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Meta tags are an essential aspect of HTML coding that many website owners overlook. In this guide, we'll explore what meta tags are, how they work, and why they're important for optimizing your website's performance in search engines.
When building a website, there is a lot to consider: the design, the content, the functionality, and more. But there's one element often overlooked, even though it's crucial for both users and search engines: meta tags.
So, What Exactly Are Meta Tags?
Simply put, they are snippets of code that provide information about a web page. The information is not visible on the page itself; it is included inside the website's HTML code for browsers and search engines to read.
The table below is populated with tags, their descriptions, and tag codes:
- | Tag | Description | Tag Code |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Author | Tells people who wrote the page. |
<meta name="author" content="name">| | Cache-control | Tells browsers how long they can keep a copy of the page in their memory. |<meta http-equiv="cache-control" content="max-age">| | Content-language | Tells people what language the page is written in. |<html lang="language-code">| | Content-type | Tells browsers what type of data the page is. |<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">| | Copyright | Tells people who own the rights to the page. |<meta name="copyright" content="owner">| | Date | Tells people when the page was last updated. |<meta name="date" content="YYYY-MM-DD">| | Description | Tells people what the page is about. |<meta name="description" content="description">| | Disallow | Tells search engines not to index a page. |User-agent: * Disallow: /| | Footnote | Tells people extra information about the page. |<aside class="footnote">| | Generator | Tells people what software was used to create the page. |<meta name="generator" content="generator">| | Keywords | Tells search engines what words are important on the page. |<meta name="keywords" content="keywords">| | Language | Tells people what language the page is written in. |<html lang="language-code">| | Open graph | Tells social media websites what information to show when someone shares the page. |<meta property="og:title" content="title">| | Preview-image | Tells social media websites what image to show when someone shares the page. |<meta property="og:image" content="image-url">| | Rating | Tells people what rating the page has. |<meta name="rating" content="rating">| | Robots | Tells search engines how to crawl and index the page. |<meta name="robots" content="index,follow">| | Scheme | Tells people what type of URL the page is. |<meta name="scheme" content="url-scheme">| | Snippet | Tells search engines what information to show in the search results. |<meta name="description" content="snippet">| | Stylesheet | Tells browsers what stylesheet to use to style the page. |<link rel="stylesheet" href="stylesheet-url">| | Title | Tells people what the title of the page is. |<title>title</title>| | Translate | Tells people if the page can be translated into other languages. |<meta name="google" content="notranslate">| | Viewport | Tells browsers how to size the page on a mobile device. |<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">| | | | | | | | |
Why Do Meta Tags Matter?
Meta tags can help improve the user experience by providing more information about a page's content. For example, a clear and descriptive title tag can help users understand what they'll find on the page before clicking.
But perhaps more importantly, meta tags can also impact a website's search engine rankings by including relevant keywords and a descriptive title and description tag. For example, a website can increase its visibility in search results and attract more traffic.
Of course, it's important to use meta tags responsibly and not try to manipulate search engine rankings with them. But when used properly, they can be a valuable tool for users and website owners.
Meta tags may be small snippets of code, but they can impact a website's performance. By using the appropriate meta tags, businesses can improve the user experience on their website, attract more traffic, and ultimately achieve their online goals.
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