Description Meta Tag - The description meta tag (metatag) or "Meta Description Tag" is html code that is placed in the <Head> section of Web
pages. It should come directly after the Title tag. For example:
<TITLE>Description Meta Tag</TITLE>
<META name="Description" content="The Description meta tag - definition and SEO aspects. This is the tag that holds a
description of the Web page. It should be optimized for use by humans as well as search engine spiders, to explain what
the page is about. ">
,,,
The tag has two purposes. The first is to tell the search engine spider what the page is about, in order to ensure a
high ranking for relevant keywords. The description tag should have a keyword density of around 5 to 10%. Mentioning the
keyword several times is liable to look like spamming to search engines.
The second purpose is to tell surfers what the page is about.
Search engines will almost alwats use the text in the Title tag as the first line of the site listing, and they
will use the text in the meta description tag beneath it if the description includes the keywords of the search. Visitors should be able to get an idea of what the page is
about and the description should make them want to click the link if they are interested in the subject.
Search engines may use the description tag text or take other text from the page.
It is not clear when search engines like
Google will use which text, and some search engines may use a
combination of description text and other text.
Google evidently will use the description text in listing pages from the Web site (that is, for a query of type
site:mydomain.com ) provided the text is long enough
for its taste. If the page is retrieved as the result of a search for a keyword, Google will display the description if
the description has the keyword, but it will display other relevant text if the keyword the user searched for is not in
the description.
For example: This listing was retrieved by Google for the search phrase [HTML Meta Tags] .
For exactly the same Web page, this listing, with a different description text taken from the middle of the page was
retrieved by Google when searching for [Description Meta Tag]:
Yahoo! behaved in precisely the same way, though it did not list
the above site in the number 1 position.
You can mask (hide it in the code) the description tag or serve different description tags to
different search engine spiders. This looks a lot like cloaking which is naughty Black Hat SEO and may ruin positioning of the page in search engines.
It might not be considered cloaking, since strictly speaking the visitors don't see the text in the description.
Ami Isseroff
October 4, 2008
Note - Definitions of Search Engine
Optimization terms are based on inferences from common usage and definitions given by other sources. Conclusions about
search engine behavior are based on understanding of the behavior of the most popular search engines. Both are subject
to error or may change. Search engine company management may define or use a term or set or change any policy in any way
they see fit, and may make these definitions and specifications public or not. These decisions and definitions are
beyond our control. Notice: Copyright
All materials are copyright 2008 by Ami Isseroff. All rights reserved. These pages may not be reproduced in any
form in electronic or printed media without express written permission from the author.
SEO Glossary
