HOW TO WRITE A QUALITY DESCRIPTION TAG
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Written by admin on August 18, 2008 – 12:00 pm
While practically all search engines use the title tag as part of their results page, only some of them make use of the description tag in the two lines of text that usually come immediately after the title.
The title of this website on U2 has been truncated because Google deems it too long. You will know a title has been truncated when you see an ellipsis (…) at the end of the text.
HOW TO WRITE A QUALITY DESCRIPTION TAG
While practically all search engines use the title tag as part of their results page, only some of them make use of the description tag in the two lines of text that usually come immediately after the title.
Search engine spiders like site maps/indexes because they allow them easily to go deeper into a website. Many people like site maps/indexes too, as they can have a quick scan of where the major sections of a website are.
Use a site map for smaller websites, and an index for larger ones. In fact, there’s nothing wrong with offering both. Here are a couple of things to watch out for when designing site maps/indexes.
1. When designing a site map, don’t show it as a graphic, but rather lay it out as HTML.
2. Make sure that the site map/index is kept up to date. Out-of-date site maps/indexes are very annoying, both for your readers and the search spiders.
FLASH CAUSES HEADACHES
I’ve nothing against Macromedia Flash design except for the fact that I generally detest it. All over the world, I have asked people what they do when they see a Flash intro. “Skip intro,” they shout in unison. Where Flash is used to explain how a complicated product works or where it is used to save time in a process, it makes absolute sense. However, most Flash – particularly that found on a homepage – is a fourth-rate attempt to create TV ads by people who know they will never get the chance to create ones.
Search engines find it difficult to index a Flash-based website. This situation is improving and will no doubt improve even more, but the point still stands: search engines prefer text over Flash, and Flashbased websites – even if they could be indexed – usually have very little text, as they are image-driven.
