SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION TACTICS
ARE EASIER THAN YOU THINK.

When creating your homepage, it's smart to focus on search engine optimization strategies that are immediately visible to users like your domain name, page text, navigation features, and other related elements.  However, it can be easy to forget the other options that aren't in plain sight but that also affect and influence your rankings. Among these less obvious optimization strategies are items call "meta-tags".

If you don't know what "meta-tags" are, then their name can make them sound a bit ambiguous and confusing, but they actually serve a very straightforward purpose regardless of how they are technically described. Meta-tags became incredibly important in the early days of website design.

Basically, they are hidden codes that are located in the top section of a web page and serve to describe your content to search engines so they can determine how to index, categorize and describe your site in the search engine results pages (SERP's).

Meta-tags, which encompass meta titles, meta keywords, and meta descriptions, will also appear at the very top of your browser when your page loads.

Meta-tags were especially useful around twelve years ago when websites were mostly made up of text, but even with the current prevalence of images and videos they provide search engines a little more information on what you're offering prospective customers. While they are not make-or-break factors in your pursuit of first-page rankings, meta-tags can enhance your success when used in conjunction with other tactics.

The process of thinking through your meta-tag strategies might sound highly technical and daunting, but it's really just a matter of deciding on the concrete, relevant terms that describe what you do.

"It seemed really technical at first," admits Harry Nelson, who along with Henry Fenton, is a principal partner of the healthcare law firm Fenton Nelson, "but coming up with your meta-tags is really just a matter of putting yourself in the shoes of your targeted clients and determining how they'll search for what you have to offer."

Fenton Nelson deals with HIPAA compliance, DEA audits, Medicare investigations, and a multitude of other areas of practice within its medical law firm.

"To someone not versed in medicine or medical law, these terms might sound like Greek," says Fenton, "but to the experienced healthcare providers that our firm is looking to represent, they are the roots of explicit search terms."

Despite the extensive nature of Fenton Nelson's practice areas, the main service they provide client is that of a "health care attorney" or simply a healthcare law firm. After this primary meta-title come the specifics like "HIPAA lawyer," "DEA lawyer," "Medical Board lawyer," and so on.

"We started with what described the core of our legal services," Nelson continues, "and then began narrowing it down to specific practitioners doctors look for."

Fenton Nelson took care not to be too general or to use words that simply had very high search numbers of hits because there is a lot of competition to get ranked for them.

The ways in which search engines respond to meta-tags can vary. Yahoo uses meta-keywords to find your site but not to rank it. Google ignores meta-keywords, but pays close initial attention to meta-titles and meta-descriptions, and the display of this information in search results can increase your click-through rate and with that, your SEO success.

So while meta-tags on their own may not be a deal-breaker in your pursuit of the first page, they definitely don't do harm . For "health care attorney," Fenton Nelson currently holds #2 on the first page Google and #1 on Yahoo for the same term.

The Bottom Line: Don't lose sleep over what your meta-tags should be, but if you can apply them to the most relevant information about you the search engines might place you a couple spaces higher than they would without them. And a little meta-boost from your homepage never hurts.

Thanks for reading. Jason.
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