Meta Data and Meta tags just Aren't what they used to be. Once considered an essential part of a website's design, they quickly became a way to spam the search engines. And now their relevance is practically nil.
As long ago as 2009, the Google Webmaster Blog and even Matt Cutts himself explained that the Keywords Meta Tag was no longer relevant to Google's algorithm. Add to that the way that Penguin and Panda have changed the nature of search over the past two years, and you have a landscape where meta tags just aren't important anymore.
Why aren't they important anymore--and what constitutes a good SEO strategy these days? Read on to find out.
Google let webmasters know over three years ago that keyword tags are no longer relevant to the way Google does search. While the official Google Webmaster Blog gave a variety of reasons that it no longer uses this tag, it all boils down to one main concept: spam.
In the early days of SEO (before it was even called that!), shrewd marketers and webmasters learned that you could rank well for just about any keyword by stuffing it into the keywords meta tag--even if it didn't have any relevance to what was on the rest of the page!
Even when Google got sharper about this, learning to differentiate relevant vs. irrelevant keywords in its algorithm, the tag still presented problems. Finally, the easiest thing to do was simply to leave the keywords meta tag out of all considerations entirely.
Enter the Title Meta Tag. It has always been an important tag. But once SEOs and webmasters wised up to the fact that the keywords tag was no longer relevant, the title tag took on extra importance.
As you might guess, the same thing happened with the title tag as well! And once again, search engines are burnt out on the importance of what was once considered a relevant part of every page.
And while the Description Meta Tag may be important on occasion for getting someone to click on your site when it shows up in the search engine results pages (SERPs), it simply does not factor into the ranking algorithms for these search engines. (It should also be noted that this tag doesn't show up in the SERPs as much as it used to; Google is displaying on-page content relevant to the searcher's keyword more and more these days).
There are still plenty of other on-site factors when it comes to the way a website is built. These are factors that can be taken care of by a fulltime interactive designer. They can also be part of a freelance web designer job, as there are many clients who may simply want a "once-over" or website update to make sure their website is current.
Clean code is perhaps more important now than it ever has been--especially since Google has started counting the time it takes a website to load, into its ranking considerations. Clean code also makes for easier going for any future freelance web designer job.
Now that websites are requirements (instead of extras) for every business, everyone is expected to have an attractive, professionally-done website deign. This is one reason there is plenty of work for a fulltime interactive designer who is willing to put him- or herself on the market.
Finally, quality content is more important now than it ever has been. This makes life extra profitable for the designer who can write or outsource quality web content for projects. For more information on the relavence of Meta data and webdesign jobs contact Artisan Talent.
Brad C is a freelance writer available on WriterAccess, a marketplace where clients and expert writers connect for assignments.