I often get asked questions like "If I only could do one thing on my
site to make it be better optimized for search engines, what would it
be?" Well, this is by no means an exhaustive list, but it is the 3 most
important tags that you need to address on your pages in order to be
properly indexed by search engines…
1) The Title Tag
The title tag is the text that appears at the VERY top of a search window and it’s used when a page is bookmarked.
Since the title tag is not on the web page itself and many people pay it no attention this is a great place to use keywords that may look strange elsewhere. However, resist the urge to stuff too many key phrases in here. The more you use, the less weight they have, and you run the risk of looking spammy to Google, so choose wisely! Use our SEO Meta Tag Tool to make sure you don’t go overboard. Make sure that EVERY page on your website has a unique page title.
2) Header Tags
Header tags, similar to title tags, are what tell search engines what that page is about. The header tag that holds the most weight in a search engine’s eyes is H1 and there should only be one of them per page. There can be multiple H2, H3, H4, etc. tags per page, however. It is important that you really use the header tags and not just a font, div or span tag with a CSS class telling it to be big and bold. Search engines don’t look at CSS, so identifying a title as such in the code to search engines is critical. You can always use the H1 tag to style with CSS anyway. Again, every page should have a unique H1 tag.Here is what a header tag looks like when you view the page source in your browser:
3) Meta Description
The Meta description tag is completely hidden from people visiting your site, and it actually does not help your page rank any higher in search engines at all. So why is it number three in the list? While the meta tag doesn’t help a page appear in search engine results, it does determine WHAT shows up in search engine results. So put things in your meta description tag that would make someone want to click on your listing over your competitor right next to you. This is NOT the place to load up on key phrases and limit yourself to around one good sentence. Notice it will also show your title tag here as well.
There you have it, my top three tags for effective search engine optimization. Enjoy 