June 23, 2004
In
This Issue:
1. Get a Betta Meta
2. In the News - A9, AskJeeves, and Google news
3. More News Headlines
4. This Week's Q&A - Defining Various Types of Links
5. Wrapping It Up
_________________
Get a Betta Meta
A couple weeks ago we used this space for a primer about the
basics of a web page's <title> element, and how it should
be used to best effect for both your human visitors and search
engines. Thanks to the good response, we'll do more primers about
various aspects of web pages and search engine optimization. You
may have guessed from the creative (alright, geeky) headline above
that we're focusing on Meta tags today so you can Get a Betta Meta.
What are Meta tags?
Meta tags are pieces of code that describe a web page. They're
not visible to your web site users, unless the user views the
page's source code. They are, however, visible to search engine
crawlers.
There are many possible Meta tags you could include in a web
page, but the two that are most widely used are the "Description" tag
and "Keywords" tag.
Why are they important?
One reason: search engine crawlers read your meta tags to help
determine what a web page is about. In fact, when you do a
web search at Google, Yahoo, or wherever, the content of the "Description" tag
is often what appears as the text snippet in your listing. Clearly,
then, the "Description" tag is important because this
text is often seen by searchers trying to decide whether or not
to click and visit your page.
The "Keywords" Meta tag carries far less significance
today than it did years ago. In the early days of web search, search
engines relied heavily on your keywords to determine how to rank
pages. But webmasters realized they could abuse this and get their
pages to rank well for words that had nothing to do with their
site, so the importance of the "Keywords" Meta tag quickly
went away. Today, some search engines still look at the "Keywords" tag
-- but don't use it as an important determiner when analyzing
and ranking web pages. You may recall Newsletter #10, where
we referenced
an interview
with Yahoo that
discussed how they use the "Keywords" Meta tag. It's
good reading if you missed it the first time, or want a reminder.
How do I use Meta tags for the most benefit?
Meta Tags are placed up in the HEAD of a web page, between
the <head> and </head> tags.
The Meta "Description" tag looks like this:
<Meta Name="Description" Content="Write your
description here. Use real sentences. Describe the content on this
page, using
the same keyword and phrases that appear in the content
of the page.">
Don't overdo it. A couple sentences will be adequate for
the "Description" Meta
tag.
The Meta "Keywords" tag looks like this:
<Meta Name="Keywords" Content="purple widgets,
purple electronic widgets, desktop widgets, widget gifts, home
office
gifts">
Don't overdo it. Keep your list to less than 10-15 keywords/phrases.
Separate each with a comma. Try not to repeat the same
word or phrase too often (as you heard the Yahoo guy
say in the
interview
above). Make sure the content of your "Keywords" Meta
tag reflects the content of the page.
That's it for the "Keywords" and "Description" Meta
tags. As mentioned earlier, there are other Meta tags
you could use (Author, Refresh, etc.), but these are the two that
are most widely used and can be somewhat beneficial. If you choose
to skip one, skip the "Keywords" tag. But make sure you
use the "Description" tag.
_________________
In The News
Amazon users meet A9
You may recall back in Newsletter
#9 we
talked about Amazon.com's new search site, A9.com. It was, at
the time, just a Beta product. Not anymore. Earlier this week Amazon
put A9.com right on the Amazon.com home page: "A9 Web Search
- powered by A9.com." It's still a Google-powered search tool,
but I continue to find the concept very interesting. As I said
back in #9, "The more you use A9.com, the more your "search
profile" will develop. And the more your profile develops,
the smarter Amazon can be in giving you the search you want." Now
it'll be interesting to see how A9 continues to develop as a public
product.
AskJeeves previews web sites inline
If you use AskJeeves, you may have noticed a pair of binoculars
appearing in the SERPs next to each web page listing. That's
a "new" technology
they're using called, ahem, "Binoculars Site Preview".
When you move your mouse over the binoculars, a preview of the
web site will appear inline right there in the SERPs. I put "new" in
parentheses because meta search engines like ZapMeta.com and Vivisimo.com already have similar tools, and Google has a version of it being
publicly tested in Google Labs. It's a nice idea overall, just
not exactly "new."
Site-Flavored Search at Google
Google this week introduced a "Site-Flavored
Google Search" tool.
If you own a web site, you can put a Google search box on your
site, and when someone uses it to search, the results they see
will be customized based on the content of your site. Say what?
Think of it this way: If you have a site about the planet Saturn,
for example, and you sign up to use this tool, you can put a Google
search box on your site. Anyone using that search box to do a search
about "Saturn" will get search results about the planet,
not the vehicle. Make sense?
In and of itself, this tool isn't really big news. But what
it represents is another step toward offering customized
search results, which is where the industry is headed. We've
talked
about that
in past newsletters; in fact, the Yahoo interview mentioned
earlier
includes this quote about the future from Yahoo's Jon Glick: "'I'm
number one for this keyword'... may not exist at all in a
few years. You know, you'll be number one for that keyword
depending on who
types it in!"
_________________
More News Headlines
Here are a few news headlines worth your time to read.
These are just some of the headlines we've posted
to OWTweb.com in recent
days.
The Net ad you're about to see has read your e-mail
June 21, 2004 - News.com
Advice for blogging newbies
June 17, 2004 - InternetNews.com
The challenge for companies mulling how to use the growth of
Weblogs to their advantage is to first create one that people
want to read.
Google gains in popularity, but will it last?
June 16, 2004 - Search Engine Watch
More headlines: http://www.owtweb.com/news/
_________________
This Week's Q&A
Can you explain the difference in the various kinds of links
there are on a web site? I've seen phrases mentioned like "inbound
links", "outbound links", "contextual links", "reciprocal
links", and there are probably more.
Thanks,
Dave
Hi Dave -- Sure thing, let's have a go at this. Some links are
named based on what they do, some are named on how they're created,
and some are named based on where they're placed.
What They Do
- inbound link -- a link from another site to yours; as in,
a link that brings people "in" to your site
- incoming link -- same thing
- outbound link -- a link from your site to another site
- outgoing link -- same thing
- crosslink -- a link from one page on your site to another,
usually referring to links placed in the content
of your site, not your
site navigation menu
How They're Created
- text link -- a link that uses text; users click the text
to go to the next page
- graphical link -- a link that uses a graphic; users
click the graphic to go to the next page
Where They're Placed
- contextual link -- a link that appears in the content
of a web page, not the menu; contextual links
can be to other
pages
on
your own site (crosslinks) or to pages on other
sites (outbound links)
- menu link -- a link appearing in a site's navigation
menu
Others
- reciprocal link -- when two sites agree to link to
each other (Site A links to Site B, and Site
B links back
to Site A);
sometimes referred to as a "link trade"
- one-way link -- a link that's not a reciprocal
link; when you link to another site, or another
site links
to you,
without doing a
link trade
Hmmmm. There may be others I'm not thinking of.
If anyone thinks I missed some, let me know! (Have a question? Email questions@owtweb.com)
_________________
Wrapping it Up
You know I love posting about articles dealing with the future
of the Internet, so don't be surprised at this link to a BBC interview
with Dr. Paul Mockapetris -- he's the guy who created the Domain
Name System (.com, .net, etc.). A prediction: We won't need phone
numbers because all communication will happen over the Internet.
(Let's hope! I'd love to get rid of my home phone....)
Net pioneer predicts web future
See you next week! Thanks for reading,
Matt McGee
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