The key-word meta-tag is dead… long live well-written copy!

For some, it’s a sad day. For others? Well, we’ve been going on about it for years, but, the time has finally come. No more doubts, this time it’s for real.

The Key-word meta-tag is dead. (You may want to bow your head at this point)

No, really. No more key-word stuffing into that silly little field. It is, as the sketch put it, a dead meta-tag.

Well ok, it’s not actually gone or forbidden. It’s just that Ask.com, the last search engine to use the meta-tags in its search algorithms, has withdrawn from the search business, leaving Google and Bing, both of whom declared some time ago that meta-tags were consigned to html history.

So, what replaces it? How do I ensure I get my keywords indexed?

Well, both Google and Bing have focussed their algorithms on recognising key-words in well written, flowing text. While importance is given to words or phrases found in URLs, headings and page descriptions, the key consideration must be to write copy for your visitors to read and absorb, not for search engines to index.

If you’d like us to review your site and optimise your content for search engines – without meta-tags – email us at info@lwscreative.co.uk

Of course, the obvious question is… what to do with the meta-tag field? After all, it will always be there. We suggest that you still use it for key-words, perhaps as a checklist for the words you should have on that page. But, maybe you have a better idea – let us know!

The key-word meta-tag is dead… long live well-written copy!

This entry was posted on Monday, December 13th, 2010 at 5:03 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.