines have formulas that identify, at least for them, the ideal Web page. They program their robots to look for this ideal on Web pages they visit. If the content on your Web page meets or comes close to their ideal, your chances are of getting good (read that top) placement on the engine are good. Creating Web pages that are optimized for the search engines is what we do when we create custom real estate Websites.

WHAT – NO KEYWORDS ON THE PAGE?

If you have a template Website and cannot optimize your site for the search engines it will not help you in the least little bit to enter your keywords in the meta keyword tag section. If you do not have a custom Website and yet you want to be on the search engines, you will need to rely on pay-per-click advertising.

SO, YOU HAVE TWO OPTIONS

If search engine placement is very important to you, you owe it to yourself to find out how a Custom Website can help you avoid the high cost of pay per click advertising on the search engines. A couple of years ago, pay per click was seen as an easy way to get top placement regardless of the quality of one’s Website. Today these paid advertising costs are prohibitive in many areas and are only going up. Call me toll free at 888-814-5347 or visit me online at http://www.sellrealestate.net/FreeWebPlan.asp to find out how to get top placement without pay per click.