[Tom White]

What metatags do you use on your website?

[Erithwc]

just checked what meta tag keywords i put on my site and this is what i have got.

Abbey wood, Belvedere, Bexley, Bexleyheath, Blackfen,
Chislehurst, Dartford, Eltham, Erith, Gravesend, Greenhithe,
Joydens wood, Sidcup, Sutton at home, Swanscombe, Swanley,
Thamesmead, Thamesmead East, Welling, Wilmington, erith window cleaning,
 sidcup window cleaning, dartford window cleaning, window, cleaning,
bexley window cleaning, bexleyheath window cleaning, erith window cleaners,
window cleaners in erith, northumberland heath window cleaning,
traditional window cleaning, water fed pole,  window cleaner, erith window cleaning,
erithwc, www.erithwc.co.uk, www.erithwindowcleaning.co.uk,

don't know if its right but im getting on the first page of google when i checked

[Nathanael Jones]

This is what I have:

<meta name="verify-v1" content="9Fpq3x7zAgLThgqVYpvuDJ3RiticOWigFpsQkpbbX2I=" />
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
<meta name="description" content="Residential and commercial cleaning services in, Mitchelstown, Kilworth, Glanworth, Castlelyons, Aghern, Conna, Rathcormac and Ballyhooly." />
<meta name="keywords" content="window, cleaner, residential, clean it up, Mitchelstown, Kilworth, Rathcormac, gutter, pressure washing." />
<title>Professional cleaning services in clean it up, Mitchelstown, Rathcormac &amp; Castlelyons</title>
<meta name="abstract" content="We provide quality, cost effective &amp; efficient, hi-level window cleaning services including Reach &amp; Wash window cleaning, gutter cleaning, fascia, sign &amp; cladding cleaning for  commercial, industrial and residential customers in the clean it up &amp; North Cork area." />
<meta name="expires" content="Never" />
<meta name="subject" content="Window cleaning services" />
<meta name="category" content="Window cleaning services" />
<meta name="rating" content="General" />
<meta name="language" content="en" />
<meta name="distribution" content="Local" />
<meta name="author" content="Avondhu Cleaning Services" />
<meta name="copyright" content="Copyright Avondhu Cleaning Services" />
<meta name="revisit" content="5 Days" />    
<meta name="robots" content="index, follow" />
<meta name="googlebot" content="yes" />

[mci services]

Not sure Tosh but yours obviously work as you rank highly as I do so why worry about it.

[farkam]

nowadays metatags don't give you a weight in the search, the content of the website is important though.

[Tom White]

I just like to understand how it works 'n' all that, Stu.

I've been looking at my reports; nothing major; but people had been clicking on my site when I had that pic of me and my blow up doll on my shoulders.

It makes me wonder if I lost any decent jobs because of that?  

And farkam's post makes sense to me because my metatags have been empty.

[mci services]

I just like to understand how it works 'n' all that, Stu.

I've been looking at my reports; nothing major; but people had been clicking on my site when I had that pic of me and my blow up doll on my shoulders.

It makes me wonder if I lost any decent jobs because of that?  

And farkam's post makes sense to me because my metatags have been empty.

your meta tags aren't empty I checked yours and mine, unless you have added them recently, but I agree farkam's post makes more sense to me

[Tom White]

Yes, I added them today, but I was unsure if I'd done it properly! 

[mci services]

Yes, I added them today, but I was unsure if I'd done it properly! 

that will be the same as me then

[Hedgehog]

How do you add metatags to a website?

[Tom White]

There's a "properties" area on my website administration I can go in and add metatags; it's very simple to do.  I guess you just have to have a 'play around' with it.

[Frankybadboy]

you got into it then tosh

[Tom White]

you got into it then tosh

Yes! Thankfully.  I wonder if I lost any jobs because of that?  The job I got is a nice £50 - a country house and she wants me to quote for her children's houses which are big detached jobs too (so she says; I've not seen them yet).

But she was a little hesitant when she phoned me.  I know why now, though we laughed about the website when I went round to quote; she'd seen the photos of me and the blow up doll! 

[PureClean Window Cleaning Ltd]

how do you enter them?

[Tom White]

how do you enter them?

I go into site administration and then click on my homepage, and see a 'properties' icon.  I click on that and I can enter metatags.  It could be different for your website since I bet they'll differ in their layout. 

All I did was to 'play about' with my site administration.  You can even see reports of how many people viewed your website, what pages have been looked at, and on what days they looked.

I guess that would be handy if you're doing some sort of leafleting campaign with your website on the flyer.  After your leaflets have been distributed you can see if you have an increase in 'looks' at your site.

Then maybe with another leaflet design you could do similar and compare results?

Just play about with it! 

[Nick Wareham]

Forget about metatags.

Metatags would have got you somewhere in the 1990's, but now, thanks to widespread abuse of them to obtain a high search engine ranking, they are of absolutley no consequence.

In fact, google will punish you with an especially low ranking if you use very broad-based metatags, or your content doesnt very closely match your tags.  (Just like you'll get punished for using tricks like white text on a white background.  It worked in the 1990's, but not anymore).  And, if you accidently use a trademark in your metags, you can get sued.

A friend of mine who is an absolute mega geek told me this.

The most important thing is the site content.

[Tom White]

That makes sense, Nick, 'cos Stu and I both get front page listings, yet our metatags were empty.

Cheers for the information, it was interesting.

I used to be clued up on computers upto about the era of the Vic 20, but once the Commodore 64 came out I discovered females and beer and lost all interest, but now I'm getting all middle-aged, I seem to be coming round to a full circle and getting interested again. 

[H S and Son]

Wait til you get to the 'reverse google sandbox' Tosh.

[Tom Kelly]

Wait til you get to the 'reverse google sandbox' Tosh.

Rumours, Lies & Slander

[ascjim]

meta tags are useless. Description and site content are the only things that count.

And also having this helps bots crawl all your pages.

 <meta name="robots" content="Index, follow" />

obviously have this in the head section.