There are 2 primary aspects of Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

1. On-Page Factors: meta tags, keyword density in text, keywords in headings, etc.
2. Off-Page Factors: this is mainly backlinks

Google has released an SEO Starter Guide PDF. The Guide goes into detail on how to do “on-page” SEO for their current algorithm. (Keep in mind that Google is currently working on an update they refer to as Caffeine. There is currently a lot of speculation about what this will entail but one of the most important items, in my opinion, is that site breadth appears to be taking on a larger role. More on that in another post.)

For this posting I want focus on the meta tags. Specifically these are the title, keyword and description tags.

Meta Tag: Title

Your title meta tag shows up in the search engine results. It is the first thing that searchers see when glancing over the search results. You want that title to effectively and accurately describe the contents of the page. You don’t have be creative when putting in the title tag for a Privacy Policy or Contact Us page. And, honestly, if the page is written narrowly (as is good SEO practice) then the basic content of the title will be obvious to the author and any reader.

If the page is a how-to then titles could be “How To …” or “Seven Ways to…”. If the page is a set of tips on saving money then the title could be “Five Ways to Save Money using…” or “Save Money on … with these 5 Tips”. For effective SEO you need to choose a single keyword for each page and that keyword should show up in the title tag.

Avoid using vague titles or defaults like “Untitled”. The title tag should be concise, unique and accurately reflect the content on the page. That means no 2 pages should have the same title even if they are serving the same keyword. Nor should a large group of pages share a common title meta tag. Also, remember that a long title will get clipped by Google when it presents the search results to the searcher; keep your title short.

None of this means the title shouldn’t have any personality. I certainly read the pages with the most interesting sounding titles first.

Meta Tag: Description

Just like the title the description meta tag should accurately and concisely describe the page’s content. You get 160 characters the last time I checked. Anything in the description tag longer than 160 characters will cause the 3 dots (…) to appear at the end of your description when Google present the search results to the searcher. I’ve heard estimates that those 3 dots cause as much as a 19% drop in people clicking on that particular search result. Don’t make you description too long or that could be your site with a 19% drop in visitors.

The description meta tag should not be stuffed with keywords nor should it be generic like – “This is a page on college football”. Obviously with the character limit copying the entire page into the description tag isn’t a good idea. So create a concise and accurate summary of the page.

One final note, just like the title tag, each description tag should be unique. No 2 pages should have the same description.

Meta Tag: Keyword

The best practice is to do some keyword research before writing a page. Then narrowly focus your page on that keyword. So your page should not be a review of an iPhone with lots of additional commentary on iPhone accessories or the App Store. Write separate pages on the accessories and App Store or separate pages for each individual accessory and app. Your keyword research should lead you a primary keyword and a handful of simple variations on that keyword (which you should also sprinkle into the page text). Your primary and simple variations should become the keywords in your page’s keyword meta tag.

Just because you have a site about iPhones doesn’t mean every keyword meta tag should include iPhone. Each page should have its own keywords – i.e. the pages on iPhone accessories should have the keyword “iphone accessories” but probably not “iphone” all by itself.