Metadata Optimization

The first step in metadata optimization is making sure that every page of your website has its own metatitle. The metatitle is “official page title” of your webpage and is embedded at the head of the HTML code for the page.

A metatitle should summarize the main point of the content and contain your most relevant keyword. They should generally be 55 characters or less to avoid getting cut off in mid-word and avoid using filler words.

Note that the title/header of the article or other contents of the page can be different from the meta-title. For example, a page with an article titled “Record US Alligator Taken in Alabama” might have a meta-title “US Record 1100 Lb Alligator Caught in Alabama”. The general idea is to add more descriptors to create a vivid, accurate title.

The metatitle is not only important for SEO. Depending on the browser, the metatitle may also be displayed in a bar at the top of the browser, and it is also highlighted and underlined in search results. The title, as well as the description, is one of your most important ways to draw a potential client into your website.

Every webpage should also have a metadescription. The metadescription should be a high-level overview of what a visitor will find on the page. In some cases you can put together a good SEO description by combining the subheads using key phrases found in the content. A metadescription should just be one or two short sentences, up to a maximum of 125-155 characters.

You can also optimize other metadata such as the type of page, the author, the url and the images associated with the content on the page. All of these metatags have at least a little “weight” in Google’s ranking algorithm, so taking the time for a thorough metadata optimization is definitely worth the effort.