Replacing Metas and Keywords

[Sequelmed]

How often we need to replace our meta titles, meta descriptions and keywords so that we are able to find which one works and which does not. Can we make some schedule like on monthly or quarterly basis. What are the best practices in this regard?

[SilverDoor]

Hi,

I wouldn't recommend changing anything that is already successful. i.e. high click-through-rate (CTR) high conversion rate or low bounce rate.  People often get caught up with the idea of testing things and improving results and end up doing more harm than good.

However, if you identity areas where improvement is needed, these are ideal places to carry out tests.

In terms of what to do next, I recommend that you do some in-depth competitor analysis on all of the sites currently ranking above you.

Look at all of the elements that you've mentioned above and see what your competitors are doing in those areas. If you find that they're currently doing something better than you, strive to improve that.

Good research is the key here. Make sure to follow this rule:

Research - Hypothesise - Test - Review

Another important element to not forget is benchmarking. Ensure that you benchmark before you implement any changes, that way you can see what the overall effect is.

Hope this helps

[GPainter]

Hello,There is no golden rule. Quick note Meta Keywords are no longer needed any only serve to show competitors what you are trying to rank for and there is some evidence Bing uses them for negative reasons so I wouldn't bother with them.

You need to make sure you give enough time for the meta to take affect. My advice is to focus on the user: create a meta that will help CTR from SERPs from users, now you can sneak a keyword in there but more clicks will maintain your placement.

Now if I had to force an answer I would guess around once a month but again if you rush it you might find your self missing the bulk of the testing not forgetting seasonal changes etc. I recommend putting max effort into meta then leaving it to focus on other areas.

also a big shout out to - http://moz.com/blog/new-title-tag-guidelines-preview-tool

Best of luck.

p.s. don't forget the resources that Moz has -

http://moz.com/learn/seo/meta-description

http://moz.com/learn/seo/title-tag

[KeriMorgret]

One other item of note is that the search engines often choose their own title and snippet to display in the SERPs, even if you've specified something in your code, so you don't know if the person actually saw the title or description that you used.

[SilverDoor]

Nice one Pixel by Pixel,

Completely forgot to mention about the Meta keywords!

But yes I completely agree. We've removed them from our site completely.

Only give competitors an edge over you.

[JarnoNijzing]

What Keri is pointing out is quite a good one actually. This was one of the reasons why some pages wouldn't rank. We entered a title and description still nothing. Finally at page 9 or 10 I think it was we found the page. With a completely other title and description. We then used the Social Media integration with titles and descriptions -> Google suddenly changed them too and we started ranking pos. 1 and 2 with some pages.

As for the time laps: A good test (like Rand did with his last WBF video) takes up at least 3 months maybe more. Some changes will take like forever to take effect, others you might notice earlier. Don't give up to soon.

Keyword tag isn't needed anymore indeed like pixel and silver stated.

hope this helps some

Regards
Jarno

[Sequelmed]

Hi Jarno can you please explain your this part of the response: " We then used the Social Media integration with titles and descriptions -> Google suddenly changed them too and we started ranking pos. 1 and 2 with some pages. "

I think you are pointing out something unique and interesting. I mean how to integrate SM with titles and descriptions. Good if you could be able to give one or two examples on this.

Thanks and Best Regards,

Tanveer

[Sequelmed]

Hi,

Thanks for sharing the insights. So you mean to say we need to focus on meta titles and meta descriptions only and remove the meta keywords?

Regards

Tanveer

[GPainter]

Hi Taneer,

Yes Keywords is obsolete.

[Sequelmed]

This post is deleted!

[Sequelmed]

Hello,

Ok fine, if we remove the meta keywords, then how we determine that our site is being reached (or reachable) against certain keywords. I mean how we can asses that which keywords (in our titles and descriptions) perform on our site?

Will we carry on adding and testing/analyzing  keywords (obviously from the titles and descriptions) in the moz keywords ranking tool??

Hope i am bale to convey my concern

More power to your responding capacity!!

Tanveer

[GPainter]

Theres a lot of trail and error but the Moz keyword tool helps, as long as you mention the keyword some where in the title or description you're normally in a good position the rest is working on CTR really.

meta tags are only one part of ranking keywords don't forget.

[JarnoNijzing]

Tanveer,

what I meant was using the Social Media meta data tags in your page. Before we used the meta data tags Google didn't use our given Title and Description. After we entered it in the Meta Data tags for Facebook and Twitter (We used the same title for SM and our page, as did we do with the description) and all of the suddon Google used our Title and description.

Hope you understand what I meant now.

Regards

Jarno