May/June 2014 31 Be completely Set for Success Decades of foodservice industry experience and innovation. Comprehensive glassware, dinnerware, metalware and holloware selection. Libbey Foodservice is uniquely capable to help you build your brand. Let us help complete your tabletop visions with products you can trust, from industry leaders you can rely on. ® © 2014 Libbey Inc. Contempra's gently rounded edges are an artful way to bring modern flair to your tabletops. Visit Libbey.com or scan for our catalog. LIB-077 Int TTop 4.125x11.indd 1 4/2/14 11:31 AM Meta Description Tag The description tag is used to display a snippet preview of your web page in the SERPS. It has little effect on your SERP ranking but is important in attracting potential customers, as it allows you the opportunity to write compelling ad copy that will attract viewers to your web page. In writing your description tag, keep the content relevant to your page so viewers will not feel duped after visiting. This could cause them to leave the page right away, raising your "Bounce Rate" and signaling to search engines that the page is not relevant. The end result, of course, will be a lower SERP rank for the given keyword. If you opt not to add content to your description tag, search engines will scan the page and pick random content to display in the SERPS for you. Google will display the first 150 char- acters of your description tag, so it is recommended that you keep the tag around that length. Exceeding it will not hurt you but it won't help either, as viewers cannot see characters beyond that general character count. Meta Keyword Tag The keyword tag has been deprecated by most search engines and is pretty much obsolete due to its misuse in the early days of the Internet. However, some people still add it because a small handful of search engines still use the key- word tag in their algorithm. But in my opinion, traffic gained from these search engines is so minimal, due to the misuse of the keyword tag, you're fine without adding the keyword tag to your website. The Element The element is simply a "heading" tag similar to what you would find in a newspaper article. On a web page, they range from

to

. The higher the heading element number, the lower the relevance the heading is on a given page. The

element should only be displayed once on a page, as it signals the title of the page. Just like in a newspaper or magazine article, you can have multiple subheadings on a web page using the H2, H3, H4, H5, and H6 elements. On occasion, you may see a heading element used in an SERP, in lieu of a meta title tag, so it's important to keep your heading elements relevant. The heading element, like the meta description tag, has little direct impact on SERP results but offers an improved user experience that can indirectly impact your SEO efforts. Bold/Bullets/Italic Elements Adding elements such as bold, italic, bullets, and underline, help important elements of your content stand out on your web page, allowing for a better user experience. When meta description tags are not found on your web page (and some- times even when they are), search engines may display your bold, bulleted, or italic and surrounding content. These ele- ments also offer indirect success to your SEO efforts. Growing Your Business Online continued continued on page 36

• Cover
• President's Message
• Industry Insights
• Association Highlights
• Meaningful Growth
• Aboard the USS Enterprise CVN-65
• Changing the Sales to Profit Relationship
• Ideas to Grow By
• Foster Frable on Bringing Back the Dishroom
• Tech Talk
• Talking Up Your Brand
• Should Your Salesperson Have Pricing Authority?
• What's in Your Policy?