In the search engine realm of things I meet a lot of "pros". I also see a lot of their handiwork when it pertains to web site optimization. But more and more I see a lot of really poorly written, (and often times stolen) bits of web page material that makes absolutely no sense.
The common thing to do among web site professionals is to try to gouge the customer for as much as they can. This includes trying to carry the project off without a hitch to show some bit of competence. I find this done with a lot of web designers who have never been certified though an SEO, (search engine optimization) program of any kind. These types will actually steal the meta data off another web site and then jam it into your pages hoping that it will work. They change a few of the keywords and pray to God that you won't catch them.
This is a really bad idea for several reasons.
There are specific categories that the search engines look for. For example, they do not look for the word, "retail" but look for the word "retailers" and this is the case for at least 75 other main categories. There are subcategories that are applied for each of these main categories too so it can be a bit confusing. Slapping in any keyword that comes to mind for any of these categories is what a lot of these web professionals do leaving you off the map.
The Poor Web Designers Defense
They will come out and tell you that keywords really do not matter. That is the first thing I hear quite often. The second thing I hear is that Google really doesn't read meta data, (which is not entirely accurate). Some search engines do not place importance on meta data and others do. But that doesn't mean that you should by any means allow some arrogant knucklehead to jam in unrelated keywords on a whim, (even if he is a nice guy or has a family).
The search engines really only make up for 10% of your overall traffic so why would you want to blow it? I would rather get someone who can do it right.
That is not the only place where you can blow it. The titles and descriptions are quite often left off of the pages. Many times they have no real relationship between the body copy or the keywords. It is still possible to create a page that uses the keywords but contains no real relationship. These pages are not ever going to get indexed and pulled up on a Google search.
Your title has to have keywords in it and those same keywords must also be included in your description. Simply said this also has to appear in your body copy, (sales copy) in order for the page to get an overall ranking of 75% and higher. Many times this does not happen because of some oversight. It is possible to wing this to a degree. But if you are making up your own meta data you could be seriously driving your web site over a steep cliff.
The worst meta data material I ever seen belonged to a site that had 17 lines of meta code. He claimed he stole it from someone else on the Internet. I was a bit impressed with it and asked him if he had any luck with it. He just looked at me sort of confused and shrugged his shoulders. I asked him how many conversions he had from visitors to sales and again he rolled his eyes and said he did not know. This is where stealing becomes a big problem. But if you are charging money to clients and doing this type of thievery you are misleading and abusing your clients.
Good Meta Data
Where can you get good meta data and good keywords? There are many free services out there that will offer you both as a consumer. You can always go to, http://www.goodkeywords.com to use their free keyword generating system. It is fairly good and accurate. It is not as comprehensive as a subscription service but you will get the general idea. For meta data generation you can always go to, http://www.1stsitefree.com/meta_gen.htm . This will get the basic job done. You will notice that there are some fields that are missing and if you are industry specific you will want to get someone who knows how to format this part of your web page properly.
Entrusting your business to someone who is hot wiring your online business on a whim is a very risky thing to do, (even if he is your best friend or ex-brother in law). The smart thing to do is to go out and find someone with competence who has actually done this before. You will save a lot of time, money and headache by dealing someone with real life experience. You're business is too important to place in the hands of a hack.
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