Back in the early days of search engines meta tags were often the most important and sometimes the only tool you needed to ranking highly for keyword phrases. And even though these days some search engine such as Google pay little if any attention to meta tags in an effort to improve the quality of search results, there are still reasons why they should be an important part of search engine optimization.
Some Search Engines Still Give Weight To Meta Tags - Search Engines such as Yahoo and MSN still use meta tags as part of the determining factors for ranking a site. Although the amount of importance may be small, when it comes to search engine optimization (SEO) every little bit helps. Think of it as dotting your I's and crossing your T's.
It Can Help Increase Traffic To Your Site - Often search engines will use your title tags as the linked text for your site with either the whole or part of the description underneath it on the results page. I well written title tag and description can entice someone people to click on your link. How many times have you searched for something and clicked on a result based on the linked text of description.
Help Optimize Individual Pages - Each page of your web site should have different keywords and descriptions that reflect the content on those pages. This can help when trying to optimize different sections of your site for different keyword phrases. Search engines may then display that exact page in the results directing visitor to that specific section rather than just the home page.
These techniques for using meta tags will not guarantee search engine placement but when combined with a complete search engine optimization campaign can help. And in SEO every little bit counts.
