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One of the most important elements of onsite SEO is the usage of the META title tag. While including keywords in your site’s content and in a META keywords tag usually gains the most attention, the META title tag is certainly not something to be overlooked. Additionally, considering recent developments in the world of SEO it has actually grown in importance. Once you learn how to make use of the proper META tags then you will be able to give yourself an easy boost in the search engines.

Before taking a look at these rules, it’s first important to go back to the META keywords issue for a moment. As mentioned, their usage and value have been criticized and questioned for years. Now, both Google and Yahoo! have publicly stated that they don’t even use META keywords for your webpage’s ranking. That means you shouldn’t use them either, and you should quit wasting your time with them.

Despite this change however, the META title tag for SEO is still used, and is still extremely important. This is the title that will be displayed when your site shows in the search engine’s results, and it helps to tell the search engine what your site is all about. While the META keywords tag is effectively dead, you can still use your targeted keywords in other spots, such as the META title tag.

Therefore you should try to incorporate one or two of your keywords into your META title tag so you can improve your rankings for them. However, while you do this you have to keep the overall character length of your title limited. A good rule of thumb is to keep your title under 60 or 65 characters in length. Anything more and it will get cut off. So do your best to incorporate a few of your keywords while keeping the length down to ensure they get included and displayed.

Moving onto the META description tag for SEO purposes, it is also a fantastic spot to put some of those keywords that you used to write down in your META keywords tag. You’ll have more room to work with in your description, generally up to 160 characters. This will allow you to write a short sentence or two to describe your page and once again include a few of your targeted keywords and phrases.

Once again, anything more than this and your content will be cut off. Brevity is key, and remember to not try to just list your keywords one after the other. Work a few of your keywords into the text, but be sure to still make them legitimate, understandable descriptions.

As always, the world of SEO is fluid and is constantly changing. The META keywords tag is no longer in use, but the META title tag and META description tag are still very much a part of the game. Incorporate your keywords into them and give the search engines some help in classifying and ranking your site. Your SEO success will improve and you can quit wasting your time writing out lists of keywords separately in your META tags.

RankFast representative, Nicholas Halmond, is an expert in Search Engine Marketing – SEM. Visit us we offer many SEO services such as link building services, keyword research, competitive analysis, website SEO analysis.