What is Meta Data? It is the information that helps a search engine categorise and sort a website. This information is hidden on the website for specific use of the search engine. Meta data is a concise summary displayed on a search engine’s results page. It is meant to entice users to click on it and has no direct link to the ranking of your page.

There are three main components to meta data:

• The title: This tells the user what your website is about. It should be short but precise while giving a clear picture for the reason for the website. Page titles are also valuable in helping a search engine interpret what your website is about.
• Meta description: This is a concise summary that informs potential visitors what the content of the page is and is usually limited to between 150 and 160 words. This description includes what your service is about and where you are based. It is used to entice a user to click on your website.
• Keywords: These are to inform search engines what the website content is about. Keywords are compiled in the form of a list and this list used by search engines to display the website on search result pages based on what people are searching for.

Meta data is the first taste a potential visitor has of your website, and it is therefore important that it be exciting, enticing and ranked highly on search engines.

Search Engine Optimization explained.

Keyword Assessment | Meta Data | Webmaster Tools | Google Analytics | Monthly Reporting | Robots.txt | .htaccess | Favicon | Site Map | Search Engines | Google Maps | Forms and E-mails | Footer Link | Google Search Engine | Picture Tagging | Directory Page | Social Media | Heading Tags | Indexed Pages | Robots | Sitemap | HTML Errors | Search Engine Errors | Broken Links | Pages and Content | Search Engines | Picture Tagging | Flash and iFrames | Hierarchy | Forms and Emails | Add Media | Static URLs | Descriptive URLs | Duplicate Content | Plagiarism Check | Positive Content | Negative Content | Character Coding | Downloadable Files | Optimize Graphics | Optimize Navigation | Incoming Links | Outgoing Links | Page Content | Meta Data | Rich Content | Reduce Bounce Rate | Social Media | Analyze Competitors | Website Security | 3rd Party Tracking