subject: Keywords, Metadata, Tags Explained [print this page] A quick look around the Internet will reveal that there is plenty of conflicting information about Keywords, Metadata, Meta Tags, Tags and Labels. Hopefully, this article will clear things up for you...
What do all these terms mean, anyway? How important are they? Do you really have to worry about them?
Well, I wouldnt stress too much. Keywords are important; Metadata less so. Before we go any further, lets define the terms:
Keywords are are the words or phrases that people type into a search engine.
Metadata is data about data, which provides information about what something contains, and is often contained in web pages in the form of Meta Tags, which are invisible to the user. These can be (among others) title tags, description tags or keyword tags.
Tags are keywords or terms assigned to a piece of information, usually chosen informally by the user. You can think of a keyword as what somebody types when they are looking for something and a tag as the reverse that is, a term that someone chooses to associate to a piece of content to organize it, or in the hopes that someone will type in a similar keyword to find the content associated to the tag.
Labels are the same as tags, but labels are what theyre called in Blogger.
Now before you get too excited about using Meta Tags, realize that they are often ignored by the search engine algorithms. The reason is that they have been abused by many webmasters (for example, putting tags that are not related to the content in the hopes of getting traffic). The reason a search engine has value is that it delivers results that are relevant. As soon as that stops, the search engine becomes practically worthless so you can see how they would want to be on top of anything that might skew the results.
Trying to trick the search engines is never a good strategy. It might work short-term, but as soon as the search engine people catch on, theyll discount whatever trick is being used and then be on the lookout for whoever is using it and offenders may find themselves banned from the search results.
Shortcuts dont usually work. Eventually they get discovered. Its best to just concentrate on making real and helpful content and if you do that consistently, youll stand a much greater chance of being successful. Will it take longer? Sure but wouldnt you rather be one of those business that are here to say rather than a flash in the pan kind of business that has a short-lived temporary success because of a trick?
