Apr 20 2010

What are Meta Tags and How Can They Help Me Get to Google Nirvana?

Published by Joe Bavonese at 2:24 pm under bavonese,counselor,growing a private practice,mental health,private practice success,psychologist,social worker,starting a private practice,uncommon practices

Meta tags are a confusing part of websites – but doing them right can make a HUGE difference in your free organic search results.

Two steps:

1) Find top keywords for your areas of specialization using the free Google Keyword Tool:

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

2) Insert new meta tags, or edit ones you have (or have your programmer do this for you). Here’s a video to explain exactly what meta tags are; what they do and how to find them on any website.

Note: if the video does not display, you may need to install Adobe Flash Player

17 responses so far

17 Responses to “What are Meta Tags and How Can They Help Me Get to Google Nirvana?”

  1. # Linda Kingeryon 23 Oct 2009 at 7:10 am

    I look forward to your emails and the excellent information you continue to share. Thanks! Linda

  2. # Nancy Creightonon 23 Oct 2009 at 7:23 am

    Hi Joe:
    Thanks for the video on Meta Tags. This part of the process of building my website has been very confusing for me and I appreciated the simplicity of your video. It was very helpful.

  3. # Laura San Nicolason 23 Oct 2009 at 8:09 am

    Thanks for the great info. I’m still in the beginning phase of building my site, and am curious about keyword stuffing, which I hear is a no-no. My specialty is anxiety treatment and most keywords that seem most useful include the word anxiety, such as anxiety disorder, anxiety self help, generalized anxiety, etc. Is this stuffing? Anybody?

  4. # Joe Bavoneseon 23 Oct 2009 at 8:21 am

    Laura,

    It’s not ‘stuffing’ as long as you don’t use any keyword more than 3-5 times on a page, in your normal description of your services. People in the past have gotten busted if they use a keyword greater than 10% of the words on a page – one old trick was to use the keyword 20-50 times on a page, but make the color of the font the same as the background (i.e. white) so the reader wouldn’t see all the words, but the search engines would pick it up. Now if you do that, they have a way to see it and you will be ex communicated forever.

    Joe

  5. # Laura San Nicolason 23 Oct 2009 at 8:47 am

    Thanks, Joe. I will do my best to avoid eternal ex-communication:)

  6. # Bryan Knighton 23 Oct 2009 at 12:03 pm

    Thanks for this clear exposition. What do you think of listing your metatags without commas, just spaces?

  7. # Clintonon 24 Oct 2009 at 1:21 am

    Thanks for this Joe.

    You have actually explained this in really easy to understand language for the first time for me. It was really helpful to see you show the source and how it looks in the html code.

    I am understanding that you can actually use the description tag to write some compelling copy so that when someone views that in the search engine listings, they will be called to action and hopefully click on your listing.

    Thanks again!

  8. # Rebeccaon 24 Oct 2009 at 10:40 am

    Your info is good, but I feel I have a good handle on the basics. I might be interested in your upcoming program if I felt more confident there’d be something to help me.

    If you’d care to take a quick look at my website and let me know (preferrably offline) what/whether the program could do – specifically – to improve my site, I’d be interested to hear from you!

  9. # Robert Simmonson 26 Oct 2009 at 1:19 pm

    Joe,
    Thanks for the hints, though I have a question about title tags. Are they the same as page titles, and is there a limit to how long they can be? (My website editor in Office Live seems to edit them.)
    Thanks,
    RS

  10. # Licia Freemanon 22 Jan 2010 at 7:53 pm

    Thank you, Joe, for making this web stuff seem so easy to follow.
    I REALLY appreciate your translation. After watching this video I wanted to go back to check all my meta tags again just to make sure I have the right words listed. The difference this time is I know exactly what to look for.
    Thank you!
    Licia

  11. # Marileeon 23 Apr 2010 at 10:00 pm

    Joe, how do you view metatags from Safari? Thank you!

  12. # Joeon 23 Apr 2010 at 11:46 pm

    Marilee,

    For Safari, to see the Meta Tags, under the VIEW menu, choose VIEW SOURCE.

  13. # Stevenon 25 Apr 2010 at 3:06 am

    Joe,
    Thanks for the hints, though I have a question about title tags. Are they the same as page titles, and is there a limit to how long they can be? (My website editor in Office Live seems to edit them.)
    Thanks,
    RS

  14. # Brianon 25 Apr 2010 at 5:33 am

    Thanks for the great info. I’m still in the beginning phase of building my site, and am curious about keyword stuffing, which I hear is a no-no. My specialty is anxiety treatment and most keywords that seem most useful include the word anxiety, such as anxiety disorder, anxiety self help, generalized anxiety, etc. Is this stuffing? Anybody?

  15. # Daveon 25 Apr 2010 at 9:22 am

    Thanks, Joe. I will do my best to avoid eternal ex-communication:)

  16. # Julieon 25 Apr 2010 at 3:25 pm

    Joe, how do you view metatags from Safari? Thank you!

  17. # Simonon 27 Apr 2010 at 3:20 pm

    Thanks for the great info. I’m still in the beginning phase of building my site, and am curious about keyword stuffing, which I hear is a no-no. My specialty is anxiety treatment and most keywords that seem most useful include the word anxiety, such as anxiety disorder, anxiety self help, generalized anxiety, etc. Is this stuffing? Anybody?

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