If you are like me, you like to have your Metatags like description and keywords filled with relevant content..

You could have Metatag generators for you website, or overviews of the content with a component like OpenSEF.
But what if you don’t use OpenSEF but sh404SEF?
In that case you could register and download the Joomla Metatag component form iJoomla.

But if you just want to see what pages still are in need of content for these Metatags.
In that case there is now a very simple but effective and easy to use modules, with two versions, one for the Joomla 1.0.x versions and for Joomla 1.5…

It is written by Dan Rahmel who also wrote two Books about Joomla!
and

And it is easy to install.

The module is installed as a normal module, but it is only for the administrator.
That is why it is listed under the Administrator part of the Modules and has to be published and positioned on the cPanel, which means that it will be visible on you administrator homepage (the first one after you login)

After publication you find the items without the Description and Keywords listed on a separate Tab on the Administrators page.

You can download the version you want from JoomlaJumpStart.com where you can even find more information on Joomla and the insights of Dan Rahmel.

There are people who will tell you that Metatags like the Description and Keywords are useless these days.. for Search Engine Optimization that is.

But try to work on writing good solid page descriptions and use just up to a maximum of 10 keywords in the keyword field.
Use the keywords you have used in the page, and in the Title and wait for the next index round of Google.

The Descriptions field mostly show up under you page title and should be written as a small advertisement to bring you the visitors you want.

Want to read more? Check out Joomla & SEO Blog.

I have been writing about using the Description Metatag in Joomla before on several Blogs.

So I thought I will tell you about the importance of this special Metatag here as well.

Joomla Meta Info Tab 

As you might know, there are two special fields that show on the Meta Info tab in each content item in Joomla.

First you have the Description, followed by the Keywords.

If you read about Metatags on the Internet in relation to Search Engine Optimization, a lot of people will tell you not to spend any time on it.

I am telling you to take the time to learn how to write good page descriptions and put in some keywords from the content as well.

Most important item here is the Description Metatag !!

If you look at the Search REsults Page (SERP) in Google and other Search Engines you will see the content of these description tags showing up right under the Title tag.

Just try and do some searches on your own… later afcourse…

There seem to be even some studies to confirm the following:
- People are more likely to click on the Link that has a good description than on the top links, especially if this is “above the fold” , that means in the first screen part, seen without scrolling.

Here you see the Importance of a good description Metatag, as that is what is mostly show.
Google however also likes to take some excerpt of the content just below the relevant text they found on your page.

Description Metatag and Getting the Visitors

If the content of your Description Metatag is shown so prominently in the Search results, then this is where you can get the advantage over your competitors.

People look at the page title to see if its relevant to there search, right after that the read the text underneath the title.

So make sure you write your text for this tag as good as you possibly can, including the keyword(s) you try to target.
Just think of this text as a small advertisement for free from the search Engines…..

Look at Your Description Tag as a free advertisment

Lure your visitors to your rich content page, but don’t write a fake description that does not cover the page content !! 

Just like any good advert, deliver what you promised !!, the competition is just one click back…

You should make it a second nature, to think and write the Meta Info directly after you wrote your page content.
This way the subject of your writing is still fresh in your head, and then its easy to make a little to the point excerpt of your page.

Keyword Metatag

This one has lost a lot of its power early in the search engines history.
People wrote the keywords several dozen or more times into the tag, thus creating the need for search engines to reduce the value.

Some I..d..ts eh, less informed Search Engine Optimization specialists, still use this techniques called Keyword Stuffing or Spamming.
Which is great if you want to get out of the Google and other indexes.. 

You can still use this keywords Metatag, but use it the right way.
Just put in between 5 and 10, at the most thirty (on big pages) keywords, that are in the content of the page.
Don’t try to put in something like ”nude” if that is not the topic of your page.
You could even hurt your page rank that way, as this is also seen as spamming.

Metatag Generators

If you are using OpenSef on your Joomla site, your can find the pages that are missing these tags with the SEO Assistant and then choose the Metatag Generator.

You should not use the automatic generation for the tags, because you most certainly do a better Job writing them yourself.

But if you want to start with one to see how it works, fine, let it run for a few pages and see what comes up, it might save you some time.

There are some other Metatag generators for Joomla out there, but please write your own if you want top quality, you have read why its important..

P.s. if you want the tags to perform the way they should, you MUST install the SEF Patch from http://www.joomlatwork.com/ !!
If you don´t, then please, please look how the description tags come out in the source code of the page and change the Tags in the Global Configuration to the bare minimum, as it is attached in the source code ahead of the page description…
Sometimes is even better to loose the Tags from the Global config alltogether.

if you want to see how your page and descriptions show up in Google, try to search “site:www.example.com”  replace with your own domain name.

Want to read more? Check out Joomla & SEO Blog.