Adding the HTML Description Tag for SEO

Adding the HTML DescriptionTag

In search engine optimization, one of the important items to get your page to come up in the search results is the HTML Description of the page. This is called the Page Description Tag and is read by all the major search engines. You can see an example of the HTML Description tag and how it shows up in the Google search results page by clicking on the example below. In this example, we conducted a search for the term "search engine optimization." At the top of the page, you will see three paid ads that appear. Below the three paid ads, begins the organic search results which is where search engine optimization will help to get you. The first website that appears in the organic search results is the Wikipedia website. If you read the black print below the website address, you will read "Search engine optimization - is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page..." This is the description of that webpage and shows up after the Title tag and the website's address.

Video on How to Add the HTML Description Tag:

Google Search Results and The Description Tag

Notice how all of the top websites have the term "search engine optimization" at the beginning of the description in the search results. This term is also bolded meaning that it matches what we searched for. This is why it is extremely important to describe your page for the keywords your want the search engines to index your page for. One of the things about search engines is that if you do not put in an HTML Description tag, the search engine will pull part of the content of your webpage and use that as the page's description. So, if you want to have control over what shows up as the description of your page, you will need to be sure to add the HTML Description tag to all of your pages. As we will see in other trainings, the HTML Description tag of the page is not the only thing you do for search engine optimization, but plays a major role.

What Does the Description Tag Look Like?

Now let's look at what the HTML Description tag looks like in a webpage. The Description tag is written in hypertext markup language or HTML. HTML is the predominant markup language for writing webpages. Browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc) are able to read the HTML language and show you a webpage. Here is an example of an HTML Description tag: <meta name="description" content="The Description of the Webpage" />. When the browser reads this, it reads "The Description of the Webpage" as the Description of this page.

How to Find the Description Tag Using Your Browser

Let's look at the HTML Description tag of this page you are viewing. If you are using Firefox, simply press "ctrl + u" to view the source of the page. If you are using Internet Explorer, go to "page" and then "view source." If you are using another browser, do a search to find out how to view the page source. This will allow you to view the source (or HTML code) of the webpage you are viewing. When you view the source of this page, scroll down until you see the <meta name="description" content="The Description of the Webpage" /> tags. The Descriptionof this webpage is "SEO training on how to add HTML description tags to websites to increase ranking in the serach engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing."

How To Add Description Tags

Being able to add HTML Description tags to your webpages really depends on the website software you are using to create your webpages. For example, if you are using an HTML editor such as Dreamweaver to create your webpages, you will be able to type in the HTML Description tags right into the HTML code itself on the page. If you are using a website design software such as WordPress, the easiest way is to use a plugin that will allow you to type HTML Descriptiontags directly into the webpage you are creating.

CB Web Innovations' Professional SEO Services

There is much to know about search engine optimization services (SEO) and there are no magic tricks, but with a little time and experience you will be able to apply basic search engine optimization techniques to your businesses website and begin seeing an increase in traffic through the search engines. Sometimes these basic search engine optimization techniques are not enough and your business may be seeking additional traffic and search engine ranking to increase business. When this time comes, please visit our search engine optimization page for more details and contact us for professional consultation services.

Search Engine Optimization Resource Websites

www.bruceclay.com
www.seomoz.org