SEO: site description, About, or neither

This applies to any site but especially blogs, which is my concern.

My understanding was that a short or moderate description of the website/blog using keywords near the top (near header or at top of sidebar) of the home page was important for SEO. While this could be a subtitle in the header, it's likely a more descriptive yet concise sentence using keywords for the site. (Made up example: "Shortguys.com features small guys and short men from twinks, bodybuilders, businessmen, older men, gay and straight men of all ages."

1. Does this keyword/descriptive sentence somewhere around the top of the homepage really do anything for SEO matters so that it's worth including?

2. If it does matter, would a regular link for an "About" page be a good substitute for the aforementioned sentence on the homepage? Or is the point that this sentence has to be one of the first things read on the home page? Or would an "About" page be even better because the separate page allows for more description and repetition of key words?

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Originally Posted by tim460

1. Does this keyword/descriptive sentence somewhere around the top of the homepage really do anything for SEO matters so that it's worth including?

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Yes it's prime SEO real estate but you can make up for not doing it, however an about us page wouldn't make much of a difference IMO.

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Originally Posted by Squirt

Yes it's prime SEO real estate but you can make up for not doing it, however an about us page wouldn't make much of a difference IMO.

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So glad you responded. Just want to clarify. Do you mean that an "About" page (in the menu next to "home," etc.) would be an equally good replacement and do the same thing for SEO as having that sentence on the homepage?

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Originally Posted by tim460

So glad you responded. Just want to clarify. Do you mean that an "About" page (in the menu next to "home," etc.) would be an equally good replacement and do the same thing for SEO as having that sentence on the homepage?

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I am saying that an about us page would not make up the difference. It will help, but it will not make up the difference.

Other things that can help would be directories and images using keywords, image map area shape alt and titles using keywords, meta name keywords and meta name description using keywords. Those are just a few basics.

Thanks, that is just what I wanted to know.

i just use a lot of text on my wanring page and main navigation page because i do no thtink it is good to have the same text at the top of every page for the search engines

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Originally Posted by Rich

i just use a lot of text on my wanring page and main navigation page because i do no thtink it is good to have the same text at the top of every page for the search engines

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That's correct you can use one set of meta description and keywords on a warning page and another set on the main page but you should never leave it off completely

Also for warning pages instead of the warning as text do it as an image. You don't really want Google or any other search engines using your warning text as part of you description which I see happen alot or if there is no other copy you description will only be the warning message

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Originally Posted by DirtyNick

Also for warning pages instead of the warning as text do it as an image. You don't really want Google or any other search engines using your warning text as part of you description which I see happen alot or if there is no other copy you description will only be the warning message

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That is a really good idea to get around that problem. I'm not going to have warning pages on my blogs. I'm putting them in the sidebar, where real text might look more visually consistent and cleaner, plus there will be links in the text to the Terms of Use, and one to Leave the site if underage, etc. Still the pic idea is really good.

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Originally Posted by DirtyNick

You don't really want Google or any other search engines using your warning text as part of you description which I see happen alot or if there is no other copy you description will only be the warning message

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Please correct this if it isn't true. I'm pretty sure that the title and description meta tags are used to list your site in the search engines, at least Google.

Even if not, the Warning doesn't have to be the very first thing on the page, just preferably visible near the top of of the page. So what comes before the warning should be enough to fill up the limited space in a search engine site description.

I was thinking more about the pic for the warning idea, which is very clever. It think it is a good idea. But I tend to be more cautious. I use alt tags for pics, mainly to make use of a SE opportunity, but also because they were made for people who are visually impaired. OK...what would a visually impaired person want to visit an adult site (which is mostly visual) for? Setting that good question aside, still it is an adult site, and the warning is really there for people who shouldn't or wouldn't want to visit such a site no matter how well or poor their vision is. In this sense, an alt tag description of the same warning would be made to cover all people, thus making the pic unnecessary. But it still is a clever idea. Just doesn't really cover all people going to the site, and it probably should.

the former (#1). your description and title on the main index page are very important when it comes to SEO. designing a SEO about page won't do anything for you. about pages generally don't get much SE hits since they tend to be pretty inactive with not many links. hope that helps

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Originally Posted by GPallan

the former (#1). your description and title on the main index page are very important when it comes to SEO. designing a SEO about page won't do anything for you. about pages generally don't get much SE hits since they tend to be pretty inactive with not many links. hope that helps

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Yes, thanks.

For the description, I'm not going to fit a string of keywords into something that pretends to sound like a sentence or two. I've opted to use a few main keywords (two or three word "keywords") in a sentence yet still describes the site.

Why not do both Tim?

Do your description stuff AND add an additional page to your site by creating an 'about us' page also?

Itll give you an extra chance at getting traffic specifically to that page, especially if you make the 'about us' text keyword rich and niche specific to your site.

Regards,

Lee

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Originally Posted by Lee

Why not do both Tim?

Do your description stuff AND add an additional page to your site by creating an 'about us' page also?

Itll give you an extra chance at getting traffic specifically to that page, especially if you make the 'about us' text keyword rich and niche specific to your site.

Regards,

Lee

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Yes, my plans are to do that. :D (Plus despite an article that said don't bother putting in a meta tag for keywords because SE don't look at them anymore, I'm doing it anyway so far. I mean why not? Even if the idea is SE probably don't care, it isn't going to hurt. Maybe some do.) I'm learning a lot from all of you, and that's an understatement. I just can't wait to get my 3 sites done, up and running. But still have many things to work out with the design, and that's another understatement, lol.

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Originally Posted by tim460

Yes, my plans are to do that. :D (Plus despite an article that said don't bother putting in a meta tag for keywords because SE don't look at them anymore, I'm doing it anyway so far. I mean why not? Even if the idea is SE probably don't care, it isn't going to hurt. Maybe some do.) I'm learning a lot from all of you, and that's an understatement. I just can't wait to get my 3 sites done, up and running. But still have many things to work out with the design, and that's another understatement, lol.

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While it's true many sites don't use meta tags there are still some smaller search engines that do and can drive you traffic.

Think of SEO/Design like building a pyramid each block builds on another focusing to the point at the top. When you leave off a block the pyramid is not as strong

Title and description are usually what the search engines grab in answer to your earlier question. I have though seen description get mixed with warning message so it's still best to have the warning as an image.

Also you want to incorporate a no snippet command in your pages. Sometimes instead of displaying your full description you'll just get some words here and there Yahoo does that quite a bit and Google sometimes as well