In this post, we shall consider various aspects of URL, meta tags, meta keywords, Canonical URL etc that are important from SEO perspective. Some of the ideas are supported by data points, relevant correlation studies and elaborate testing whereas a few others are based on trial & error method and practical experience.

As with all areas of SEO, this exercise too demands constant refinement and testing. The knowledge gained can help you fine-tune the process.

A crucial aspect of SEO is meta tags. They are essentially HTML codes that are inserted into any webpage header just after the title tag. They can take various forms. In the context of SEO exercise, meta tags are usually called the meta keywords tag and/or the meta description tag. For webmasters’ purpose, these were proposed to ensure a dependable method to supply meta document data.

Now let us understand the role of meta keywords. Yahoo! is probably different from other popular search engines in the fray when it comes to storing/ recording and utilizing the all-important meta keywords tag for discovery, though technically this is not for the purpose of rankings. With Bing giving Yahoo! Search a run for its money, the tag probably is not such a big priority.

Next are meta robots. Though they are not always very necessary, this must be comprised of any directives that could potentially end up disrupting access by the search engines.

Canonical URL tag may also come into play. The more elaborate and complex a website, the more advisable it is to make use of the canonical URL tag. Essentially, this will prevent any possibility of duplicates or some of those unintentional or appended URL strings from imposing a hurdle for the search engines.

Now let us look into the various aspects of URL:

• Shorter URLs, it has been apparently shown, tend to do better in terms of search results. There is a greater likelihood of their being copied/pasted and displayed by other quality sites. This increases the chances of their being shared and linked-to, thus ultimately enhancing the online visibility.
• Keyword Location is another vital aspect. The closer your targeted terms (keywords) are to the actual domain name, obviously the better. In other words, ‘site.com/keyword’ will outperform ‘site.com/folder/subfolder/keyword’. Hence it is the most advisable mode of optimization. Though it may not translate into a massive rankings gain, it is still recommended.

We shall consider more areas in the upcoming post.