Header and Meta tags - The Scoop

Here is a quick list of the most common tags in a header and their SEO worth

title Very important. Don't leave your home page without it

meta name="description" Used for descriptions by directories and search engines, but no direct ranking value. Good to have, though.

meta name="keywords" Only used by some engines for inclusionary purposes only. Extremely limited use, and none for rankings.

meta name="copyright" No SEO value, good idea legally though

meta name="robots"Default behavior for an SE is "index,follow", so unless you want something different this is a waste of time. Can affect rankings by removing site from indexing. Can't add your site or force a visit though. The same applies to specific robots being mentioned, such as Googlebot.

meta http-equiv="pics-label" Only used for voluntary content ratings. No SE ranking value, but helps identify and exclude sites when a searcher uses Safe Search or similar.

meta http-equiv="expires" Not used by search engines unless expires=0, at which point they will not cache, as far as I know

The following are a waste of time and/or bad for you

meta equiv="refresh" Usually a bad idea - use a proper 301 instead.

meta name="distribution" Waste of time - intranet only

meta name="author" Ego purposes only outside of an intranet

meta name="generator" Not useful for search engines, is sometimes used by your web development tool (FrontPage is infamous for it)

meta name="revisit" No value at all. Does nothing.

meta name="vw.96" No value unless you own a Volkswagon, live in BC, and it's the years 1996-1998. Just dumb.

meta name="city" This Geotag, along with similar ones, are only used by Gigablast - no other use.

meta name="geo.region" Same as above, but not used by anyone major.

meta equiv="keywords" Using the http-equiv for things like keywords and description is a complete waste of time. Improper usage.

meta name="DC.title" Dublin Core only - no use for internet search engines. Same with DC.description

All Other Dublin Core tags: Same - no use outside of an intranet with a custom SE that uses them.

Here is an easy to use metatag and header generator, as well as more information.

Ian

MIsspelling Research - Google Results!

I started the Keyword Misspelling Research on June 4, 2005 and it's now June 9, 2005 - Google already has results (nice going, guys! ) The other 3 search engines have not even indexed a single page yet. :(

The keyword misspelling test contains the following pages:

(All searches using Google)

Page 1: Main Page. Contains all three words in body text, title and keyword metatag, and I will link to it using the misspellings, as well. It should show up for all three versions.

altwrittén: Result
altwritten: Result
altwriten: Result

Page 2: The proper word is used in the content and title, but with no mention of misspellings anywhere, and is not linked with misspellings. This is the control page. It should not show up for any misspellings unless the search engine stems or makes a decision to include a misspelling for it's own reasons.

altwrittén: Result
altwritten: No Result
altwriten: No Result

Page 3: The keyword misspellings are used in image "alt" tags only (unlinked)

altwrittén: Result
altwritten: Result
altwriten: Result

Page 4: The keyword misspellings are used in image "alt" tags only (linked)

altwrittén: Result
altwritten: Result
altwriten: Result

Page 5: The keyword misspellings are used in the keywords metatag only

altwrittén: Result
altwritten: No Result
altwriten: No Result

Page 6: The keyword misspellings are used in noscript only

altwrittén: Result
altwritten: Result
altwriten: Result

Page 7: The keyword misspellings are used within object only

altwrittén: Result
altwritten: No Result
altwriten: No Result

Page 8 : The keyword misspellings are used in incoming anchor text only (no on-page use)

altwrittén: Result
altwritten: Result
altwriten: No Result *** I'll check this later to be sure

Page 9: The keyword misspellings are used in the title only

altwrittén: Result
altwritten: Result
altwriten: Result

Page 10: The page path (i.e. domain name/directory test) contains the misspellings, but the content does not.

altwrittén: Result
altwritten: Result
altwriten: Result

Page 11: The misspellings are hidden using CSS within the body.

altwrittén: Result
altwritten: Result
ltwriten: Result

Page 12: The misspellings are within comments only.

altwrittén: Result
altwritten: No Result
altwriten: No Result

Page 13: The misspellings are only within a Dublin Core tag intended for the purpose.

altwrittén: Result
altwritten: No Result
altwriten: No Result

Page 14: The misspellings are within a bookmark (ie domain.com/page.htm#keyword") link on the same page, but not otherwise on the page.

altwrittén: Result
altwritten: No Result
altwriten: No Result

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Conclusions For Google
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One interesting thing is the order that Google listed these in, though I wasn't testing for it. Feel free to check the listings and draw your own conclusions.All pages in the test are indexed and show up for the control word. At this time they are the ONLY pages that show up - which is good for this test.

• 
  Contrary to popular belief - Google apparently checks and indexes unlinked alt tags. There is another possible explanation - I deliberately used the misspellings as the image file names - I'll check this in the next round. Inconclusive.
• 
  Google does NOT index the keyword metatag or other metatags like Dublin Core.
• 
  Google will index misspellings in the filename and URL, but not bookmarks (which are technically part of the URL)
• 
  Google indexes hidden CSS
• Google does NOT index comments
• 
  Google will index noscript, but did not index misspellings in the object tag. This was not the ordinary usage of alt text within an object, but a custom experiment, which has now provided me with useful (though negative) data.
• 
  There was absolutely no indication that Google will expand it's search to include an "e" when a search term includes an "é".

Ian

Keyword Misspelling Research

I'm doing some research right now to test how the various search engines handle misspellings. I've chosen the word altwrittén as the test subject for a variety of reasons, first and formost because it contains 2 opportunities to misspell it: altwritten and altwriten.

I'll share the data with you when I get it.

Content is the Linking King!?

One of the reasons that I prefer adding content to other link building methods is that, done properly, it combines so many of the other methods at the same time. You simply get more "bang for your buck".

Let me explain. Here are just some some of the link building methods that can be used while adding content:

1. Content invites IBL's and natural deep links. People will link to really good (or really controversial) content. They usually don't link to mediocre content. This is as natural as it gets.

2. Content adds internal backlinks. When you add content to your site, you are adding additional internal linking opportunities. I once moved a client in a very competitive search term from nowhere to number 2 on Google simply by removing an "s" from one of the words in his navigation structure - the sheer number of pages in his site containing that nav structure did the rest for me. In this case, the search term was "widget" but he had placed "widgets" in the navigation structure.

3. Content provides marketing opportunities. Adding, for example, some unique research to your site provides not only the content for your site, but also provides an opportunity to do a press release or article about the research (or both). This is usually accompanied by a link.

4. Content increases your ability to capture niche phrases. Even a low link weight page that is, nonetheless, focussed on a niche keyphrase can bring in very valuable traffic.

5. Content allows you to focus and funnel PR and other forms of link weight. If you hardly have any pages, then your ability to funnel link text, PR, etc to certain pages or areas of your site is severely limited. If you have enough content, you can use the structure of your site to focus on marketing opportunities.

6. Content can allow you to get multiple listings for the same site. If you focus and organize your content into discrete catagories, you can often find that a vertical hobby directory that would never list your flower shop may very well list your sub-section on flower arranging. DMOZ policy, for example, also allows multiple listings for the same site IF the content is sufficiently unique to justify it. Wiki and encyclopedia listings are an example of this.

7. Content can get you a more visible, stronger listing. For example, if you have content that provides useful and unique information on a city, then you will find yourself listed in the city section of the directory. If you have it for multiple cities, then you can get the state area (which is usually higher and has more link weight), if you have several states, then you can get the country wide listing, which is yet higher on the link weight scale. If you had just tried to focus a few pages of content on "country-wide" stuff, the liklyhood of your site getting listed at that (or any) level is remote at best. The wider the base, the higher the pyramid. Directories use a pyramid structure (hint).

8. Content allows you to talk about the same subject in different ways. You can have a stuffy, "official" tone of voice for most of your site, but that may limit it's appeal for certain groups of searchers, and limit the types of keywords you can use. By adding chatty, informal articles or user reviews and feedback, you can increase the potential range of your audience reach.

9. Content attracts and converts. People are more likely to trust a site with more content than the infamous "web brochure". People are more likely to link to sites with more content than sites that don't. Content not only attracts and converts buyers, it attracts and converts linkers.

10. Content differentiates. If you are selling the ACME Mark VII and so is everyone else in your niche, or worse, you have an affiliate site, then your ability to attract links is severly hampered by the fact that good directories don't link to the same content over and over again. Good search engines also do not display the same content over and over again. Go ahead and sell that Mark VII, but add unique content that avoids duplication filters and encourages people to link to you. You may even find that your competitors will get bumped lower (or off) if your content is better than theirs. People link to different points of view, not the same point of view (or information) over and over again. Want to get into a competitive directory category? Offer a series of well thought out content that "goes against the flow" of the rest of the sites in that topic area. It's an editors job to seek out and add that kind of information, NOT to help people list their "me too" site.

The reason that "content is king" is because it not only affects your relevance (content and keywords) but ALSO your authority (links).

Ian