Brass Tacks for Description Tag

[agatlin]

Here are several questions. Thanks in advance!

1) Does anyone know what is an appropriate length for a description tag? What are the variances for each major search engine?

2) If your description tags are a little too long, what are the consequences. What if they are a lot too long?

3) How long can the tags be and still be acceptable to most major search engines?

4) Is it possible or acceptable to repeat keywords within the description phrase. What techniques would you suggest for accomplishing this?

5) Are words at the beginning of the description tag weighted more heavily than those at the end?

6) Do search engines such as Google track how close together words are on a page or in a description?

[Hope]

1) Does anyone know what is an appropriate length for a description tag? What are the variances for each major search engine?

There is no set length for all search engines. Remember that the description tag is to bring people into your site. Make it 1-2 short clear sentences.

2) If your description tags are a little too long, what are the consequences. What if they are a lot too long?

If they are too long, they are cut off by the search engines.

3) How long can the tags be and still be acceptable to most major search engines?

One to two short sentences.

4) Is it possible or acceptable to repeat keywords within the description phrase. What techniques would you suggest for accomplishing this?

Use your keywords once near the front of your description.

5) Are words at the beginning of the description tag weighted more heavily than those at the end?
It appears to be.

6) Do search engines such as Google track how close together words are on a page or in a description?

Google doesn't use description tags.

[Advisor]

agatlin, many of the answers you seek are contained in my article, The Meta Description Tag (http://www.highrankings.com/metadescription.htm).

Good luck!

Jill

[agatlin]

Thanks Heidi and Jill! In dealing with search engines there are so many small unknowns. It is awesome to be able to get good solid answers and eliminate little questions that sort of "gnaw" at you.

Great article Jill!

Thanks so much!