Today I came across a post at Bridal Tweet that pretty clearly communicated meta-tags, relative to search engine optimization and “ranking,” which are basically the same thing, are no longer relevant.
It actually says you “no longer have to waste your time with this…”
” Meta Tag Optimization. There was a time when meta tags (invisible coding on your web pages) played a large role in a website’s search ranking. You no longer have to waste your time with this because Google has publicly stated that they now ignore these tags.”
Not so fast folks.
I disagree.
Meta-tags are alive and well and should be used as part of your overall search engine optimization strategy. While Google does say it “doesn’t use meta-tags for ranking” I think this is a little misleading.
Actually, if you don’t correctly use a well written page-title tag, that matches the search performed by someone at Google, the chances are your website/page showing up in the top ten listings is ABSOLUTELY ZERO.
Sure, some people say a page-title tag is not a meta-tag, I think differently and for no other reason, and there are plenty, but that it’s found in the exact same location as the other meta-tags between your tags.
Also, confusion over what is a tag and what isn’t a tag sometimes leads people to leave out page-title tags because “meta-tags are dead” – this is always a BIG mistake.
Another way of looking at it, and I tell my clients this, is anything you can do to a page, that is not considered cheating or manipulating, that might help a search engine determine relevancy for your page (i.e. keywords in content, meta-tags, inbound links) is a good thing.
Using meta-tags and optimizing them on your pages is a good thing and alive, well, and kicking.
I think the information Bridal Tweet posted is wrong.
It certainly is not the full story and anyone who leaves out meta-tags, who is competing against someone who IS using them, in my opinion, is at a competitive disadvantage.
Hey, don’t take my word for it. The Google Webmaster Guidelines about meta-tags are pretty clear.
More reasons to correctly use and optimize your meta-tags:
1) Other search engines still use them. Contrary to what they’d like you to believe, Google is NOT the only search engine people are using. Smart online marketers are trying to get quality traffic from as many sources as they can.
2) Even if they aren’t weighted as they once were, and this certainly is the case because now there are over 300 variables in Google’s algorithm versus 100 a few years back, they certainly still play a role in your search engine optimization strategy. I use them and I have plenty of evidence that they have a valuable impact.
3) Google might not use meta-tags for “ranking,” in other words the keywords you use in your meta-tags will not get you “top ranked,” but I’d guess that Google’s crawlers still look at them, index them, and even use them in some cases (i.e. search engine results page description snippets).
4) All of the websites I’ve got top ranked, some in extremely competitive categories, have all used meta-tags.
5) I’ve optimized meta-tags in the past and seen a site jump in rank pretty quickly. Hmm… not dead yet in my book!
Would I say that meta-tags are the magic bullet to top ranking?
No.
There is no such thing.
Ranking / search engine optimization (SEO) is more competitive than ever in the past. Every little detail and every possible variable, all optimized perfectly, gets the sites I’m working on top ranked. And one of those variables are meta-tags.
I highly recommend that anyone with a website and/or blog and marketing to brides online continue using them.
Meta-tags are NOT dead.
If you’re not happy with the results you’re getting from your current website, or the results you’re getting from your Internet marketing, I can help. My clients read like a Who’s Who list of top ranked sites at Google and their websites turn the brides who visit into inquiries, phone calls, and sales. If you want to use the Internet more effectively and BOOK MORE WEDDINGS, drop me a line using the inquiry form below or call me at (866) 652-7791 x701.
I’ll follow-up promptly and look forward to the opportunity to speak with you.
Chris Jaeger
Marketing to Brides Online
