The Seven Sins

Failing to make full use of ?meta-tags? so that Internet search engines can locate your site.

What’s that you say? You don’t know what meta-tags are? No problem; we’ll get to that in a minute. First, let’s talk about WHY your site needs meta-tags.

Search engines on the Internet allow Web surfers to type in key words such as the name of a product or service, a company name, or even a general subject, such as "massage therapist."

Then, in the blink of an eye, the search engine scans the millions of sites on the Web and picks out and lists those that have meta-tags identical to the typed-in search term.

Meta-tags, then, are simply words and phrases hidden in your pages that describe the contents of your Web site, making it easier for interested viewers to find you.

There are several types of meta-tags, but the most important for search engine indexing are the description and keywords tags. The description tag returns your own description of the page in place of the summary the search engine would automatically create. The keyword tags provide specific words for the search engine to associate with your site.

By inserting a wide range of keyword tags relevant to your site, you increase the chances that your site will be listed when a Web surfer types in one of those words or phrases.

The use of meta-tags is a technical subject too complex to cover in full here. It is sufficient to say that you should discuss the matter with your Web designer to make certain that a full measure of appropriate tags is inserted in your site.

If you’re designing your own site and aren’t familiar with the subject, log on to a search engine (my favorite is www.google.com) and type in "meta-tags" (without the quotes). You’ll learn how search engines work, and you’ll get a long list of Web sites that will tell you all you ever wanted to know about the subject.