WATCH OUT FOR EXTRA META TAGS FROM HTML EDITORS, OTHER SOURCES
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Too many irrelevant META tags can confuse certain search engines,
according to our most recent studies. Among the culprits: META tags
ranging from META Author to META Keywords.
Counterproductive META tags can be generated by WYSIWYG (what you see
is what you get) HTML editors. Few are built with the search engines
in mind.
By default, many of today's HTML editors use extra META tags that will
confuse certain search engines. One of my favorite extra META tags is
META Author. This META tag gives credit to the person or company that
designed the web site.
Unfortunately, the name of this individual or company is often counted
as a relevant keyword or keyword phrase. While I'm sure that many of
these META Authors are great people, it's unlikely that anyone will
search by their name in order to find your particular product or
service. Another useless META tag is the META Generator Tag, which is
designed simply to plug the software package used to design the page.
You're probably wondering which META tags are irrelevant and which are
not. The answer is quite simple: the META Description and META
Keywords are the only META tags you need. And because META Tags are
found between your opening and closing tags, using
irrelevant META Tags will only make it harder for you to be found.
Which editors keep your HTML free of extraneous META tags? I
personally like to use HomeSite 4.0 by Allaire Corp.
< http://www.allaire.com >. It's a simple-to-use HTML editor that
avoids cluttering up your HTML with unnecessary code that can--and
will--confuse search engines.
Remember to keep it simple! For more information on META tags and a
complete understanding of search engines, pick up your copy of the
WebPromote Top Ranking Guide. It's the best investment you can make
regarding your web site. For more information on the Top Ranking Guide
and to order, visit < http://www.webpromote.com/guide/nl.cgi >.