Meta Tags (again)
-
Hey,
I know this has been discussed to death but look back through previous postings there doesn't seem to be a consensus on the exact Meta tags that an eCommerce site should include, specifically whether to remove the keyword tag or not since it is believed that Yahoo potentially still makes use of it.
Currently our homepage has the following Meta Tags:
<title>Buy Printer Cartridges | Ink and Toner Cartridge for Inkjet and Laser Printers</title>
Description" content="<a class="attribute-value">Visit Refresh Cartridges for great prices on ink cartridges, toner cartridges, ink, printers and accessories.</a>" />
Keywords" content="<a class="attribute-value">ink cartridges, cheap cartridges, inkjet cartridges, inkjet ink cartridges, ink cartridge, printer ink cartridges, laser cartridges, toner, laser printers</a>" />
Content-Type" content="<a class="attribute-value">text/html; charset=iso-8859-1</a>"/>
author" content="<a class="attribute-value">Ink Cartridges, Inkjet Cartridge, Printer Cartridge, Toner Cartridges Refresh Cartridges</a>" />
expires" content="<a class="attribute-value">0</a>" />
robots" content="<a class="attribute-value">noodp,index,follow</a>" />
Language" content="<a class="attribute-value">English</a>" />
Cache-Control" content="<a class="attribute-value">Public</a>" />
verify-v1" content="<a class="attribute-value">sJXqAAWP6ar/LTEOMyUgG6nqothxk62tJTid+ryBJxo=</a>" />
viewport" content="<a class="attribute-value">width=1024</a>" />
This is too messy but before I do something drastic that I'll possibly regret please can you confirm that, in your opinion, I am best to remove everything with the exception of this:
<title>Buy Printer Cartridges | Ink and Toner Cartridge for Inkjet and Laser Printers</title>
Description" content="<a class="attribute-value">Visit Refresh Cartridges for great prices on ink cartridges, toner cartridges, ink, printers and accessories.</a>" />
Content-Type" content="<a class="attribute-value">text/html; charset=iso-8859-1</a>"/>
viewport" content="<a class="attribute-value">width=1024</a>" />I realise there is a verify-v1 tag in there but this can be done through a file on our server so while cleaning up that might as well go. Would there be an argument for keeping any of the other tags or are they all pretty much redundant now? Many thanks! Chris
-
Thank you very much!
-
I cant find the bit about spelling anymore, but I did find this
"Meta Keywords (fill them in if you like, keep it short and relevant, but not a big ranking factor)" -
Mr. Mosley, I remember that Duane said a few years ago that it was a 'signal' but if memory serves - wasn't it a spam signal not a ranking signal?
-
Bing uses Keywords I would keep them,
But don't try to spam them, I think Bing said something like they only use them if they are relevant to your content, adding different spelling and mis-spelt keywords was a recommendation
-
Yeah, the author in particular looks as spammy as a well known Monty Python sketch.
Thanks for your help.
-
They are all fine to leave in there Chris. If you wish to upload the file to the root of the server instead of having the verify in there, that is perfectly acceptable.
Edit-- I should probably change the Meta Author though. What you have there might be seen as a bit of a bad practice by Google.
-Andy
-
Cheers Andy, would you also remove all of these?
author" content="<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Ink Cartridges, Inkjet Cartridge, Printer Cartridge, Toner Cartridges Refresh Cartridges</a>" />
expires" content="<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank">0</a>" />
robots" content="<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank">noodp,index,follow</a>" />
Language" content="<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank">English</a>" />
Cache-Control" content="<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Public</a>" />
verify-v1" content="<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank">sJXqAAWP6ar/LTEOMyUgG6nqothxk62tJTid+ryBJxo=</a>" /> -
Hi Chris,
I always advise every client to remove the Meta Keywords. Although Google doesn't make any use of them, if they are over-used, they can easily be seen as a way to keyword-spam. If memory serves, the MOZ page score gives this a negative if found, or it used to.
At best, they will do nothing for you - at worst, they can cause you issues.
-Andy
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Looking for opinions on structuring meta title tags/page title/menu title/H1
Hi everyone I am hoping a few of you can share your opinions. I have been having conversations (okay, healthy debates) about how to write/structure meta title tag and how to compliment them with the H1, page title, menu name. To help explain the thought processes I will use a pretend keyword. How about "screwdriver". Case: (I made this up) we are redesigning a website for a construction tools manufacturing company (pretend name: ABC Tools) targeting OEMs who are interested in purchasing large quantities of tools. The product categories (to become main menu items) are Screwdrivers, Nails, Drills, and Hammers. (bear with me .... this is just an example I am making up on the fly) K. Circling back to screwdrivers - let's say we have one landing page (a primary category page and in the main menu) listing products and great details about screwdrivers. Focus keywords are screwdriver manufacturer, screwdriver supplier, construction screwdrivers Below are questions being debated. If you are willing ... how would you address these questions? And, can you explain WHY? QUESTION ONE: How would you structure the meta title tag (feel free to write one of your own) Screwdriver Manufacturer - Construction Screwdriver | ABC Tools ABC Tools - US-based Screwdriver Manufacturer Supplier Near You High-Quality Screwdrivers for Construction with ABC Tools QUESTION TWO: how would you write the H1 on the page? Would it match the meta tag? OR, would you write something different using the primary keyword? QUESTION THREE Remembering this is not a blog post ... it is a primary landing page linked to the main navigation. What would the menu title be? (remember the product categories above are how the main menu items are bucketed) Screwdrivers Screwdriver Manufacturer Typically in WordPress, the H1 and the menu title is auto-populated using the page title (not the title tag)... So, if we use Screwdrivers as the page title but we want the H1 to match the meta title tag, would we manually change the H1? Or, have the page title and title tag match, but manually change the menu item?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Brenda.Haines1 -
Mobile Meta Descriptions?
Hi Guys, We have two different versions of each page for both desktop and mobile example: http://tinyurl.com/zkxlxax http://tinyurl.com/zelqcbv We want to create meta descriptions for both versions. However in the CMS (http://www.mantistech.com.au/ecommerce_website_package.aspx) it only allows one meta description. Example: http://s21.postimg.org/ar8bzrh3r/screenshot_1804.jpg Does anyone know anyway around this? To add two different meta descriptions and tell Google which one to use based on device type. Thanks.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | jayoliverwright0 -
Reviewing Category & Tag policy - Update
I recently (http://moz.com/community/q/less-tags-better-for-seo) started reviewing my category and tag policy, and things have been going very well. I thought I would share what I have done: Removed all tags from site Added unique descriptions for each post for the category excerpt. Only had the category description on the first page and use the description like a post to summarise and interlink to sub-categories or posts. This keeps pages from slipping down the number of clicks until it can be reached, improving link juice distribution. I also reduced the number of posts showing to 5, to allow more focus on the description (main part) of the category post. To add the category description on the first category page only in Wordpress, you need to go to the category.php or archive.php and change: to The overall aim was to have a hierarchal resource contained in the category page description. Whilst this is still a work in progress, you can see an example of what I am trying to achieve here: https://www.besthostnews.com/web-hosting-tutorials/cpanel/ https://www.besthostnews.com/web-hosting-tutorials/cpanel/mail/ If you have any further tips and advice as I continue to implement this (with good results so far), please feel free. Also, you can use the Visual Term Description Editor plugin to allow the wysiwyg editor for the category descriptions.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | TheWebMastercom1 -
Adding a Canonical Tag to each page referencing itself?
Hey Mozers! I've noticed that on www.Zappos.com they have a Canonical tag on each page referencing it self. I have heard that this is a popular method but I dont see the point in canon tagging a page to its self. Any thoughts?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | rpaiva0 -
Weird meta description for website launch
Hi all, We just launched a new website: http://www.allwatchapps.com/ There is no link yet, but everything seems allright in google webmaster tools: everypage seems to be indexed, and content keywords are good. However, when I search for "allwatchapps" in google, I got a meta description for the homepage: 26 mai 2014 - Contact. : + 33 (0)6.33.27.78.63 : info@allwatchapps.com : Grenoble - Lyon - Chambéry - Annecy - Paca - Paris ... It is the date of the page, which I want to disable (where does it com from?! I use Yoast SEO plugin and didn't find the option), and the footer contact info, why is that?... Thanks, best, Benoit.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | 2MSens0 -
Page Title Tag operands , - |
Hi, Anyone have any good suggestions about using commas, hyphens, vertical bar in the title tag and how it affects rankings? Thanks.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | bjs20100 -
Using href lang tag for multi-regional targeting on the same page
Hi, I have the site au.example.com and I ranked on google AustraliaI would like to be ranked also in Google New Zeland for the same page (au.example.com) Because they are geographically & culturally close Can I place href lang tag for both countries and present the same page The code should look like: OR should i have create a different page for New Zealand (for eample: http://au.example.com/EN-NZ) And the code will look like: What will work better or there is other solution? Hope I’m clear.. Thanks!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Kung_fu_Panda0 -
What is Structured Data and how to add it WordPress Blog Via Meta tags ?
Hi Friends, Can anyone please tell me what is Structured Data and how to add it to WordPress blog via meta tags because I don't want to show on my blog but show in Google Search. Is there any helpful plugin or some codes? Then please help me to sort it out this problem. Thanks, OM1YI
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | KLLC0