Meta Tags

namasteaz · #1 07-02-2010, 10:23 PM

Can Meta Tags be Copyrighted ?

Thanks in advance !

Kevin Potts · #2 08-02-2010, 10:20 AM

A very arguable area requiring lawyers who will no doubt still argue and charge you an arm and a leg.

Check out this forum post:

Are meta tags copyrighted?

Kevin

Joshua Collins · #3 08-02-2010, 03:11 PM

I ran across something on Harvard's website which might be of some interest to you. Granted, it is not cut in stone, but it does have some solid points of arguments:

Intellectual Property in Cyberspace

For instance:

Quote:

Originally Posted by http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/property00/metatags/main.html

Meta tag misuse, the third component of this module, may generate less obvious but equally serious problems. Web sites are written in the HTML language. This language is nothing more than a list of "tags" that can be used to format and arrange text, images, and other multimedia files. "Meta tags" are tags that have no visible effect on the Web page. Instead, they exist in the source code for a Web page to assist search engines in ascertaining the content of the page. Problems arise when companies include in their own Web sites meta tags containing the names or descriptions of other companies. Suppose, for example, that Coca Cola used the keyword "Pepsi" in its meta tags. Web surfers who used search engines to obtain information about "Pepsi" would then be directed to Coca Cola's Web site. (An illustration of how meta tags work can be found by clicking here. As an example of a site that uses trademarked words in its meta tags, see http://macos.about.com. When you visit that site, select "Page Source" under the "View" menu in your browser.)

namasteaz · #4 08-02-2010, 04:38 PM

Thanks for the informative links.

I appreciate it very much

namasteaz · #5 08-02-2010, 04:43 PM

I also notice that many websites now have their meta tags encrypted.

Is this easy to do ? And Can it cause problems with the search engines not being able to read your meta tags ?

Thanks

Joshua Collins · #6 08-02-2010, 04:56 PM

I have not seen a case where just the meta tag was encrypted... I have seen it where the entire source code was encrypted, and that is not that common anymore.

The most common forum of encryption still in use in sites today is done on the scripting behind the HTML.

Bots see exactly what you see when you look at the source... So, yes it will have an adverse effect on bots to read the jargon... unless they know how to unencrypt your source AND that is why it is encrypted in the first place (from wandering eyes that wish to view the source and potentially copy the design, scripts, or content).

namasteaz · #7 08-02-2010, 10:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joshua Collins

I have not seen a case where just the meta tag was encrypted... I have seen it where the entire source code was encrypted, and that is not that common anymore.

The most common forum of encryption still in use in sites today is done on the scripting behind the HTML.

Bots see exactly what you see when you look at the source... So, yes it will have an adverse effect on bots to read the jargon... unless they know how to unencrypt your source AND that is why it is encrypted in the first place (from wandering eyes that wish to view the source and potentially copy the design, scripts, or content).

Thanks for the post... I kinda figured that it would have an effect on the bots that's why I have never attempted to encrypt my website because my instincts were telling it would not be good for the bots.

Kevin Potts · #8 09-02-2010, 08:18 AM

Personally I wouldn't bother with the whole copyright and encryption strategy.

Focus on attracting customers, creating and delivering value and you will have happy customers and money until the "Cows come home" as we say here in the UK

Kevin

Joshua Collins · #9 09-02-2010, 03:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin Potts

until the "Cows come home" as we say here in the UK

Finally! A saying that both you Brits have and us Yankees have

namasteaz · #10 10-02-2010, 02:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin Potts

Personally I wouldn't bother with the whole copyright and encryption strategy.

Focus on attracting customers, creating and delivering value and you will have happy customers and money until the "Cows come home" as we say here in the UK

Kevin

Yes I agree that is the best thing to focus on.... And we have that saying here in Arizona too... "Cows come home"....

josaphlewis · #11 15-07-2010, 09:51 AM

The Meta tag in html is not a necessary tag when you're generating your web pages; many pages don't utilize the tag at all as well as I must admit that I have not used it on my home page, although I put it into this page by way of expression.

Eric Graudins · #12 15-07-2010, 11:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by josaphlewis

The Meta tag in html is not a necessary tag when you're generating your web pages; many pages don't utilize the tag at all

Would you like to explain that again?
Because what you have said is 100% wrong.

regards,
Eric G.

Eric Graudins · #13 17-07-2010, 07:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by saviourdlima

Meta tags are of no use features and not treated as useful by Google Search Engine. In fact, Google gives very less significance to On-page optimization at the present time. Only one thing is must - keep your main keyword in your site's title.

Saviourdlima.
You too are giving VERY WRONG ADVICE.
Please don't don't reply to threads if you don't know what you are talking about.

You have said that Metatags are of no use.
Then you say that you must keep your keyword in your site's title.

You obviously don't know that the title of a page IS a metatag.

OK, here's a brief rundown of 3 of the most common metatags:

title:
For SEO purposes, it is recommended that your keywords appear in the title metatag

description:
you should put a short description of the page which contains keywords for that page. The description is the short piece of text that appears under the title when the page is returned in a Google search. The content shoiuld make people want to click through to your page.

keywords:
This meta tag is ignored by google, because of blatant misuse.
However, the keyword meta tag is still used by some other search engines.

Here's a discussion about meta tags.
META Tags Tips: Metadata Elements

regards,
Eric g.

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