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.First of all, the recent news that has everybody talking is that the major search engines have announced that they no longer use the META keywords tag. In fact, Google hasn’t used the META keywords tag for years. This comes as a surprise to many people who have focused their SEO efforts on this, however everyone can now put the debate to rest. Neither Google nor Yahoo! use META keywords to determine a site’s ranking in the results.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 65 or 60 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.

The META description tag is also still very important for SEO. The description tag is what will be displayed under your title when your page is viewed in the results of the search engines. This is another spot that you can include some keywords and phrases. The length for the description should be approximately 150-160 characters or less.

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.