Comments on: Search Engine Optimization - updating your keywords and page descriptions

By: Deborah Carasso

Deborah Carasso — Thu, 08 May 2008 18:37:48 +0000

I am trying to make a form per your instructions, and mine doesn’t bounce from box to box with the tab button. How do you make it do this? Thanks for your help.

By: J. Baldini

J. Baldini — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 17:08:02 +0000

This is also one of the tools that I just automatically ignore for the same reason listed.
I would like to see some more quick site templates with cast shadow design . Any chance of that ?

By: Sergio's World Beers

Sergio's World Beers — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 15:41:20 +0000

Thanks Rochelle!

By: susanmj

susanmj — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 03:28:20 +0000

Rochelle, thank you for taking notice of the posts regarding the “Apply to All” option. This is actually something I’ve discussed with a couple of the product team members before - in fact I even sent access to a book that Judy and I wrote to one of the team. The book is SEO Building Blocks and was written to help Homestead members with search engine optimization because there are some differences in optimizing a WYSIWYG site and a site created with Dreamweaver, Front Page, etc. The hope was that it would give Homesteaders a leg up in optimizing their sites and if Homestead were to eliminate the “Apply To All” that would be a huge step in the right direction.

Thanks for putting this on the “We Need to Revisit This Option” board. We’ll look forward to a positive change.

Regards,

Susanmj
Homestead Connection Forum

By: Rochelle, Product Director at Homestead

Rochelle, Product Director at Homestead — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 01:24:04 +0000

Thanks Susan, Judith and Richie, those are great points. We do think the “apply to all” is a useful shortcut for building a site, but you’re right, we need to be more clear that specific, unique descriptions and keywords are important for each page on any site. Now that we see that some of our more seasoned members have this concern about the “apply to all” feature, we’re going to be taking another look at it so we can help keep people out of trouble. Many thanks for your comments and ideas!

By: Phil

Phil — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 23:11:27 +0000

Is there is a limit on the number of keywords and keyword that can be included in the meta-tag area?

By: Richie Anderson

Richie Anderson — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 22:36:24 +0000

Anyone who has ever spent any amount of time actually reading and learning about SEO knows that duplicate meta’s will not help get better search engine result placement. In fact it could harm a web site’s search results.

Having good meta tags means having unique descriptions from page to page and using only keywords which can be found within the pages content. I feel that Homestead is doing a great dis-service to their uninformed users by instructing them to use the “apply to all” feature.

By: Judith Long

Judith Long — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 22:00:40 +0000

I read this newest post and thoroughly agree that the title and meta description be optimized to produce the best result in the search process. Every page in a web site should be optimized for the most bang for the buck and each page should always have their own unique and distinct meta tags.

However, I take exception to the “add to all” option in the Site Builder as it produces meta tags that mirror each other and are simply a quick way of destroying a sites complete optimization.

If the search engines find this situation (duplicate metas) they will simply ignore any page beyond the index because the pages will be deemed duplicates – so essentially the “add to all” button has wasted any chance for individual pages being optimized or benefiting the site.

This is a Site Builder option that should be eliminated for the sake of people who are working hard to create a good site and get it ranked in generic searches.

By: susanmj

susanmj — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 20:37:19 +0000

While I love the fact that Homestead is working to help members via the Blog I can’t in good conscious not holler WHOA! when something comes along that in my opinion is going to hurt member sites rather than help them.

Using the Apply to All option can be a Seach Engine killer and it’s the one option I wish Homestead would remove. We constantly tell members on the Homestead Connection Forum - Don’ use the Apply to All if you are serious about optimizing for the Search Engines.

Search Engines look for unique metas and an across-the-board set of meta tags could be considered duplicate content by the SE’s. Each important page in the site should ’stand alone’ in terms of meta tags and those tags should reflect the theme of the page. The key words should be limited to the important phrases or key words found ON THE PAGE.

I encourage all Homestead members to come join the Forum for more info on Search Engine Optimization and Site Design.

Thanks Lloyd for the useable info on adding metas and I’m sure the design team will give consideration to removing that Add to All option since Homestead is always seeking more and better ways to help their customers build quality web sites.

Keep on Webbin’

Susanmj
Homestead Connection Forum