Meta Tags : What They Are and How to Use Them for SEO

What is Meta Tags

Meta tags are HTML tags used to provide information about a web page. It gives some additional details on the website to search engines. It helps increase the appearance of your page on search result pages. Meta tags have multifold benefits, which are important in search engine optimization.

Title tags are crucial for search engine optimization along with meta tags. Optimized meta descriptions and title tags improve website ranking on search engines. Title tags are at the top, while meta descriptions summarize page content. These tags are altogether helpful in improving traffic on your website and page optimization for the search engine result pages.

You will learn about meta tags, their usefulness, and their role in optimization. You will also get to know about the several types of meta tags. In the next section, let’s understand the definition of meta tags.

What are meta tags?

Meta tags are the set of codes that are used in the HTML on the website page. It provides additional details about the page to search engines, like the short description, targeted keyword, and title of the content on the page.

An example of a meta tag code is:

<meta name = “description” content = meta tag This is the text that will appear on Google search engine result pages:

It will provide a brief description of your content, and a short meta tag will attract visitors to go through your website through a link. Meta tags assist search engines in getting information about your content.

Why use meta tags?

Meta tags are necessary for search engine optimization. You can use meta tags to increase your website’s appearance on search engine result pages.

Four non-avoidable reasons to use meta tags are: 

• Provides details about the page content to search engines: Meta tags are used for providing the details about your page content in summarizing form. For example, they provide information like keywords of the content and the language used in the content that increases the chance of getting indexed by search engines.
• Work on the representation of a page in search results: Meta tags help represent the content page through the concise description, page title, featured image, etc., in the search results. It can help increase your CTR.
• Page sharing on social media handles: Meta tags help control the representation of pages when shared on social media platforms and include keywords, titles, images, etc. And this can increase the appearance of your website page on social media handles.
• Assist search engines in avoiding indexing some pages: Meta tags help avoid indexing under-construction pages by search engines. It helps ensure the privacy of your website.

Why are Meta Tags important for SEO?

Using meta tags can boost your website’s visibility on search engine result pages. It is important because it provides information to search engines about your web page, increasing your chance to get a high rank. This tag can better function with other strategies like qualitative content, on-page optimization, etc.

Why do meta tags matter?

Meta tags are important in increasing your web page visibility on search engine pages, and they are also helpful in increasing the click-through rate of your web page link.

Here is a summary of how meta tags can help you:

• Increase your page’s appearance on search engines: Meta tags help provide information about your web page, like its keywords, to search engines that increase your page appearance on search engine result pages.
• Expand the CTR of your page link on search engines: Meta tags and title tags help improve the click-through rate on search result pages by summarizing descriptions and effective keywords related to the content.
• Control the presentation of your website on social media platforms: Meta tags help control the representation of your web page while sharing it on social media. Using meta tags, your website can appear at the top of social media.
• Helpful in preventing search engines from indexing some pages: Meta tags help prevent search engines from indexing the website page that is under construction.

How many types of meta tags are there?

Various types of meta tags exist, some of which are:

• Title tags: This tag names your page in the search engine.
• Meta-name rating tag: This tag specifies the content related to adults.
• Robots Meta Tag: The tag determines whether a page is indexed.
• Copyright meta tag: This tag is used by the owner of the right to the HTML source code.
• Date meta tag: This tag indicates the date of the content.
• Meta description: This tag briefly describes your page’s content.
• Viewport meta tag: This tag indicates that a web page will be rendered on mobile.
• Meta refresh tag: This tag is used to redirect users to a new URL; instead of using this tag, it is advisable to use a 301 redirect.
• No follow: It is a sponsored meta tag related to an outbound link.
• Author meta tag: This tag names the web page’s author.
• Meta charset tag: This tag defines the character encoding of a web page.
• Twitter card meta tag and open graph meta tag: tags that are used while sharing content on social media platforms
• Language meta tag: This tag reflects the language used in page content.
• No site link search box meta tag: This tag doesn’t show the site link search box.
• No translate meta tag: This tag helps direct Google not to use an automatically generated translation.

Meta tags and various other factors like quality of content, keywords, backlinks, etc., can affect search engine ranking. You can only get the desired results by following meta tags.

How do you know about meta tags?

You can find various resources on online platforms that can assist you in knowing about meta tags.

Which type of meta tag can affect search engine marketing?

Different types of tags have other impacts on search engine marketing. The effects of meta tags are:

• Title tag: The title tag is a significant factor for search engine optimization. It appears at the top of the search result pages. Using a concise tag related to your page content would be best.
• Meta description: The meta description gives an idea about your page’s content and is visible below the title tag. The meta description should be short in length, related to the content, and around 150 characters.
• Robots meta tag: Control search engine indexing with the robots meta tag. Use it to prevent indexing of under-construction pages.
• Open graph meta tag: Open graph meta tags help control the representation of your page on social media platforms. For example, this tag can be used for images, descriptions, etc., while sharing posts on social media.
• Twitter card meta tag: TheTwitter card meta tag is helpful to control the presentation of your page on your Twitter handle.
• Schema markup: Schema markup helps provide your web page information to the search engine. It helps improve your website’s ranking on search engine result pages.

These meta tags can help your page get a high rank and improve its appearance on search engine result pages. These tags positively affect search engine marketing as well.

How do I use meta tags for search engine optimization and Search Engine Marketing?

Meta tags are helpful for pages to improve their appearance and ranking on search engines. You can increase the CTR of your page link through meta tags.

The ways to use meta tags for search engine optimization are:

• Using appropriate keywords related to your content in title tags and descriptions
• Use a creative description.
• Use of the Twitter card meta tag to increase the visibility of a website through Twitter
• Use of the robot meta tag to avoid the indexing of construction pages by search engines
• Use of open graph meta tags for increasing the visibility of pages on social media platforms
• Use of canonical URL meta tags to avoid issues like duplicate content
• Use of schema markup for including the data on your website
• Using author meta tags to develop the reliability of your business website