Meta tag best practices There are a TON of different HTML tags that can be used on a web page. Each of these small businesses could greatly improve their search results, sales, and ROI by simply adding “best tacos in Tucson” to their title tags.
Can I ask you a question?
I mean besides that one. What was it that made you click on this article to read it?
Maybe the title caught your eye, or perhaps it was the short blurb you saw.
You might have clicked simply because this article comes from a source you trust.
If you found this article via a search engine, though, none of those reasons explain why you’re reading it.
It’s because I included meta tags.
Meta tags are the foundation of SEO and the first thing you’ll find yourself setting up when building a web page.
Without meta tags, you can’t reach readers organically.
It doesn’t take much time to generate meta tags, but it’s more important than you might think.
That’s because 93% of all online experiences begin with a search engine.
This is why so much time is spent on expensive SEO campaigns.
Organic search traffic is the holy grail of SEO, so it can’t be ignored.
Your content needs to be readable and appealing to users on search engines.
There’s a very specific syntax needed.
It’s similar to how bookstores and libraries organize their archives of books.
Let’s take a look at the basic elements.
The title and description tags make up almost the entire entry.
If not for these tags, all you’d see in Google SERPs would be my URL.
Title and description tags are the two most-used tags for SEO purposes, but SEO isn’t the only part of digital marketing.
Advanced digital marketing requires the use of even more tags that improve page rank and overall user experience.
Just like this search result, you’ll soon find out that these tags control how your entire digital presence is viewed and navigated.
Machines can read URLs just fine. If I wrote for machines, my website would look like this:
Google prioritizes certain tags because they provide context for people.
I built my website for people as well, so it looks like this:
This polish is what marketing is all about.
In this blog post, we’re going to explore these meta tags and see how they affect your overall digital marketing efforts.
While simple, the devil is in the details, and every detail counts.
Are you ready?
How meta tags affect brand image and click through rates
You absolutely can judge a book by its cover. It’s what covers are designed for.
Your title and description tag create the cover for your web page. They’re your first impression on most visitors.
It’s not just about search engines, but how we view the Internet.
RSS feeds are the most basic way for blogs and podcasts to be spread.
Here’s a Reuters RSS feed — one of the most-read news feeds online.
Similar to Google’s search engine, the title and description are prominently featured.
It’s a template for how we read things.
Reddit is a basic link-aggregation site that takes away all the bells and whistles.
Reddit depends on the title and image to entice conversations and clicks.
Using meta tags correctly is like using the correct format for a business email.
Sure, you can put whatever you like out there, but there’s a level of professionalism that’s expected at some point.
Even Amazon will only give you a picture, title, and short description to make your point.
Think of these tags as your elevator pitch.
You’re given about as much space as a Tweet to sell your entire brand and product.
Sure, it’s a simple thing, but it’s crucial that you nail it!
You can’t just call in this detail and polish everything else. If you do, nobody will ever see the rest of what you polished.
Here’s a chart of what Smart Insights found are the 7 cornerstones of a 2017 digital marketing strategy.
All of these channels need to be consistent.
We already know how meta tags affect SEO, but that’s not the only element.
Meta tags will make your email marketing and marketing automation efforts easier by providing information for emailed links.
Tags are a crucial element that determines what my automated social media posts look like.
When other bloggers, YouTubers, and social influencers (and micro influencers) share your content, tags make it easier.
Think of tags as the packaging for your product.
If your packaging isn’t spot-on, nobody will ever buy your product, no matter how great it is!
So what are some best practices to implement for tags?
Great news!
That’s exactly what I’m going to tell you next.
Meta tag best practices
There are a TON of different HTML tags that can be used on a web page.
We’re only going to focus on a handful of extremely important tags.
We’ll start with the one that might have brought you here today.
1. Title tags
It’s not technically a meta tag, but it shows up in the header and is used as one.
As of July 2017, the character limits for title tags in Google search results are 78 on mobile devices and 70 on a desktop.
That doesn’t necessarily mean you should use all those characters, however, and 60 is the generally recommended limit.
Long-tail keywords make a difference.
Here are the top titles in the SERPs for “How to make content marketing effective.”
By adding the year, we get an entirely new set of results for “how to make content marketing effective 2017.”
Some users will want basic information, while others will want the most current.
By adjusting our title tag, we can affect which of these searches we rank for.
Ultimately, the goal is to hit both, but that’s not always feasible.
Make sure your keyword is in your title, or you’ll find your articles buried in search results.
For example, when I search for the “best tacos in Tucson,” there are some restaurants on page 10 below even Del Taco.
That’s a wasted opportunity for that taco capital of the country!
Each of these small businesses could greatly improve their search…
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