phpwcms Support Forum

Having used a Spider Sim I can see that I do not have any details in the description meta tags for my pages. Can anyone give me some advice on how to ensure I have a good description in the meta tag ?

Thanks In advance
Reynard

take a look in google and search.

As far as I can see so far, phpwcms doesn't create a description tag. It does create the keyword tag though.

I assume TAOG's reply refers to the fact that Google does not generally use the description tag, but rather a 'ransom note' of query-relevant text taken from the body of the page, but Google is not 'the be-all and end-all' of SE traffic.

A number of engines do use description tags, as well as directories - the tag is far from outmoded. NB: to clarify, there are plenty of circumstances where even Google uses the tag too.

I would absolutely support any call to include a description tag in PHPWCMS.

I have thought that, failing all else, the article summary might double as description tag content, but haven't sat down to figure out if this can be done yet.

description is something you have to define in the structure area.

Oliver

Ah, ok, I see it now Oliver.

Unfortunately it needs to be available on an article level to be really useful.

For SEO (search engine optimisation) and marketing purposes each page needs to have a directly relevant description.

The description on the structure level is good for the 'homepage' of that level, but in a larger site like the one I'm building the description as it stands is rather limited.

Which of the "large" search engines is using keywords and description.

What really counts is:
- title
- content

All other is not interesting for the "big" search engines as far a I know. And who is using another search engine than Google (hehe) .

Oliver

Hey.. they were important enough for you to include in the first place, Oliver.. I'm just suggesting a tidy-up/ramp-up.

As to which engines use them - pretty much all of them according to my previous testing in certain circumstances (last was about four months ago - health has put me out of the market until recently again).

In particular, Google and Yahoo will both refer to a description tag where a flash presentation is present or a graphics based page (ie, no readable text content).

They will also both refer to a description where it includes keywords that back up the word usage on the page, but the description tag may place the keywords in better (ie, closer) proximity to each other.

This indicates that they are not just using the tag occasionally, but more likely it is an integral part of their algorithms on some level (albeit usually a small contribution).

But that's what SEO is about at the end of the day - stacking up those small contributions to come up with something that ranks and pulls traffic.

NB - most of my work is centred around SEO/marketing/user friendliness. SEO isn't something I've seen addressed much in my wanderings round the forums here, so I'm kind of building up to a post for the 'suggestions' forum when I get time.

Oh, and as to who's using anything but Google these days... I'll just shut up and not mention my 30/30/25/10% traffic splits between Google/Yahoo/MSN/Ask Jeeves (but it is nice not to have all your eggs in one basket).

...or recent user feedback showing frustration with Google and user patterns moving to having two preferred engines instead of one.

But I also think - description based on structure level is enough and minimizes the work you have. "real" content spidered by search engine bots is delivered with each article. And keywords can be set for every article. So you have a unique page at the end.

My experience: if your site is good enough you will get a high rank. Without any SEO.

Oliver

if your site is good enough you will get a high rank. Without any SEO

I agree 100%