meta - http-equiv

First, a bit of background. When you click on a link, that sends a request for a file to a server. That request is made using a particular protocol (format) called HTTP (Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol). The server checks to see if it has the file, then sends back a block of information plus the file. That extra block of information is the "header" block. It can contain extra information for the browser. By using a http-equiv meta tag, you can sort of fake out the browser and make it believe it's getting extra information from the server. Only rather than from the server, it's coming from you in the form of a meta tag. There are a few http-equiv meta tags, but only one that is worth learning about...

http-equiv="refresh"

This refreshes (or reloads) the browser. It can reload with the same page, or with a different page. It can reload immediately, or after a time interval. The basic syntax is as follows...

<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="5;url=http://www.newsite.com/">

5 is the number of seconds to wait before refreshing, and http://www.newsite.com/ is the new URL. This can be a full or relative URL.

Here is a working example that will sling you through a few pages automatically, then bring you back here.

>>> GO >>>

Pretty cool, don't you think? If you move one of your pages and would like to automatically redirect your visitor to the new page, this is one way to do it.

There are other http-equiv meta tags that you might hear about... expires, pragma, window-target, etc. We'll skip these for a very good reason... they don't work! Or, at best, they'll only work for a very small portion of your visitors. They're not worth bothering with... trust me.

There are other NAME type meta tags, such as author, copyright, generator, etc, etc, but those aren't really of any use to you either. In addition, you can make up meta tags for your own use...

<meta name="Daniel_Boone" content="King of the wild frontier.">

The meta tags we've gone over have a solid use, and they work nearly universally. Unless you have a specific need, there is no reason to spend time messing with all the various other meta tags.

Develop your description and keywords tags, use the robots meta tag only where absolutely necessary (you should really just let the robots do their thing) and use the http-equiv="refresh" meta tag if you want to re-direct visitors.

Again, don't get too crazy with your description and keyword list. Different search engines use different criteria, but one thing is almost universally assured... abuse the keyword and description meta tags and you'll likely be penalized.

I said earlier that we would touch on strategies for improving your web site's ranking in search engines. Over the years I've noticed a few basic principles that you should keep in mind when putting together your pages...

• Your document's TITLE is probably the most important criteria in most search engine rankings. Choose it carefully. It should contain your most important keywords without being too wordy.
   
• Links. The number of links pointing to your page is of great significance when search engines rank one site against another. The idea is that a site with more links pointing to it contains more desirable content. Makes perfect sense. It's tempting to say the key to getting linked to is to exchange links or get people to link to you. Many many people have gone down that "cart before the horse" path and haven't fared very well. How to get links you ask?? Simple. Have desirable content. Or to put it another way - HAVE DESIRABLE CONTENT.
   
  If you have desirable content, people will link to what you have. If you have a small amount of poorly put together information, people won't link to you to save your life. Develop great content. Make a USEFUL site. Make an INFORMATIVE site. Make a FUNNY site if you have to. Make your site WORTHY of linking to. Then, and only then will you see more and more people linking to you.
   
  How many people are linking to you? Type in your URL:
  Google Search

• Use ALT attributes in your image tags. Imagine the image was not there. The ALT attribute is what the search engine sees. If your page is about widgets, and you have a lot of pictures of widgets, the search engines will miss them all. Use appropriate ATL attributes such as alt="Red Widget", alt="Super Widget", alt="Widget Accessories", etc.
   
• Submit your sites to the big search engines by hand. Don't use those Super Site Blaster programs and services (the ones that promise to submit your site to 1000 search engines and directories for $99.95). Using one of those will accomplish three things... 1) it will make you several dollars lighter, 2) you'll be submitted to a bunch of useless or defunct link sites, and most importantly, 3) legitimate search engines might penalize you. Just hand submit your front page to a half dozen of the bigger search engines. Their spiders will crawl through your site and index the rest of the pages.
   
• Don't use phony "doorway" pages that load up on keywords and redirect the visitor to your main page. While this might work sometimes with a few minor search engines, believe that search engine programmers are smart enough to detect those sorts of shenanigans and will likely toss your pages right out of the index. Your best bet is to remain completely above board and leave the stupid search engine tricks to someone else ;-)
   
• Promote your site consistently, creatively and responsibly. DON'T buy one of those CD's full of email addresses and spam three million people. You won't get much of a response and you might get your ISP or web host a little uppity. Participate in web rings if you wish. Offer something of value for free.

And that ladies and gentlemen, is all I have to say about META tags ;-)