Before I launch in to my explanations of the tags...
First, your e-mail headers are not set up in the usual (proper?)
manner. This is a common problem, and is probably due to your ISP or mail
handler, not you. It should be looked at.
The mailing list identifies the headers and sets the reply header to
default the reply to the list. Apparently, the list can not identify your
headers, or your headers over-ride the list headers, so replies to your
post default only to you unless explicitly sent to the "Group". This
deprives others of the benefits of our comments, and squelches longer and
more interesting discussions that are often started by good questions such
as yours.
Some of us, like myself, measure the value of our time by how many
people are helped by our comments, and are thus willing to say more to the
group, than to an individual. Others feel exactly the opposite. Takes
all kinds! So do check your header setup, and maybe talk to your
sysadmin. (If you are lucky enough to have one, that is. Some of us don't
have the luxury of blaming someone else for our screwed up systems...)
> web page design I have come across a variety of META tags, primarily:
>
> <META NAME="GENERATOR" ....,
Mostly advertising for the manufacturer. (my opinion,) though can be
used to identify a page for special processing by other tools. I think
this really lets you see if you are dealing with a page created by a real
professional, or someone who just learned to use a bunch of tools and has
no clue what is going on underneath.
> "TITLE"
Top margin of box, title in the search engine pages.
TITLE is THE most important tag, because it has the potential of
grabbing a person's eye in a search engine listing. Look at some of the
better works on copywriting for advertising for hints on good ad
headlines. Then try to use one or two of the most important keywords in
the title, so as to boost search engine position.
> "COMMENT"
> "KEYWORDS"
This one is my specialty. See http://www.mall-net.com/se_report/ for
the details, but basically, this is how some of the search engines
classify your page. Often mis-used, over-relied upon, etc. You have to
make sure the words in the keywords tag ALSO occur within the document
and the header lines to get good positioning; but use here helps flag the
words as important.
The trick, is to know WHICH words real people are using in their
efforts to find the information you are trying to present. If you want
people who are looking for the abominable snowman, make sure you have all
of "abominable", "snowman", "yetti", "yeti", and "abdominal" in the list.
If you only call him a Yetti, NONE the folks looking under abominable
snowman, or mistaking him for the "abdominal snowman", can find your page.
(You might even toss in "yenta" and "yenti" for good measure.) Then be
sure to comment that "some people mistakenly call the abominable snowman an
abdominal snowman" so as to repeat the word abdominal within the text.
You would be surprised at how many keywords are misspelled by people! And
how easy it is to get top ranking on the mis-spelled words, thus getting a
lot of traffic that might otherwise be lost.
> "CLASIFICATION"
> "AUTHOR"
> "REV_AUTHOR"
> "ALTERNATE_TITLE"
> "NEW"
> "UPDATED"
> "EXPIRES"
> "PRODUCT"
> "COPYRIGHT"
> "REVISIT-AFTER"
> "ROBOTS"
> "TEMPLATE"
More for use by an organization for handling and responsibility
purposes. Some pages have to be revised periodically, or when specific
events occur. These are ways for an organization to tie the page to
events and people.
DESCRIPTION
There is also the META DESCRIPTION tag, which is the equivalent of
your store front on the search engines. This one should complement the
TITLE tag. The TITLE should make them pause, and the DESCRIPTION should
make them curious as to what the page represents. For better placement in
the search engines, it should repeat some of the more important keywords
from the META DESCRIPTION tag.
> Excuse me if I sound a bit ignorant on some of these but I've been
> trying to find the logic and reasoning and I can't for the earth of me
Marketing often has a logic of its own, which we users don't see, but
looks fairly obvious when viewed from a radically different point of view.
They are there to help other entities, including the search engines,
classify the pages, and orient them towards appropriate people.
The best way to combat ignorance, is to ask questions. When I am on
a consulting project, I start out by asking all the dumb questions
everyone else was afraid to ask. That is often how I come up with better
ways of dealing with things. In the end, people start looking at me as an
expert because I have learned the answers to all of those questions; but
also because they see that I don't treat the PEOPLE as dumb for asking the
questions that really HAVE to be answered for a team to succeed with
their project.
> Jason O Papadopoulos
> Worcester, MA
I use to drive through there many times on my way to Boston from
Connecticut. I miss Connecticut and the rest of New England. California,
without snow, seems so timeless...
[EMAIL PROTECTED] ------------------ [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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