++Length of Meta Description Tag++

Hi Jill,

Is there any limit either in total words or characters that you should use for the meta description?  Someone within the company is looking to use the first paragraph of an article or 300 words, whichever is shorter. This seems excessive to me. Any guidelines?

Thanks,
Donna

++Jill's Response++

Hi Donna,

There are certainly guidelines for this sort of thing, but no, there is really no limit.  One of the biggest mistakes people make when thinking about SEO is that they believe there are certain hard and fast rules and if you don't follow them you will either get penalized or never see high rankings.  Let me be the first to tell you that there are no real rules.  No formulas.  No magic words.

But as to the meta description tag, first know that most likely the words you put in that tag won't actually help you gain rankings in the search engines.  This tag does serve a purpose, however. It's often a way to get a nice description of your page to show up in the search results if your page does rank highly.  Your best bet is to write a succinct sentence or 2 which use the keyword phrases that sum up the article.  If the first paragraph does that nicely, you could certainly put that into your meta description tag, but you wouldn't really gain any benefit from that, as the engines would probably pick up that "snippet" anyway, assuming it is using the keyword phrases people might find the page for in the engines.

For more info on this tag, please read my past newsletter article "Getting a Great Description"
<http://www.highrankings.com/issue094.htm#seo>

Jill

++Online Course for Understanding SEO++

Good Morning Jill:

First let me thank you for the great newsletter you publish weekly. It is both informative and insightful.

As we both know this industry seems to change on a dime. What I am referring to are the changes in rules along with best practices, of course without cheating or using shortcuts, to satisfy the search engines. Top rankings are the ultimate goal but also maintaining a good ranking along with a good informative website is an ongoing battle. Although I read several newsletters and articles I find it difficult to keep up with all the changes.

Could you recommend some online courses that would be a good starting ground for understanding search engines' likes and dislikes along with some marketing information? I feel I have a good understanding of the basics of SEO work but would like to fine-tune the skills I already have.

Regards,
Greg

++Jill's Response++

Hi Greg,

Thank you for the kind words regarding the newsletter.

I'm one of the few who really don't believe that the search engines change very often.  To me, it seems that the engines want the same stuff today as they wanted in the past:  that is, a great site that fits the search query at hand, that other sites also recommend.  Of course I live, breathe, and eat SEO 24/7 so I don't notice all the minor changes that happen, as they just seem natural to me. Remember that most changes the search engines make are simply spam-fighting measures.  So if you're not setting out to deceive them somehow, any changes they make algorithmically shouldn't really affect your site. (Yes, it's true that every now and then they throw the baby out with the bathwater, but it's not as often as others would have you believe.)

That said, you sound like a great candidate for Dan Thies's online SEO coaching classes.  You can learn more about them (through my affiliate link) here: <http://www.seoresearchlabs.com/hr>

Jill

++Is the Yahoo Directory Worth $299/yr?++

Hi Jill,

I have a question that others might also be asking.  My site (up 2 years, PR4) ranks well in Google for many of my search phrases (even though the PR dropped from PR5), but not very well in Yahoo. I pay literally nothing for Google and $300 a year (2 years now) for Yahoo directory.

From time to time, I check the sites that do come up at the top of Yahoo and most of them are not in the directory.  I can't help but wonder if the directory is actually doing more harm than good as far as Yahoo ranking, and have thought about dropping it since our volume is fairly good now and getting better (we have great word of mouth). What's your take on this?

Thanks,
Frank

++Jill's Response++

Hi Frank,

The only harm your Yahoo directory listing might be doing is that it gives you an icky directory title instead of using your title tag in the search results.  The former are usually less descriptive and may cause you to receive fewer clicks to your site if/when it does show up in the Yahoo search results.  That said, it does appear that sites listed in the Yahoo directory still get the weighting of their keyword-rich title tags, so I don't think the directory listing is harming you in any way.

Whether it's worth $299 each year is difficult to say.  If you really dislike the title they give you, it probably wouldn't hurt to not renew your listing.  You'll never know for sure until you simply don't
renew.  These days, I generally recommend against paying for a listing with Yahoo because of the title thing.  Sure, it's a nice link to have, but there are a lot of cheaper links you could have that would be just as nice.

The good thing is that you can test whether your Yahoo directory listing is worthwhile by simply not renewing it and waiting a few months to see if there are any negative (or positive) effects from
this.  Worst-case scenario is that you simply resubmit it and pay the $299 again.  Since Yahoo charges the same for a new listing as they do for renewing the old listing, you don't have much to lose.  I haven't personally tried this yet, so do so at your own risk!

Good luck!

Jill

++Spilling the Beans++

Hi Jill,

Before you built your forum <http://www.highrankings.com/forum> did you ever worry about it being so information-rich that you'd lose out on sales?  I notice that a lot of your forum users offer their services as well; did you have reservations about that before starting?  Do you have some sort of financial cushion so you don't have to worry about money?

For me, I can build a site that's so much better than everyone else's in my niche, but I just feel that it's like "spilling the beans" and I won't make any money at all.  Maybe I can make Google ad money but that's peanuts that you cannot live off of to survive.  I'm just curious about your thoughts about all of this.

Joe

++Jill's Response++

Hi Joe,

I absolutely NEVER have worried about giving away too much info for free. In fact, it's my business model.  Plus, there's always enough business to go around, so I have no problem promoting others in the industry (at least the ones I know that can actually do what they say they can do).  I don't really feel like I have any competitors because I have my own way of working with clients, just as others in the biz have their own way.  My way may be right for some clients and not for others, and I have no desire to try to make a client fit into my way. I'd much prefer to send them to a trusted colleague who is a better fit.

Please read "Why do you give away the SEO farm?"
<http://www.highrankings.com/issue121.htm#seo> for more on my feelings regarding this topic, as it has come up before.

Jill

++Does CSS Affect SEO?++

Hi Jill,

I am just starting to get into CSS and was wondering if it would affect my optimization if I was to change a well ranked site from basic HTML to CSS?

Thanks,
Doug

++Jill's Response++

Hi Doug,

No, CSS shouldn't affect your optimization.  However, if your current site is doing well, any changes you make may or may not affect your rankings.  Just know that you can do fine in the engines using CSS or not using CSS; it really doesn't matter as far as I can tell.

If you do use CSS, your best bet is to keep the style sheets in a separate .css file that is called up on each page as necessary.  This isn't an SEO technique, it's just a way to keep your file size and
load time lower.  If you can't do this for some reason, it's nothing to worry about.  The old wives' tale about helping the search engine spiders find the "meat" is really just that, an old wives' tale.

Jill

++Triangular Link Exchanges++

Hi Jill,

I've been getting a bunch of requests for triangular link exchanges and wanted to know what you thought about this. I think it's a way to fool Google by showing more one-way links (inbound) than reciprocal links.

Kind regards,
Jaime

++Jill's Response++

Hi Jaime,

I'm not a big fan of anything that is an attempt to fool the search engines, as it is a short-term solution at best.  There's nothing inherently wrong with "you link to me, then I'll link to site A and
site A will link to you," but when its purpose is to pull the wool over a search engine's eyes, then it's not a smart thing to do, in my opinion.

For what it's worth, there's no evidence that the search engines have a problem with reciprocal links if those are the type you're most comfortable obtaining.  But there are tons of creative forms of link-building that don't have anything to do with reciprocals or triangulars or whatever the buzzword of the day may be.

You may wish to read the link-popularity articles here:
<http://www.highrankings.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=5941>

Jill

Credits:

Jill Whalen of High Rankings is an internationally recognized search engine optimization consultant and host of the free weekly High Rankings Advisor search engine marketing newsletter. Jill's handbook, "The Nitty-gritty of Writing for the Search Engines" teaches business owners how and where to place relevant keyword phrases on their Web sites so that they make sense to
users and gain high rankings in the major search engines.

Jill specializes in search engine optimization, SEO consultations, site analysis reports, SEM seminars and is the co-founder of the new search marketing and website design company, Search Creative, LLC.

High Rankings
Helping Sites to Be the Best They Can Be!
http://www.highrankings.com

Search Creative, LLC (a division of High Rankings)
Full Marketing, Creative Design, and Website Services
http://www.searchcreative.com

If anyone would like to republish any or all of the above Q&A, please email Jill your request and where it will reside, and she will send you a short bio you can use with it for your site.

Jill's email: "High Rankings Advisor" <newsletter@highrankings.com>