Keywords in Domain Names and Meta Descriptions
Why is it important to have keywords in domain names and meta descriptions?
At QuickontheNet.com, your 'Preferences' can be considered the nerve centre
for your website. 'Preferences' will allow you to control and manage many of the
centralised settings for your website.
In respect of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), there are 3
mains areas to consider:
- Name of site
- Sub-domain (or 'URL')
- Meta description (or 'Site description')
- Meta keywords (or 'Site search keywords')
1. Name of site At QuickontheNet.com, you can give your
website a name in 'Preferences'. The important issue here is that your site name
will appear on every 'page title' in your website, so you should choose your
site name very carefully.
Search Engine Tip It is our
recommendation that you nominate your most important 2 or 3 keywords for the
'Name of site' information. In addition, try to keep your 'Name of site' short
and snappy, so that it does not eat up all your page titles, bearing in mind
that each page title should be 50-80 characters long, including letter
spaces and also including 'Name of site'.
Example:
The 'Name of site' for the website you are now
viewing is: 'Search Engine' (please see top left corner of
your browser)
The page title for the web page you are now
viewing is: 'Search Engine | Keywords in Domain Names and Meta
Descriptions' (please see text at the top of your
browser)
2. Sub-domain If you want to increase
the long-term chances of your site being found in search engines, we
suggest that you name your URL (sub-domain) with useful keywords. For example,
if your company is called 'The Smith Partnership' and your website is about
garden furniture, then please consider these examples:
In our view, this
is good: www.garden-furniture.quickonthenet.com
In
our view, this is not so good: www.smith-partnership.quickonthenet.com
The other thing to consider is your location. When people use search engines
to look for a product or service, they often enter a geographical location in
the keyword search string. With this in mind, if you sell garden furniture and
you are located in Brighton, then...
In our view, this is great: www.garden-furniture-brighton.quickonthenet.com
Put it to the test... We invite you to try this for yourself by
going to www.google.com and searching for 'soft furnishings south london'.
Search Engine Tip The above advice is also relevant to
your main domain name, in respect of search engine
optimisation.
With this in mind, in our view, this is good: www.garden-furniture-brighton.com
In
our view, this is not so good: www.smith-partnership.com
3. Meta description At
QuickontheNet.com, we call this your 'Site description' in 'Preferences'. Meta
tags have been created to help search engines find out important
information about your website.
Think of your meta description as a mini-description of your website. It is
recommended that it does not exceed 250 characters, including
letter spaces.
Your meta description should be rich in keyword
phrases and it should be written in plain English.
Important In terms of SEO, the most important page to get
right is your home page. It is best if you write your
meta description with your home page
in mind and make sure that the keywords used in your
meta description
also appear on your home page.
4. Meta keywords These are the keywords
you would expect people to use to find your website on a search
engine. It is recommended that in total, your meta
keywords do not exceed 1024 characters, including
letter spaces.
Meta Keyword Tips
- Include plurals;
- Combine 2 or 3 words to create short keyword phrases e.g.
garden furniture, garden table;
- Within phrases, do not repeat any single keyword more than 5 times across
your entire collection of meta keywords;
- Use comma separated text;
- Include geographic locations e.g. Brighton;
- If you know a common misspelling of a popular keyword, then consider
including this in your selection;
- If you know an alternative American spelling of a popular keyword, then
consider including this in your alt text e.g. ‘color’ versus ‘colour’;
- Up to 1024 characters including letter spaces.
Important In terms of SEO, the most important page to get
right is your home page. It is best if you write your
meta keywords with your home page in
mind and make sure that the keywords used in your
meta keywords
also appear on your home page.
Make
sure your meta keyword selection is relevant to the overall theme of your
website and avoid using words which are not relevant to your site, even if they
are very popular in the search engine world e.g. Britney
Spears.
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