Search engine optimisation can often seem very technical. It often is. The art in SEO is in finding creative ways to implement techniques which are usually based in science. Tags are one of the areas in which technique and creativity need to walk a delicate balance.

Any business which has addressed the need for fresh content on their site will be familiar with the need for good writing skills when it comes to SEO. Many sites, however, overlook the need for excellent writing when it comes to meta tags. It’s easy to see how this can happen. Meta tags tend to be considered when you’re looking at your site’s code, quite separate from any content issues. Most people forget that when it comes to meta description and title tags the tag, in a way, becomes content.

Of all the tags on your site, the title tag is the most important. It is the first thing about your site that the user sees in the search engine results pages. It doesn’t matter if you have the top ranking for a keyword if the three sites below you have more interesting titles. This is why your title tags should be written mainly to catch the eye of a human user, with the search engines coming in as a close second.

Your description tags are the introduction for your site, and are used as the blurb in the search engine results pages. They need to be even more carefully crafted than a title tag. There is always a chance that something in your description will catch a user’s eye, even if your title isn’t that catchy. Many websites fail to properly craft their descriptions, meaning that a well-written description gives your site an edge.

Title tags and description tags need to be concise and informative, but also have some allure. When writing either of these tags, consider whether you would be tempted to click through if you had searched for the page’s keyword.

It is a wasted opportunity to have the same title tag for every page. However, title tags do need to follow the same sort of style across the site. If your main page’s title tag is short and punchy, the other title tags need to be as concise. Keep in mind that your users will use titles for navigation when on the site.

Your title tags should be no longer than 10 words, and ideally around five. Description tags are almost as short as a Twitter blog, at around 170 characters long. As you will know if you’ve ever browsed some tweets, a lot can be said in such a small space.

It’s pretty much agreed in the SEO world that keyword meta tags are not much help. The major search engines have proclaimed not to use them. As it takes only a few seconds to type in the keyword list from a page, it’s worth doing just in case one of the smaller search engines crawls your site.

Many sites fail to craft their tags with much precision, to their peril. In the SERPs, badly written tags show up as unprofessional and untrustworthy. Users are more likely to click on a site without spelling errors or punctuation mistakes. If your business wants to look its best in the search engine results pages, it can be best to obtain professional advice. Talk to us at SEO Consult about tags and your site’s SEO.

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