dsdemmin Posted April 26, 2004 Posted April 26, 2004 Dreamweaver templates can expedite the development and management of a site immensely (especially for large sites). However, I have recently discovered a potentially major draw back… Google will not pick up Meta Tags from a template derived page. This does not interfere with the page being indexed; it just does not allow the advantage of Meta tags or more specifically the Meta Description tag (in the case of Google). Typical code for a template derived page looks like this: ><html><!-- InstanceBegin template="/Templates/MainTemp.dwt" codeOutsideHTMLIsLocked="false" --> <head> <!-- InstanceBeginEditable name="Meta Tags" --> <title>Great Title Here</title> <meta name="description" content="Great Description Here."> <meta name="keywords" content="some,really,good,keyword phrases,here"> <!-- InstanceEndEditable --> </head> It turns out that Google will pick up the title tag but not the description tag… it does not like the comment tag within the <head> section of the document. I do not know if this is a fluke or intentional with Google. I am unaware of a spam technique that would have induced a conscientious filter of this type. If you are truly concerned about rank… the solution is obvious, convert all your template derived pages to non-templates and just stick to using a whole lot of library items. Good luck. P.S. To anyone who believes or has 'heard' that Meta Tags are not important to the search engines (or more specifically to Google) any more, I can promise you that they are (i.e. use the Meta Description tag wisely). Quote
TCH-Rob Posted April 26, 2004 Posted April 26, 2004 Hey Scott, nice to see a post from you. Thanks for the tip. Thumbs Up Quote
DarqFlare Posted April 26, 2004 Posted April 26, 2004 Thanks Scott. Nice to see you're still around! Quote
Deverill Posted April 26, 2004 Posted April 26, 2004 Hey Scott! I hadn't heard that one yet and it is pretty bad because a lot of folks use DW templates. The meta description tag is at least important in that many engines/directories use that as the description of your site. Put your best face forward with it. I suspect it also plays in the keyword/relevance issues as well, but that's my guess. Thanks for the tip - timely as always! See ya around! Quote
dsdemmin Posted April 27, 2004 Author Posted April 27, 2004 I still lurk in the shadows of the late, late nights (early mornings) Quote
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