meta tags

[Sure]

Ive been tidying up the code on my site and am now looking at the meta tags in the head section, i understand that unnecessary tags may not harm seo but have read that some search engines only read the first 1000 characters, so it could be best to remove any junk, is this correct?

Also for those interested i found this

Recommended Tags
Meta Content Language (non-US English ONLY)
Meta Content Type
Meta Description
Meta Language (non-US English ONLY)
Optional Tags
Meta Abstract
Meta Author
Meta Copyright
Meta Designer
Meta Google
Meta Keywords
Meta MSN (No ODP)
Meta Title
Not Recommended Tags
Meta Content Script Type
Meta Content Style Type
Meta Distribution
Meta Expires
Meta Generator
Meta MS Smart Tags
Meta Pragma No-Cache
Meta Publisher
Meta Rating
Meta Refresh
Meta Reply-To
Meta Resource Type
Meta Revisit After
Meta Robots
Meta Set Cookie
Meta Subject
Meta VW96.ObjectType

 

[Faevilangel]

You only want the following meta tags

Meta Content Type
Meta Description
Meta Robots
Meta Kreywords
Meta MSN (No ODP)

and any meta for google webmasters, bing webmasters etc, all the others have no use

 

[Ali-v-8]

1) Meta title
2) Meta description
3) Meta Keyword
These are THE most important.
Meta keyword is debatable, but I for one will always fill them in. I have experimented on our a website to test the progress when keywords are not mentioned. I will be installing the keywords this month as the progress has been poor.

 

[Faevilangel]

1) Meta title
2) Meta description
3) Meta Keyword
These are THE most important.
Meta keyword is debatable, but I for one will always fill them in. I have experimented on our a website to test the progress when keywords are not mentioned. I will be installing the keywords this month as the progress has been poor.

I always add the keywords for following reasons:

1) A lot of clients will ask where are my keywords
2) I have an easy to find liat of their keywords at any time that I can pass onto the ppc guys, copywriters etc.
3) Cos I am stuck in the dark ages and I fill them out cos I can.

 

[maxh]

don't bother with meta keywords http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jK7IPbnmvVU

Meta description is good, but only if the description is varied and relevant to the page its on.

 

[rosszero]

..........................................

 

[rosszero]

If you want to appear a bit better in search engines other than Google then it is worth using meta keywords. Just put around 5 in so that it helps, but not too many that it bulks the code of the page out too much.

 

[I, Brian]

Google *say* they don't use data in meta-keyword for ranking purposes. And this has been tested to be true for unique keywords in this meta alone.

HOWEVER, it remains good practice to use meta-keyword ensibly and in relation to your page content, because it is entirely conceivable that Google would use this as a quality signal.

In other words, adding a keyword to meta-keyword alone will not give you a boost for that keyword - but not having the keywords on your page represented in your meta-keyword or meta-description tags may serve as a negative signal for filtering purposes.

Difficult to prove, especially if the filtering is only minimal, but best to play safe with IMO as it's the sort of trick I would personally expect from Google.

2c.

 

[maxh]

If you want to appear a bit better in search engines other than Google then it is worth using meta keywords. Just put around 5 in so that it helps, but not too many that it bulks the code of the page out too much.

Waste of time.

Matt Cutts own words "I would spend basically 0 minutes on meta keywords"

 

[Ali-v-8]

Why would he?
I believe Brian has give the best explanation.
For get ranking, think about indexing.

"a man goes into church and says "God (not you earl), i have been going to church all my life. That's 50 years of worshipping you and praying to you. I have lost my job, and my house is getting repossessed, I am debt and need help. If I win the lottery all my problems will be solved. Not the jackpot but at least £20,000 will clear everything and give me, my wife and 4 kids a lifeline. " kneeling down he give his ultimatum "God if i don't win the lottery this week i will become a devil worshipper, commit crime and do everything you are against and never set foot into church again." and of he trots out of church donating his last 20p on the way out.
lottery day comes and goes ad the man returns to the church armed with a can of petrol cursing the holy place. " I did everything and all i asked is for a little help and you ignore me" i didnt win so Im going to burn this place to the ground"
With a roll of thunder the clouds in the sky part and a bright light shines down on him and the voice of god says "I tried to help, but at least meet me half way and buy a lottery ticket"

Moral: You got to be in it to win it.

Waste of time.

Matt Cutts own words "I would spend basically 0 minutes on meta keywords"

 

[Simply Clicks]

The keywords tag has no influence on Google rankings.
But I would still recommend using them because:

1. They may have an impact on other engines
2. Using them allows you to test for them

 

[shyle]

For I know and as I optimized my site I just put a
*meta title
*meta description
*meta keywords
it's purpose is for the Google and yahoo once able to crawl you site they can find your title,description and keywords.
And note for I know the characters that is required in constructing a good description is 175 character.