Many SEO consultants will recommend that you update your website metadata as one of the first steps toward site optimization. Page titles, meta-descriptions and meta-keywords are all important metadata elements for optimizing your website content for search engines. But how important is metadata?

When search engines first started using an algorithm to rank websites for specific keywords, the most influential component that could be modified was the metadata. However, as search engines continue to add more intelligence into their algorithms, metadata becomes less vital to a website’s overall SEO score.

That said, metadata still does accomplish many positive things for your website:
• Metadata helps build the relevance of each page within your site.
• Metadata supplies a self-describing file to the search engines, allowing the search result to accurately reflect page content.
• Metadata allows you to display a marketing message to the searcher instead of random content selected by the search engine from the page being served.
• Metadata builds an SEO foundation for the site.
• Metadata communicates to search engines what the page is about.

Types of meta tags that can be included in an SEO-friendly site:
• Page titles
• Meta description tag
• Meta keywords tag
• Meta language tag
• Meta link relationship
• Meta robots tag

Meta tags are also relatively simple to develop and implement. Here is a quick cheat sheet outlining the description, length and format of page titles, meta-descriptions and meta-keywords.

I. Page Titles
What They Are: Page titles appear in the top of a user’s browser window. Page titles also appear in the link text on search engine result pages.
Maximum Length: 63 Characters (including spaces)
Format: Description with Keywords – Site Name
Example: Website Design Company – Verndale

II. Meta-descriptions:
What They Are: Meta-descriptions are displayed beneath the page title in search engine results, providing more detail about your web page. Fortunately, you can tell the search engines what content to display under the page title. Unfortunately, meta-descriptions are not taken into great account by search engine algorithms, although they are more important than meta-keywords.
Maximum Length: 156 Characters (including spaces)
Format: Provide a short summary of what that specific web page is about in a single sentence.
Example: Verndale is a leading Internet consulting firm, designing and developing custom web solutions and implementing best of breed technology.

III. Meta-keywords: What They Are: Meta-keywords are a list of descriptive words about the content on your web page. Although not weighted very heavily in modern search engine algorithms, meta-keywords do provide search engines with one more element to describe the page.
Maximum Length: 256 Characters (including spaces and commas)
Format: Each keyword or keywords should be separated by comma. Each keyword is to be used only once. Although you have a 256 character maximum to work with, all 256 characters do not have to be used.
Example: website design company, website development company, web design company, web development company, web site design company, web site development company