Search Engine Optimization is a topic of some debate and one of the most contentious issues relates to the use of Meta Tags. This is known as on-page optimization and it used to be the only thing that drove traffic to websites. Because webmasters stuffed their pages with keywords, all of that has evolved and the issue is now link building. The value of any pages incoming links will effectively determine how you rank in the search engine.

Considering the choice toward building links, are on-page factors important anymore? Some might say no and some might reply yes. I would suggest there is still a very good reason to optimize your meta information. If not for search engines, you must be optimizing for humans. The importance of optimizing the Meta Title and Description is still relevant. These tags do more than influence search engines, they also speak to humans.

The Meta Title might be the only impression a human sees of your page when viewed on a search engines results page. The Title is like the Headline in any kind of print advert and many marketers believe it’s the most important factor. If the Title Meta Tag is the Headline for your listing, the Meta Description is the content of the ad and great care should be taken in composing it.

Tags: meta description, meta tags, page optimization, search engine optimization, search engines results