Possible to change web page description metatag?

[drdane]

When I so a google search for a photo on my site, this is always the first line:
SmugMug - The ultimate in photo sharing. Online photo albums ... (http://www.smugmug.com/keyword/today/green/1/126592546)

Really, you guys shouldn'g need to be doing this, as you have your own web pages - can I change the page description metatag to something of my own?

Thanks!

[Andy]

Be careful what you wish for, Dane. You, alone, can't get the google page rank that you have by being associated with SmugMug, at least not without a tremendous effort.

It's something that's been asked a lot and our engineers and product manager and the whole team are aware of the request. But I'm not sure that I ever want it.

Follow my search tips, on my pro wiki page (see my sig below). Do all of them, then you'll get results like this... for the phrases your would be clients are searching for :thumb

[drdane]

Thanks, Andy

I'd be fine with a search page header like you have in your example:
"MoonRiver Photography - Andy Williams - powered by SmugMug"

Well, with my own info in it, of course. :D

I'm thinking someone would be more likely to click on this:
"Inner-Light-Images - Dane Roubos - powered by SmugMug" (or hosted instead of powered)

than this:
SmugMug - The ultimate in photo sharing. Online photo albums ... (http://www.smugmug.com/keyword/today/green/1/126592546)

when they are searching for a photo to purchase.

Can I change this in my webpage metatags?

I've been working on the other stuff mentioned here: http://smugmug.jot.com/WikiHome/MaximizeYourFindability - specifically keywords, captions and descriptions, and will move on to a blog and links after that.

Just downloaded the FireFox Search Status extension, and my page rank is currently zero (I see yours is 5/10), but it can only go up from here!

Thanks!

[Andy]

Thanks, Andy

I'd be fine with a search page header like you have in your example:
"MoonRiver Photography - Andy Williams - powered by SmugMug"

Well, with my own info in it, of course. :D

I'm thinking someone would be more likely to click on this:
"Inner-Light-Images - Dane Roubos - powered by SmugMug" (or hosted instead of powered)

than this:
SmugMug - The ultimate in photo sharing. Online photo albums ... (http://www.smugmug.com/keyword/today/green/1/126592546)

when they are searching for a photo to purchase.

Can I change this in my webpage metatags?

Thanks!
Hi Dane, please re-read my post carefully. I did nothing to my metatags. Just follow my tips :thumb

[drdane]

I just looked at photos in a couple of galleries, and used the FireFox cntrl-U command to view the page codes (source codes), which I think should show my caption and keywords in the page text. Other than SmugMug's (right up top!), the only hint I could find was this on lines 281-2: <div class="photoDetail" id="photoKeywords"></div>
<div id="editKeywords">

Maybe this is where my captions and keywords should be - but there's nothing else I can see.

The two pages I've specifically looked at for this are:
http://drdane.smugmug.com/gallery/2418115#126592546 and
http://drdane.smugmug.com/gallery/2400632#143011778

I presume that if I can't see them, the search engines can't either. Am I missing something here?

[Andy]

I just looked at photos in a couple of galleries, and used the FireFox cntrl-U command to view the page codes (source codes), which I think should show my caption and keywords in the page text. Other than SmugMug's (right up top!), the only hint I could find was this on lines 281-2: <div class="photoDetail" id="photoKeywords"></div>
<div id="editKeywords">

Maybe this is where my captions and keywords should be - but there's nothing else I can see.

The two pages I've specifically looked at for this are:
http://drdane.smugmug.com/gallery/2418115#126592546 and
http://drdane.smugmug.com/gallery/2400632#143011778

I presume that if I can't see them, the search engines can't either. Am I missing something here?Dane, the gallery is public... the keywords are there.. now go do the rest of all my tips and allow time for them to work. You can't rush teh g00gl3 :D

[drdane]

Dane, the gallery is public... the keywords are there.. now go do the rest of all my tips and allow time for them to work. You can't rush teh g00gl3 :D

Andy

I know this is a long term project, and do not expect quickie results (hope maybe, but not expect :D). I am trying to lay a good foundation by getting the technical ducks in a row, and making sure it actually works (the page shows up in a search). Google has indexed my site, and will bring me right to a specific photo if I search for the file name in the description, but I'm not having much success by trying this with keywords - hence my concern about the process.

So I want to make sure that the keywords I'm posting are actually visible to the search engines. In "Search Eng Optimization for Dummies," Kent suggests using the View>Page Source (Ctrl+U) in the browser to view the codes and content of a page - saying that the keywords should be listed there, as text on the page.

Do you know of another way to ascertain that, other than running a search? How are you seeing that the keywords are visible to the SE's, other than the fact that they are visible on the page?

Regarding the heading that shows up in a google search, I'd still like to know why your heading is different from mine, because I much prefer the way yours is worded. If you don't have an answer for that one, would you be willing to recruit someone else to answer it?

As you've probably gathered, I'm a detail kind of guy. It seems you are more of a big picture person. I am sorry to take a lot of your time asking for details, but this is how I'm learning. Thanks for taking the time to fill in some blanks for me.

Thanks!