Optimization for Better Search Engine Results...
When a search engine robot(or spider) finds your web page, it will try to index it (that is, add it
to its searchable database) with some information off the page. Many search engines
base on the information provide in the <META> tags, this information includes a consie description
on your web page and keywords related to the content of your page. This gives you more control over how your page
will show up during a search, and will often bring about desired traffic and thus visitors to your page.
The <META> tag can be used for a
few different purposes. Usually, you should place the <META> tag within the <head> tags at the beginning of your document.
To improve search engine results, we will use two specific attributes within the
meta tag. Here is an example:
<meta name="description" content="description of page
goes here">
<meta name="keywords" content="keywords go here">
When a user searches a search engine that supports meta tags and they query a
phrase (search for a keyword) related to your page, your page may show up in the
list of results. Your page will be listed by its Title, and then underneath its
title will be the first hundred or so characters of the description you placed
in the meta tag. It is recommended that you keep the description content to no
more than 150 characters. Although the keywords content is not seen by the user
when searched, it is recommended to keep this less than 1000 characters, because
if you have more the search engine will either ignore the rest or delete you from
the index. (Spaces are not needed to separate keywords)
**Side Note**
Use your desired keyword in the Description Meta Tag. Many search engines put on emphasis on the words used in the description meta tag than the actual keyword meta tag. Your description should be meaningful and concise.
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Example of a real-life meta situation...
<html>
<head>
<title>Little Joe's Sound Page</title>
<meta name="description" content="Joe's Collection of Cool Sound files for
you to use in your home page!">
<meta name="keywords" content="music sounds midi wav joe collection">
</head>
<body>
Page Goes Here
</body>
</html>
Meta tags are not visible in the web page unless the user selects to 'view source'.
Auto-refreshing...
Automatic Refreshing is supported by many newer versions of Netscape Navigator
and Microsoft Internet Explorer. This also uses a modified form of the <META> tag. Auto refreshing means that
once one page loads, you can set a certain number of seconds and then the browser
will load another page automatically. The basic structure is as follows:
<meta http-equiv=REFRESH CONTENT=x_seconds;url="http://www.yourhost.co.za/pagetosendto.html">
The URL is the page you want it to refresh to, CONTENT is the number of seconds you want it to wait before refreshing, and http-equiv=REFRESH just tells it that this is the refresh meta tag. For example, if you wanted the
page to refresh to sybase.co.za after 5 seconds it would be as follows:
<meta http-equiv=REFRESH CONTENT=5;URL="http://www.sybase.co.za/">