The Meta Tags

Despite what you may have heard from some SEO experts, <meta> tags are valuable search optimization attributes.  For instance, while the <keywords> tag has been deprecated (made obsolete) by more sophisticated search engines, all search engines see and index those keywords – and all the words on your website for that matter.  Just because the Keyword tag has been deprecated by some search engines and some SEO says they are not important does not mean they have become invisible.

Keyword meta tags are more important for car dealers than for many other online business websites due to the lack of content typical on a car dealer website homepage.  Read more about Meta Keywords for Car Dealer Websites

There are several types of Meta Tags – they are not valued equally by search engines, so making the blanket statement that “Meta Tags don’t matter” is a naive comments or a poorly worded phrase.

Take for instance the <meta>  Description Tag.  It is the text displayed below the link in the search results page (SERP).  It is very important that you get this one absolutely perfect.  Because its a very individualized issue, vendors who sell SEO services don’t want you to pay too much attention to the <meta> tags because they cannot personalize these cost-efficiently with a template approach.  You can still pay for it, but chances are you won’t gain any SEO advantage from the template approach.  You need to take a close look at your Description Meta Tags.

Every dealer has the ability to customize these tags.

Avoid making these common <meta> tag mistakes: 1) do not place your dealership name first, 2) DON’T USE punctuation! except for putting commas in the <meta keywords>, 3) avoid using those generic Meta Tags that your vendor put on your website at setup, 4) avoid including non-search terms like your address or exclamations – really focus on search terms that people actually use.

Meta Tag best practices are: 1) update your Description Tag, 2) use local keywords in all your tags, 3) keep them under 150 characters, 4) place local keywords first, dealer name last.