If you talk to any of the big guys in the SEO industry, the claim to be above all the nitty gritty SEO stuff such as META Tags, META Descriptions, and W3C code validation. Not all of them do, but a few of these guys tend to just put emphasis on content and content alone.

I have worked in the SEO industry for more than 4 years now, and I can tell you that content is very important, but it’s not everything when it comes to getting ranked high on the SERPs. Everybody has heard the whole “content is king” rant. It’s true. Creating magnetic content on a consistent basis can guarantee you a top spot on major search engine results pages. It’s also true that not everyone can do that. If I were to guess, less than 1% of sites on the web actually offer anything that adds overall value to the web. Out of those 1% sites, only a handful of them are actually real difference makers (e.g. Problogger).

So if you can’t create magnetic content on a consistent basis and you are goning against the other 99% of the web, you should anything and everything that COULD make a difference. Are META tags discounted by some engines? That’s true. Should you ignore them? At your own peril.

If you look at SEO best practices, you can always find a logic behind optimization techniques. For instance, providing ALT tags for images is a usability must. Adding a sitemap could be helpful for someone who is lost on your site and looking for a specific section on your site. Adding these pieces to your site always adds some value, in addition to SEO ranking benefits. So the next time a big shot tells you that you shouldn’t “waste” your time with these things, just ignore!