META TAGS - AN ABSOLUTE MUST FOR SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION

Sep 21, 2010

by Butterfly1961
posted in Blogger 101

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I had heard of Meta Tags, and the fact that these are important for any blog, but I was not sure exactly how useful it would be for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or for that matter, how to even apply meta tags to my blog. I finally found a great site that gave me some useful tips on how to accomplish the "Meta Tag" dilemma and wanted to share with you what I learned. The simplest information was found on www.bloggertricks.com - but I will show you my meta tags that are in one of my own blogs and how you can apply your own tags to your blog.

What exactly is a Meta Tag? Meta Tags tell Search Engines what your blog is all about. You know how when you Google a subject and you end up with a long list of blogs and posts concerning that subject? You found what you were looking for because these blogs used Meta Tags. What is even better, in addition to your blog's homepage Meta Tags, is adding these tags to individual post entries so that Search Engines will crawl and find your blog and subject matter even quicker.

Believe me, this works. I have my main blog which is for digital scrappers, and there are several other blogs that automatically "search" for freebie downloads in order to list these freebies so that others may find what I have to offer; I get major traffic in this way. I have a second blog (I know it, I'm addicted) that has not been opened for very long, which also offers different freebies plus scrap kits for purchase. My traffic was not so great, so I added Meta Tags, plus a few post entry Meta tags, and I swear to you that the blogs with auto search engines found me in less than 5 hours - major traffic now to my new second blog!

Your Meta Tags go in the html section of your blog template. If you don't know anything about HTML, it's OK; it's actually rather simple and just a matter of copying and pasting a few codes in the HTML section.

First, when you go to your blog dashboard, go to Design. Click on Edit HTML. There is a little box above your template that says "Expand Widget Template" - you can click on this as it makes your HTML a little better formed so you can find codes quicker.

Second, find this code just a few lines down:

<b:include data='blog' name='all-head-content'/>

Directly below that code, you will now paste the following code:

<b:if cond='data:blog.url == "http://REPLACE WITH YOUR BLOG ADDRESS/"'>
<meta content='Digital scrap designs and kits offered for free downloads' name='description'/>
<meta content='scrap kits,designs,tags,stationery,journaling,frames,overlays,quick pages,freebie downloads' name='keywords'/> </b:if>

You will replace your own text where the bold text is; this code is from my own blog so you can see what it will look like. You will not only have a description of your site, but also keywords for SEO.

Please note that when you are listing your keywords, you must not repeat one word more than 3 times or Google will disregard it. Do not space after the commas in your keyword list either.

Also, remember to NOT delete ANY of the symbols such as ("), ('), (/), (>) or any others as your code will not work at all. Only replace what is written in bold! You also do not want to substitute the word "and" for the symbol (&); I learned the hard way this will not be well formed either and it won't work!

Now you have your blog Meta Tags in place for your Blogger homepage. Click on "Preview" to make sure it will work; if it is not well formed, it won't save and it will tell you so. In that case, you will want to click on "Clear Edits" to erase what you just did and start over. If it works, click "Save Template" (I like to save as I go; it saves lots of time if I make a mistake after my first edit!)

Now let's put in your code so you can place Meta Tags for individual posts!

Copy and paste the following code AFTER the above code you just completed

<b:if cond='data:blog.url == "http://REPLACE THIS AREA WITH YOUR POST ADDRESS"'>
<meta content='Autumn scrap kits available for free download' name='description'/>

<meta content='freebies,Autumn,kits,frames,quick pages' name='keywords'/> </b:if>

Again, you will replace your own text with what is written in bold. The link to your POST ADDRESS will look something like this: http://your blog address/2010/09/autumn-freebie-kits.html - putting in my actual code did not work in this review as it only showed part of it since it was an actual link! Just bring your individual post up and see the address in your browser. You will see your post title's words are separated with a dash, following your blog's address and post date. By listing your description and keywords of the post entry the search engines will pick these up quickly.

Click on "Preview" to make sure it is well formed, then click "Save Template" and that's it!

To save time, when I place a new post Meta Tag, I just copy and paste the previous tag code and replace the text as needed; it does not take that much time and it is well worth it!

If you decide to ever change your template, you may lose all of your Meta Tags. Before uploading a new template, just copy your Meta codes and paste on NotePad and save - then when your new template is done, you can paste all your Meta content right back in your HTML!

Now you are done! It can be a little time consuming to put Meta Tags for every post you write but you don't have to. Use your own judgement as to what entries will be the most beneficial to you for search engines to find; after all, once a visitor comes to your site to view one entry, they will see everything else you have to offer on your blog; this is just another good reason to place a Recent Posts widget in your sidebar - you will find this in your blog widget section when you click on your "Add A Gadget" box in your layout. Another widget to use to optimize your traffic's attention is the Link Within gadget. This is explained in my list of Must Have Widgets if you are not familiar with this handy little gadget. Once your Meta Tags attract more visitors, it is up to you to keep their attention!

HINT: Even if you are the type of person who does not like lots of widgets on your blog, it is vital for you to keep track of how many visitors you have by using one of the many visitor count widgets; this not only impresses your visitors, but you will be amazed at how much more traffic you will see after applying Meta Tags!

ANOTHER HINT: Being a member of Twitter and Facebook is a wonderful idea as you can easily integrate all of your blog posts to automatically post on these sites. Also have a Follow Me Twitter and Facebook button on your blog; I have really increased friends and followers by doing this, and the buttons don't take up much room on your blog if you want minimal widgets.

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Sharrie November 21, 2010

Sounds a little technical and confusing... alas, my brain is not working on the weekends! I'll be sure to kiv this for my next project! Thanks!

Butterfly1961 November 21, 2010

My brain doesn't work most of the time during the week LOL but it actually is not hard to do - let me know if you try it!! Thank you for the comment.

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Brenda (Butterfly1961)
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I love to read mysteries and thrillers; I am addicted to scary psychological thrillers and horror movies; "The Exorcist" and "Silence of the Lambs" being 2 of my favorites. I love … more

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