Does Fast know something we don't?

Scratching my head.

[rencke]

Here is a part of the huge head section of Fast's corporate home page [fast.no].

<meta name="description" content="Enabling Information on Demand">

<meta name="keywords" content="Search, software, video, image, compression, web, internet, information, company, Norway, USA, technology, Data , Fast , AllTheWeb, Engine, wireless, net, transfer, scaleable, wired, solutions, corporate, mp3, ftp, dell, Lycos, Scandinavia, Safe , Index, Alert, Intranet, Extranet, LAN, WAN, WAP, Filter, FirstPage, directory, Multimedia, media, First Page, Network, speed, license, partner, NASDAQ, US, American, Silicon Valley, Revolution, Infrastructure, High Tech, Research and Development, R&D, Ph.D., jobs, engineers, engineering, server, free BSD, Linux, apache, Exodus, center, back bone, Super Highway, PHP, Jobs, vacancies, opportunities, LookSmart, phd. UK Media, Java, UNIX, Project Managers, investor relations, investment, English, parallel, processing, query, queries">

<title> Welcome to Fast Search & Transfer </title>

Seems that they are targeting 90+ keywords - separated by commas, should this be seen as the final word?

The site ranks well for "Fast" on their own engine [alltheweb.com], and even better on Google [google.com] so I guess there must be something in this, or....?

[msgraph]

...or they passed their web site off to one of those companies that claim keyword meta tags are the way to go.

But I think you are right, if it is ok for them to do it then it must be ok for us to do it on the sites we submit to them.

Maybe some of those guys from FAST that hang out here from time to time can post some good info.

[agerhart]

I just checked Google for a keyword search on "enalbing information on demand" and that page didn't show up, but a different one for Fast did........one that didn't even use keywords. This page had no keywords and a short description in the metas.

Google [google.com]

Do you really think that they switched back to the days when the weight was placed on the metas, and the more the better?

Would be a change of pace to say the least.

- A Gerhart

[lharpf]

Rencke: "The site ranks well for "Fast" on their own engine, and even better on Google so I guess there must be something in this, or....?"

As Google doesn't use META keywords, what you're seeing is the heavy emphasis on link popularity at play. Try "Microsoft", "Netscape", "Altavista" or "Google" for example, they all bring up the company or the search engine you search for. Meta tags have nothing to do with it, FAST just has plenty of people that link to them using the word "FAST" in the link text.

As to what comes to FAST ranking highly at FAST, I don't really know their algorithm well enough to offer an explanation, but I'm inclined to say that its something other than that META tag. Perhaps someone else who does will give us a few clues?

I don't really know why they have such a massive META tag in there. I don't think it is of any benefit to them, on the contrary. If I were working at FAST, I'd get rid of most of the words.

By the way, did I just happen to answer a rhetorical question?

[rencke]

>did I just happen to answer a rhetorical question?

Well.... I figured Google was because of link pop, and as to Fast itself I guess their webmaster must have a really chummy relationship with whoever has control over rankings. Still, 90+ keywords is simply mindboggling. And, although the question was indeed partly rhetorical, one part of it remains: Why?

[lharpf]

Rencke: "And, although the question was indeed partly rhetorical"

Hehe, I knew it :). Oh well, I guess I should have looked at your post count before I replied to the thing.

Rencke: "one part of it remains: Why?"

That's indeed a good question. Their description tag is minimalistic, which creates quite a contrast with that huge keywords tag. My best bet is that the person who coded the HTML just happened to slap on the tags as a part of the coding process for no other reason than to be able to claim that the page is "ready to be submitted to search engines" or something.

[rencke]

>...or they passed their web site off to one of those companies that claim keyword meta tags are the way to go.

Perhaps msgraph might be on the right track here. Could they simply have left the whole job for the new corporate site to some local design agency, confident that no SEO would ever have to be applied? And someone at the design agency had read a 1995 book on meta tags? And the egg-heads in R&D are laughing their heads off at a) the code of the new site and b) this discussion.

[Woz]

or could it be that, like most of us here no doubt, they are just too busy doing stuff for other people to get around to fixing up their own stuff?

Onya
Woz

[rencke]

Nice try Woz, but having reflected some more on this mystery, a suspicion is beginning to form in my mind. Quite a number of Fast staffers are registered members, reading and writing here at WebmasterWorld. Suppose this is how it happened (names changed to protect the possibly guilty):

(Staff cafeteria at Fast Headquarters)

Olav Tryggvason: Have you guys checked out WebmasterWorld recently? They have a whole forum about us.
Harald Hårfager: Yeah, we're keeping them busy scratching their heads, aren't we?
Sigurd Slemme: Hey, let's give them something to really talk about.
Olav Tryggvason: What have you got in mind?
Sigurd Slemme: Let's stick 90+ keywords into the head of our new corporate site. They'll be climbing the walls.
Inge Krogrygg: Great idea. And change the meta description to something really obscure, without keywords.
Sigrid Håkonsdotter: We could start the title with the word "Welcome". That'll drive them nuts.
Olav Tryggvason: I think we're on to something here. This could make the post count in the Fast forum surpass Google's.
Harald Hårdråde (entering): OK, coffee break is over. Can't sit here all day if we're going to beat Google.

Just a theory.

[Mike_Mackin]

And it seems to have worked on us :)

[Woz]

Veeeery Funny rencke, Veeeery Funny!

[georged]

rencke:
Harald Hardrade? Surely he should be out beating Anglo-saxons, not Google? :)

[rencke]

Aaaah... an educated man, georged. I didn't think any but the Norwegians themselves would notice.
(The names above are Norwegian kings from the 10th to 12th century, some of whom were given nicknames at the time: Hårdråde=hard rule, Slemme=bad or evil, Hårfager=fair haired, and Krokrygg=hunchback)

[Brett_Tabke]

Back up to the topic of the original post, search engine optimization is a learned skill.

I go back to that recent interview with a search engine admin who said they read forums just to learn how it is done for their own sites.

I don't wear to many badges of honor, but when I heard him say that, my mouth dropped open. These are guys who create algo's for a living and they read here to learn about SEO?
I think that says a great deal about us and the black art nature of our profession.

Case-in-point, the new Fast homepage. Most of us here instantly saw it for what it was. Even the people who create pages for se's don't necc know everything about the systems.

[Eric_Jarvis]

it doesn't sound so odd to me Brett...we are all in the same business, delivering information to web users...we might have different priorities in some ways, but it boils down to how do you get pertinent info to the user

we don't get anywhere by simply getting hits on pages...in the long term we get paid if we can get paying customers onto our clients' web sites...this suits the SEs too...they want to deliver those paying customers

so, barring those SEOs who are simply after a quick buck by chasing random hits and the SEs that are simply a platform for banner ads, we are all trying to make the same thing happen

[rencke]

The grapevine grows thick in Scandinavia and through that I just heard that msgraph, Woz and yours truly were right about the strange code. Fast's snazzy new corporate site is an outside job, because Fast's tecchies are not into web design. I have no confirmation that the design people used a 1995 meta tags handbook, but it seems very likely.

I was wrong about one thing: The Fast R&D eggheads are not laughing. They do not find the home page code amusing at all. And with this, I shall also reluctantly have to abandon my great staff cantine conspiracy theory - which, rumour has it, caused some merriment at Fast HQ.

So:
1. Do not stick 90+ keywords into your meta tags.
2. Do not fill your descriptions with fluff.
3. Do not start titles with "Welcome".