META Tags

Keywords and Descriptions
After you submit a website to a search engine, users can search for keywords in your main content and in META Tags and be presented with your website in a search result. The search engine will periodically index your site, going through every link on your site and if the link points to a page on your site, it will check it for META Tags. These are invisible to the browser but contain information about your site used by search engines.

To add Keywords Meta tags in Dreamweaver 2 or 3 you click the arrow at the top right of the Objects palette and choose Head from the little pop-up menu, since Meta tags are inserted into the Head of an html document.

Or go to the Insert menu and choose Head>Keywords

Choose the key symbol from the palette to access the Keywords dialogue box. Then type a list of words that you expect a prospective browser might type into a search engine. Choose carefully and preferably no more than 10 to 15 words.

If someone does find you through a keyword, the search engine will display a description of your site to tempt the user to click through to your site. This description will usually be whatever you type into the dialogue box that you get when you click the next symbol down in the Head palette - the one with a symbol of a page with a speech bubble coming out of it. If you do not add this meta tag, a search engine won't display a coherent description but will instead just rattle off the first words it finds on the site. Keep descriptions short and avoid errors in spelling or grammar that deter prospective audience.

click on the rollover above to get tips on improving search engine ranking