Meta Tags in websites

welnik

I built a website 5 years ago from scratch after a bit of self teaching and I'm about to update it with a completely new one. My current site ranks on the first page in Google currently which I've managed to achieve without parting with any money.

I've just looked at the source code on my website and there is the following:-

META NAME="Keywords" CONTENT="my product">
META NAME="Description" CONTENT="my product">
META NAME="Author" CONTENT="sales@*****.co.uk">
META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="INDEX, NOFOLLOW">

I've edited out certain bits.

I don't really want to update my site and then end up loosing my prime position but am I at risk of doing that by building a new website even though it will have the same domain name etc?

Thanks in anticipation.

esuhl

I'm no expert, but I vaguely remember reading that Google gives more weight to websites that are updated frequently, as unchanging websites are assumed to be increasingly out-of-date. So changing the site might not be a bad thing.

However, if you're completely changing the content, then when Google re-indexes the page, it will see the new content and rank it (partly) based on that.

I think one of the primary ways Google indexes pages is by seeing how many links to your content their are on other popular/trusted sites, so I'm not sure how that would affect your rank if there are lots of links to pages that have been deleted...

Actually, I'm not even sure whether Google use meta tags to index pages now...

flexrider

welnik wrote: »

I built a website 5 years ago from scratch after a bit of self teaching and I'm about to update it with a completely new one. My current site ranks on the first page in Google currently which I've managed to achieve without parting with any money.

I've just looked at the source code on my website and there is the following:-

METANAME="Keywords" CONTENT="my product">
METANAME="Description" CONTENT="my product">
METANAME="Author" CONTENT="sales@*****.co.uk">
METANAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="INDEX, NOFOLLOW">

I've edited out certain bits.

I don't really want to update my site and then end up loosing my prime position but am I at risk of doing that by building a new website even though it will have the same domain name etc?

Thanks in anticipation.

Meta tags now are only used in reference to identifying the page in the omitted searches by engines the rules for meta tagging have changed over the years some search engines such as Google use a very of factors because many years ago alot of internet marketers were just keyword stuffing Meta Tags to get traffic from the search engines. (I.e placing keywords not related to the sites content they had) Meta Tags now are just used in identifying a page on what the topic is about and it irrevelantcy to the user on the search engines.

Updating content and using good keywords from

Google keyword tool

https://adwords.google.com/o/Targeting/Explorer?__u=1000000000&__c=1000000000&ideaRequestType=KEYWORD_IDEAS#search.none you can verify what your site visitors are looking for on a month by month basis and choose keywords as such,

But since the last announcement by Google a few months ago content is the king and regually updating content plus you haveing a 5 year old domain name in place also does wonders for search engines

Having sites linking to your own site is a way for Google to show your site is popular so finding sites simalar to your own and leaving valid comments on them with your website is a good way also. Plus forums and what not!


more on this can be read here
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/keywords-meta-tag-in-web-search/

Hope that helps.

welnik

Thanks for both taking the time to reply. Very interesting to read. I think what has helped my site is the fact that it's mentioned on my Local Council's website and I think this is why it ranks quite well.

thanks again