Hey team,

I am looking for an article about editing Bloggers metatag command and inserting their own meta tags.

The reason being ... I am working on a search engine that spiders sites but a lot of the bloggers use blogger and don't know how to insert meta tags. So when the spider spiders the site ... it comes back as a big mess.

Then you have to make your spider deal with that. There is far worse code out there than a few missing meta tags.

That's not what I am asking. I am not going to make my spider deal with that. If the blogger or the site doesn't have proper meta tags then they just won't get spidered. Period. The reason I am looking for this information is so that I can point people in the right direction when it comes to creating meta tags with the Blogger software. The Blogger technology has an auto-create feature which if used correctly can really help a site. If they don't want to use the auto-create then there are ways around it by working with their template but I am looking for a site that explains how to go about that.

I think the answer you'll get is "So!". I know if you came to me and said "You need to change your site to suit my spider". You would get a very simple answer of GFY.

Most of the people using blogger and the like have no idea about search engines and care even less. why should they be interested in your spider ? And the ones who do know and care about SEs will simply point out that the main SEs have no trouble at all so why should they be interested in your spider being unable to get it right.

When you are writing software or any kind of application the onus is on you to make it work with all eventualities without crashing or returning gibberish. NOT expect users who have absolutely no connection with you or interest in your project to change.

I wrote a spider/indexer for an in-house intranet project where users could create HTM documents with a rudimentary CMS which had the capabilities to have meta information to aid indexing and retrieval which invariably few actually used. So if it is unlikely to be achieved on a private system with users who you can and do train, It certainly isn't going to happen on a public, uncontrolled unmanaged system.

I AM NOT ASKING THEM TO CHANGE THIER SITE JUST FOR MY SEARCH ENGINE. Having proper meta tags will benefit them with any engine (except Google). If they don't have proper meta tags then their site just won't be listed. Just like Google has certain regulations ... so does this search engine. I don't think it is to much to ask to have meta tags in their site.

Your comment on the fact that bloggers don't care about meta's is bogus. Bloggers do ... at least the ones I have spoken with. A lot of them don't have the meta tags because they either aren't aware of them or don't know how to properly use them. They need to be educated. THUS the reason I am looking for this tutorial. I am looking to educate them.

Bottomline is I am looking for a good article on writing meta tags and working with Blogger. I am not opening this up for closed minded discussion. I am just asking for some help in locating a tutorial.

you want to change the world for somthing that the world is not sure they want? WRONG.

don't get me wrong, but why not make your spidersmarter and see the mistakes? this is not a perfect world ... try validating all websites you visit ... see that 90% of them don't use proper html/xhtml ... so ... why would they bother using it for something they don't need?

Forget it ... You should just close this thread. You aren't understanding ... I am not wanting to change the world. I am simply wanting to offer a tutuorial to those who want to have proper meta tags on their site. This engine is a high quality engine and I will only accept sites that have proper meta tags. It is not like I am asking them to re-write their site ... I am simply asking them to insert meta tags. Cripes the internet world lives on meta tags ... all except Google that is. I don't understand what is so hard to understand what I am asking for. Bottom line ... to get listed in the engine they need to have proper meta tags ... because of this I want to offer a tutorial on how to insert them into the page and what the tags should consist of.

In otherwords ... Give a person a fish and you will feed them for a day: Teach them to fish and you feed them for a lifetime.

what if their main hobby is to hunt and they don't care about fishing? that's my point

Hunters still need to be taught.

yes but they need to be taught how to hunt while you try and teach them how to fish ...

think of fishing as your SE and of hunting as Google.

think of fishing as your SE and of hunting as Google.

That doesn't make sense. No matter what sport your involved in you still need to be taught. No matter what search engine you use ... you still need to be taught.

Originally Posted by MightyMaster

The reason being ... I am working on a search engine that spiders sites but a lot of the bloggers use blogger and don't know how to insert meta tags. So when the spider spiders the site ... it comes back as a big mess.

Ok this was your first post in the thread
What does that say to anyone reading it ??

Because it certainly doesn't lead to this conclusion

Originally Posted by MightyMaster

I AM NOT ASKING THEM TO CHANGE THIER SITE JUST FOR MY SEARCH ENGINE.

Having proper meta tags will benefit them with any engine (except Google). If they don't have proper meta tags then their site just won't be listed. Just like Google has certain regulations ... so does this search engine. I don't think it is to much to ask to have meta tags in their site.

Completely wrong. having meta tags or not having meta tags will make absolutely no difference whatsoever to the pages. Yes some engines read meta tags but they have little or no effect.

Your comment on the fact that bloggers don't care about meta's is bogus. Bloggers do ... at least the ones I have spoken with. A lot of them don't have the meta tags because they either aren't aware of them or don't know how to properly use them. They need to be educated. THUS the reason I am looking for this tutorial. I am looking to educate them.

What meta tags are you thinking of? There is only one that is of any real use in the SERPs, The description tag. The Keywords tag is the other that has a (very) minimal use. The vast majority of bloggers are just J.Q. Public and NOT chasing any kind of SE success. They are happy enough is other bloggers and sites link to them.

Bottomline is I am looking for a good article on writing meta tags and working with Blogger. I am not opening this up for closed minded discussion. I am just asking for some help in locating a tutorial.

SEO Consultants

MightyMaster ... a good products suits it's users. a good product doesn't require the users to suit the product.

btw, chris gave you one really good link at the end of the post

also MightyMaster, it is very very very rare that meta descriptions and keywords for example actually show the true meaning of the contens ...

Completely wrong. having meta tags or not having meta tags will make absolutely no difference whatsoever to the pages. Yes some engines read meta tags but they have little or no effect.

I disagree and agree with you. They may have no effect on the ranking in most engines but someone will not click on a link in a engine where the description doesn't make sense.

That is what I am after. Descriptions ....

Example:

1. The Democratic Party
The Democratic Party Blog Our Party Our Chairman Our Leaders Our Organization Our History In Your State Action Buy Democracy Bonds Get on the Email List Register to Vote Make a Contribution Agenda Strength at Home Strength Overseas Economic Growth Better Education Secure Retirement Affordable Health Care Honest Government Election Reform Protecting Our Environment Civil Rights & J
URL: http://www.dnc.org/ ::: Report A Bad Link

The Description doesn't make sense because the spider isn't finding a description ... it is reading the content. If have a description it would make the whole this more appealing.

Thank you for the link. That is what I was looking for.

what if i had a page full of p0rn and would make the description say it's cartoons for kids? what would your SE show?

do you base your idea on the fact that all people are nice, right, and that they all want the best for the visitors and the people that search?

Every page that get's spidered is checked out by a human. The spider goes out and retrieves the information and then a human approves or rejects the site. The spider doesn't automatically add the listing to the engine right away. The editor goes to the site to verify that it is a decent site. It has to be approved. The reason we are using the spider is so we don't have to worry about entering descriptions and such into the engine. The spider grabs that auotmatically making it easier for the editors.