I’m in the process of adding descriptions, keywords, etc into my site. I always forget the character/word count limitations. I used to use a site that let you could experiment with descriptions and would show you what the search result would look like. That page has now been taken down and was wondering if anyone knows of another. My search for a helpful tool on google has not been helpful.
Hi Doty,
The Meta Plus page Action (http://actionsforge.com/actions/view/229-meta-plus) has an assistive mode where it will tell you the optimal number of words for a given field. It isn’t fully featured but should give you an idea if your description is within the desired limits or not.
Regards,
Tim.
On 24 Apr 2012, at 18:52, Doty wrote:
I’m in the process of adding descriptions, keywords, etc into my site. I always forget the character/word count limitations. I used to use a site that let you could experiment with descriptions and would show you what the search result would look like. That page has now been taken down and was wondering if anyone knows of another. My search for a helpful tool on google has not been helpful.
If I use this, would I then delete everything I’ve entered using the standard Page > Meta Tags…
I’m wondering if “doubling up” on the descriptions and keywords is a bad idea.
Also, a related question, but slightly different, is it still recommended to us unique keywords and descriptions on each page? For example on my site, I have a page that is on tea, and another one on aromatherapy, but the entire site is related to herbal remedies. I’m wondering if I should tailor the keyword and description fields on a per page basis, with the index page having a very general overview description and keyword for the overall site. Am I making sense?
In looking at this Meta Plus action I have one other question, what needs to go in the “title” area? Is that the title of my page? I am in the habit of using the “Retitle Page” action. Would Meta Plus action replace the Retitle Page action?
Hi Doty,
Now you’ve started the process manually I would continue doing it that way rather than starting again with the Action.
Looking through the Action code I can see that the suggested limits are;
Page title: Between 50 and 80 characters (including spaces)
Keywords: Maximum of 235 characters (including spaces)
Description: Maximum of 1024 characters (including spaces)
Ideally your meta data should best describe the page content so try and create unique keywords and descriptions that match the page rather than being generic to the site. Both have limited use in terms of page ranking but are still useful in their own way for providing searchable data on the page content.
Regards,
Tim.
On 24 Apr 2012, at 19:28, Doty wrote:
Thanks Tim,
If I use this, would I then delete everything I’ve entered using the standard Page > Meta Tags…
I’m wondering if “doubling up” on the descriptions and keywords is a bad idea.
Also, a related question, but slightly different, is it still recommended to us unique keywords and descriptions on each page? For example on my site, I have a page that is on tea, and another one on aromatherapy, but the entire site is related to herbal remedies. I’m wondering if I should tailor the keyword and description fields on a per page basis, with the index page having a very general overview description and keyword for the overall site. Am I making sense?
Hi Doty,
This part of the Action does pretty much what the Retitle Page action does. Use one or the other or neither but not both.
Regards,
Tim.
On 24 Apr 2012, at 19:36, Doty wrote:
In looking at this Meta Plus action I have one other question, what needs to go in the “title” area? Is that the title of my page? I am in the habit of using the “Retitle Page” action. Would Meta Plus action replace the Retitle Page action?
I’ve noticed there is a lot of varying opinions on the number of characters allowed, but I’ve decided to go with the conservative (lower) numbers and give each page unique info.
