Easy Mega Tags with EZ Site Builder
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Common mistakes with creating website meta tags are: #1. Entering meta tag code incorrectly; #2. Overdoing it by entering much more meta tag data than the search engines could ever decipher to your benefit; #3. Not fully understanding simple SEO optimization techniques. Read on.
Penney Layne Graphics Ultimate EZ Site Builder is designed to take the headache out of meta tagging. No hard HTML coding is even necessary. Every website needs good, clean code to climb in the search engines.
There are sites on the web that have copied so much code from other sites that their own has become a total mess. That kind of coding can break, NOT make a website.
Website designers should learn basic meta tag and SEO skills or they should not design sites. Knowing some flashy, catchy code techniques that produce pretty pictures and captivate a visitor a few seconds is well and good. Search Engines don’t look at pictures. Search engines look at content. Trashy code is trashy content.
It is time to clean house. If you already have a website and you understand proper meta tag coding and SEO basics, you probably don’t need to read this article. If you already have a website and you don’t even know what is in your meta tags or how it got there, you need some help. It is better to have no meta tag code at all than improper code. If you are a customer of ours, hosting with us using our DIY EZ Site Builder, you have only to follow some very simple, short directions to handle everything automatically for you!
Our builder comes with standardized ready to use website templates built in. You simply load up your images and the website fills in the blank and appears. You then add pages, categories, products. It is NOT necessary, actually not PREFERRED, to tinker with the template and mess around with the meta tag code unless you are an experienced coder. That defeats the whole beauty of the Penney Layne DIY Site Builder. You can always customize your template if you wish, and some advanced coders may wish to do so, but more on that in a later article.
First, you need to edit the Pages of your site, such as index.php, contact.php, etc.
Let’s check the Meta Tags for your Page Together. Access your Site Builder. Go to Pages, then click edit for index.php page. Go to the entry box for Meta Title. DON’T overdo it! Remember search engines are only going to read so many characters of the tags and crawl on. The Meta Title needs to be site relevant, to the point. I’ll pretend my site is called Rag Doll World, and I sell Rag Dolls. On the index.php page, I would enter something simple, Rag Doll World Rag Dolls for my Meta Title.
Just below that, there is a place to enter keywords. Take note, it clearly states 100 characters MAXIMUM. Again, don’t overdo it. In SEO and meta tag coding, LESS is MORE. Remember that. Separate the keywords with commas. Choose words that you plan to enter as text on this page. (more on that in a second). I would enter for my pretend site something like: raggedy, rag dolls, doll, raggedies, ornies (do not end in a comma).
Below that is a box to enter the Meta Tag Description. This should vary from the Meta Title. When your site is indexed on search engines, a small amount of text shows, and the surfer will see that text. That text is what may steer the surfer TO or AWAY from your site. If a surfer is looking for Barbie Dolls, and they see your site and it says (meta tag description) Visit my site I sell Barbie Dolls, they expect to find Barbie Dolls on your site. If you do NOT sell Barbie Dolls, you should NOT have Barbie Dolls in your meta tags. That is a form of spamming. Honestly, if you attract a surfer to your site who is looking for Barbie Dolls, and you don’t sell any, that surfer is not going to stay anyway, most likely won’t buy anything, and probably feels misled. You want to attract BUYING customers. You want to attract surfers who are LOOKING for what YOU sell.
That being said, I would enter for my Meta Tag Description something like (100 characters or LESS!) Rag Doll World Sells Adorable Rag Dolls, Raggedies, Ornies, Prim Dolls (and that would be it). I don’t sit and count characters anymore. After a while you know what is too long and what is not. So keep it to the point. Note that words such as: a, and, to, the, for aren’t helping you much so use meaningful words as much as possible. Now, I click Update for the page, and I’m done with meta tag codes for index.php! Wasn’t that easy?
Above I mentioned using words that exist on the index page of your site. In addition to entering the meta tag data for the page index.php you should also enter data in the CONTENT section. Images are nice, they make your site appealing and all, but you need text to climb in the search engines. Search engines can’t see your pretty pictures. The meta tags I entered for my pretend site were: raggedy, rag dolls, doll, raggedies, ornies so I want to be sure those words are in my page “content.” So under my pretty logo, I would type something like: Welcome to Rag Doll World. Your source for Raggedies, Rag Dolls, Ornies, all handmade by me. Come on in and browse our large selection of rag dolls. Custom and personalized raggedies and ornies are also available. Thanks for shopping at Rag Doll World.
Now. Another big point. While entering keywords that are relative to your meta tags is important, DON’T OVERDO IT! Some site designers have tried some pretty tricky stuff to attempt to fool the search engines. In my example above, the search engine liked it because we said our site was going to be about rag dolls and raggedies in our tags. The spider went on, and was happy because it found the words: rag doll world, raggedies, rag dolls, ornies, rag dolls, raggedies, ornies, rag doll world. One common method of TRYING to fool the search engine is to use a white background like you see now, and change your font color to white, and then enter the words (example) rag dolls over and over and over again. The theory behind this was to build up the keyword content on the site, the customer or browser did not see it, but the search engine would. Search engines are very sophisticated and become more so every day. That type of deceptive coding is not only bad practice, it actually drives the search engines AWAY and LOWERS the ranking of your site. So keep your text relevant, to the point, and don’t OVERDO it. Most likely, if a coding method seems or appears to be devious, tricky, or deceptive in any way, it probably is and should be avoided.
If you utilize Google Ads to monetize your site, deceptive coding such as the above “hidden text” are violations and could get your Google Ad Sense Account shut down.
There are several methods that are designed to supposedly “broadcast” your site. Some of these should be avoided. Never get associated with Link Farms, be VERY careful signing up with companies asking you for money so they can submit your site to 100’s of search engines. You could end up on a Link Farm without even knowing it. If you want your site broadcasted, learn Simple SEO Skills, read a few of our articles here, educate yourself, and take advantage of the many Free Advertising Options available to you such as Top 100 Lists, Plugboards, Low Cost Marketplace Advertising. If you want to hire someone to submit your site to search engines, use someone reputable with a proven background such as Craft Site Medic.
You will want to perform the above for each page of your site. If you add a page, for example, for Candle Scents, you might use the meta title: My Site Name Candle Scents Fragrances; for the keywords: candle, candles, scents, scent, fragrances; and the meta description: My Site Name Offers a Wide Variety of Candle Scents and Fragrances. Every time you add a new page, enter your meta title, meta keywords, and meta description at that time.
Categories and products are not much different. Get in the habit of entering that data as you enter your products and categories. For categories, you will enter Keywords and Meta Title. For products, you will enter Keywords and Meta Title. Keep your entries relative to the category or product you are entering.
After you enter the data for a page, assuming you are using the Penney Layne DIY Site Builder with the pop in templates, go see your work. Go to your website, access the page you have edited, and when it comes up View the Source. You should see the data you entered at the top of the source code page, neatly organized and properly coded.
Check back often for more tips and tricks on improving your Website Success. We succeed when our customers succeed, so we want to help you every way we can. Have a great day. by Laura Brown, Penney Layne Graphics