Some of the most basic optimization tools are overlooked when creating a website. Title tags and meta tags tell google’s minions (search engine robots that spend their entire lives crawling from one site to the next) what your site is all about. If you are selling antique dog collars, for example, than you want to make sure that phrase appears not only throughout your website’s content, but in the source code.

Let’s start with title tags. This is what you see at the very top of your browser next to the little logo. Not only is this the title of your page, but, this is what appears in search results. So make sure it is relevant and inclusive of your most important search terms.

Now move on to meta tags. Meta tags are one of the original tools used by search engines to rank pages. All you have to do is insert “description” into the code, followed by a brief, no more than 250 character, description of your site. For example, “Antique dog collars are bark in style. Collars from every time period: Renaissance, Middle Ages, Dark Ages, World War II, Stone Age, Mesopotamia, and the Space Age. Buy unique collars for your favorite pet.” Make sure not to repeat the same phrases in this block of code or your site will be penalized.

Once you optimize your site with these title and meta tags the metaphorical robots will report their findings back to google and you will start to steadily climb the list.