Meta tags (or Meta Tags) are an essential element for the organic SEO of your website. They allow search engines to understand the key information about your site and display it in search results.
In this article, we will explore the most important Meta tags for SEO and discover how to use them effectively to enhance your rankings on search engine results pages (SERP).
Meta Tags: Definition and Function
Meta tags are hidden information within the HTML code of a webpage that provide details about the page to search engines. They are inserted in the header of the webpage and are not visible on the page itself. Meta tags are vital for SEO as they help search engines quickly understand the content of your webpage and display it appropriately in the search results.
Essential Meta Tags
The most common Meta tags include the Title, the Meta description, and the Robots tags. The Title defines the title of your webpage that appears in search results, while the Meta description provides a brief overview of your page that also appears in search results. The Robots tags allow you to control the indexing of your page by search engines.
It is crucial to understand Meta tags and how to use them correctly to improve your website's SEO. By using Meta tags effectively, you can increase your website's visibility in search results, attract more qualified traffic, and enhance user experience.
The List of Meta Tags
Meta Title Tag
The Title, or Meta Title tag, is one of the most important Meta tags for SEO. It defines the title of your webpage that appears in search results. It's important to choose a catchy title that concisely describes the content of your page. It is recommended to limit the character count to 55 to ensure that the title is complete and readable in search results.
Meta Description Tag
The Meta description, or Meta Description tag, is another crucial Meta tag for SEO. It provides a brief description of your webpage that appears in search results. This description should be informative and engaging to encourage users to click on your link. It is recommended to limit the length of the description to 160 characters to ensure optimal readability in search results.
Meta Keywords Tag (obsolete)
The Meta Keywords tag was once used to provide a list of keywords describing the content of your webpage. However, this tag has become obsolete as many webmasters abused this feature by using an excessive list of keywords to manipulate search engines. Modern search engines no longer consider the Meta Keywords tag in their ranking algorithms.
Meta Robots Tag
The Robots tag, also known as the Meta Robots tag, allows you to control the indexing of your webpage by search engines. You can use this tag to prevent search engines from indexing certain pages of your website, such as duplicate content pages or testing pages. There are several values for this tag, such as "index" to allow indexing or "noindex" to prevent indexing.
Link Rel Canonical Tag
The Link Rel Canonical tag is used to indicate to search engines the preferred version of a webpage with similar URLs or duplicate content. This tag helps prevent content duplication and improves your website's ranking. You can use this tag to inform search engines that you prefer the original version of your webpage to be indexed.
Meta Viewport Tag
The Meta Viewport tag is used to define the display width of your website on mobile devices. This tag is important for mobile SEO, as it helps control how your website displays on mobile devices and can enhance user experience. It is recommended to use the value "width=device-width" so that your website automatically adjusts to the user's screen width.
Meta Refresh Tag (obsolete)
The Meta Refresh tag was once used to automatically redirect users to another webpage after a certain time. However, this tag has become obsolete and is no longer recommended for SEO as it can be seen as a manipulative practice by search engines and may harm your ranking. It is better to use HTTP redirects (301 or 302) to redirect users to another page.
Meta Property Tag for Social Media
Meta Property tags are used to add additional metadata to your website for social media. They allow you to control how your website appears on social media when shared. For instance, the "og:title" tag defines the title of your webpage for social media, while the "og:description" tag defines the description of your webpage for social media. It is important to use these tags correctly to improve your website's visibility on social media and attract more traffic. This is also why it is essential to set up Open Graph Images.
Meta Charset Tag
The Meta Charset tag is an important element for the proper rendering of characters on your webpage. It enables browsers to understand how to display characters on your page by specifying the character encoding used.
This tag is often included in the header of your HTML page and looks like this:
<!-- fs-richtext-ignore --><meta charset="UTF-8">
The UTF-8 character encoding is generally the most used and compatible with most browsers, so it is highly recommended to use UTF-8 for your Meta Charset tag.
Meta Author Tag (obsolete)
The Meta Author tag helps identify the author of the content on your webpage. This information can be useful for search engines, content aggregators, and readers who wish to know more about the author of the content.
The Meta Author tag looks like this:
<!-- fs-richtext-ignore --><meta name="author" content="John Doe">
Google now recommends using rel=author instead.
Meta Generator Tag
The Meta Generator tag allows you to identify the software used to generate the webpage. This information can be useful for developers and website administrators who wish to learn more about the technology used to generate the site.
The Meta Generator tag looks like this:
<!-- fs-richtext-ignore --><meta name="generator" content="WordPress 5.7">
It is optional to include the Meta Generator tag on your website, but it can be helpful to provide information about the technology used to generate your site.
Meta Language Tag
The Meta Language tag is used to define the language of your webpage. This information is important for search engines to understand the language of your content and thus provide relevant search results to users.
The Meta Language tag looks like this:
<!-- fs-richtext-ignore --><meta name="language" content="fr-FR">
Meta Site Verification Tag
The Meta Site Verification tag is used to verify the ownership of a website with search engines such as Google, Bing, etc. This step is necessary to use performance tracking tools, competitor tracking tools, and search engine optimization tools.
The Meta Site Verification tag looks like this:
<!-- fs-richtext-ignore --><meta name="google-site-verification" content="abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890">
The value contained in the Meta Site Verification tag will depend on the search engine you wish to verify. It’s important to follow the instructions provided by the search engine to correctly include the Meta Site Verification tag on your website. You can also validate your ownership for Google Search Console.
In conclusion, Meta tags play a crucial role in optimizing your website for search engines. They provide key information about the content and structure of your website, as well as how you want your pages displayed in search results.
It’s essential to understand each Meta tag and use them correctly to maximize the effectiveness of your SEO strategy. From the Meta Title tag to the Meta Site Verification tag, every element impacts how your website is perceived and ranked by search engines.
By including these Meta tags on all pages of your website, you can improve your search ranking, increase your website’s visibility, and ultimately attract more qualified traffic to your website.
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