In SEO, learning how to use HTML tags is one of the initial steps. You can’t see them, but they can make a huge difference in your search engine ranks — or, conversely, they can be one of the reasons your rankings have decreased.
Where do I find out about HTML tags?
We may tell search engines more about our material by using HTML tags. To draw attention to certain sections of text, provide context for visuals, and teach search engine crawlers on how to interpret our content, we can utilize HTML tags.
We also employ HTML tags to manipulate the rankings of our pages. Using the right tags, we may upgrade simple search results to informative rich results, and even make them the highlighted results.
And as the sophistication of our search snippets grows, they are able to achieve higher places in search engine results pages (SERPs) and draw in more visitors.
What role do HTML tags have in modern SEO?
Website SEO should always include making sure the HTML tags are taken care of. Some people argue that modern search engines are too sophisticated for HTML tags.
People argue that we don’t need to make our content more accessible to search engines. Well, that’s obviously not the whole truth. To begin, there is still room for improvement in artificial intelligence’s content-understanding capabilities.
We still need HTML tags to guarantee that all of our text is translated correctly, as there is a considerable room for error. Second, the purpose of HTML tags extends beyond facilitating indexing by search engines.
Crawling regulations are enforced, and the user experience is improved; duplicate content concerns are fixed; beautiful search snippets are made; and so on.
1. Title Tag
The title tag is an HTML code element that enables you to give a website a title. This title can be found in the browser’s title bar as well as the search engine results pages (SERP).
It is crucial to incorporate and optimize your website’s title tags, as they play a significant role in organic ranking.
SEO significance
Historically, title tags were of paramount significance to search engines. Google would examine the page’s title to determine whether it is pertinent to a search query, as the title indicates the page’s primary topic.
Naturally, SEO professionals began stuffing title tags with as many keywords as possible in an effort to make pages pertinent for multiple queries. As a result, Google began penalizing keyword cramming and other obsolete
SEO techniques, resulting in the loss of search rankings for pages with spammy titles. As Google has shifted to semantic search, the value of a title tag that has been optimized has decreased even further.
In fact, Google has become so adept at comprehending our web pages that it rewrites our titles on occasion. Yes, it is possible for Google to display a different title in search engine results than the one you specified for your page. Although it occurs infrequently, it occurs when:
The title is keyword-stuffed.
Google may alter a page’s title if it contains high-quality content. No need to throw away high-quality content simply because you made the error of including too many keywords in your title.
The title does not match a search query
Google may choose your page for a specific query even if the title does not correspond to the query. In this situation, the title may occasionally be rewritten for SERP. Clearly, you cannot compose a title that matches all potential queries. Consider revising it if you notice that Google rewrites your title for high-volume queries.
The title is too long or too short.
Google affirmed it implemented the Page Title Update in 2021. If a title was too brief, too long, or contained certain punctuation marks, such as a semicolon, the algorithms began to substitute it with something else. For instance, if a title was too long, the search engine would instead use H1 headings. If it was too brief, Google appended the company’s brand name.
There are some alternative titles
Facebook and Twitter have their own tags in the head> section of your page, so if you use the alternative titles for these social networks instead of your title tag, Google may also use them.
Need to Read: How Are Title Tags Used? How Do They Help SEO?
Methods for Improving Title Tags
In accordance with the recommendations and best practices laid out by Google.
Title length
There is a character count limit on Google’s search engine results pages for titles. This restriction is not fixed and varies with the size of your display.
Titles with fewer than 60 characters will appear properly on most displays. Google will automatically shorten your title to fit every device.
A shorter title may not always be a negative thing. In some cases, it may even improve the CTR. Users’ interest is piqued by truncated titles, and they are more likely to click through to the website.
If a section of your title that is still visible is irrelevant to the inquiry, then a reduced title could be problematic. Therefore, it is not essential that your complete title be displayed; but, it is essential that the portion that is displayed contain your primary keyword.
Title keywords
Still, it’s crucial to include relevant keywords in the title, as this is how readers will understand the value of your website.
However, Google will demote your website or alter your title to make it less spammy if you include too many keywords.
Current recommendations include including only one keyword or short keyword phrase per title and filling in the remainder with marketing jargon.
Keep in mind that having only one target keyword in the title tag is pretty enough for a better ranking when crafting keyword-optimized title tags.
Title as a Brand
You should incorporate your brand name if it is well-known. Users are more inclined to select a well-known result when skimming the list of options.
Include it in the headline all you want, but if your brand isn’t already well-known, it won’t do you any good. But it could help you establish your brand, so you might start reaping the rewards later.
5 Guidelines for Writing Title Tags
- Write unique titles for every page.
- Keep track of the length.
- Use your target keyword.
- Describe the content of the page.
- Summary the contents of the page.
2. Meta description tag
A meta description tag usually tells people what a page is about in a short, relevant way that stimulates their interest. They are like a sales pitch that makes the user think that the page is exactly what they need.
SEO significance
The meta description does the same thing as the title. It tells people a little more about your page and helps them decide if they want to go there or not. Meta description is not a straight ranking factor, but it can still help your search success.
If your meta description is relevant and interesting, more people will click on your snippet, and Google might finally think about giving you a higher ranking. But, just like with names, Google can change your meta description if it wants to.
In fact, this happens a lot. Most of the meta titles you see in SERP were written by Google, not the owners of the websites. John Mueller said that meta descriptions are often changed to match even the smallest change in a user’s search.
So, Google really is helping you out. It gives different people different meta descriptions and makes your search snippets more useful.
Need to Read: Meta Tags – How Google Meta Tags Impact SEO
How to improve
Even though Google often changes meta descriptions, SERP still shows a fair number of descriptions that were written by the site owner.
Don’t leave it up to chance, and don’t count on Google to write your meta description for you, because it might not.
And if it doesn’t, you’re left with a snippet that isn’t well optimized and doesn’t do well in search. Last but not least, your organic click-through rate is likely to go up if your meta description is well-written and interesting.
Meta description length
There is no hard and fast rule about how long the meta description can be, but Google usually only shows the first 160 characters.
The same advice applies as with the title tag: make it as long as you want, but put your keywords and other important information near the beginning.
Keywords for meta-descriptions
Since there is more real estate in the meta description, using multiple keywords is acceptable. In order to get the most out of your title, it is recommended that you use different iterations of the term.
It is possible to use more than two or three keywords in the description, but doing so is not advised. Don’t force it; if a keyword doesn’t naturally fit, don’t use it.
No quotation allowed on meta-descriptions
If you use two quotation marks in your meta description’s HTML, the search engine will truncate the text at the quote mark. Consequently, you should avoid using any alphabetic or numeric characters in your meta descriptions.
3. Heading Tags
When separating headings and subheadings on a webpage, header tags (also known as heading tags) are typically employed. From H1 to H6, these tags represent a hierarchy of increasing significance, with H1 representing the title. Header tags enhance a page’s SEO and readability.
Adding a subheading to your content enhances readability and, in turn, search engine results. SEO-friendly keywords can be found in the subheadings of your content. Most readers don’t realize that headings are given more consideration than body material. There shouldn’t be a keyword in every subheading, but there should be a couple.
SEO significance
The primary goal of headers was to enhance the reading experience. Headings let readers quickly scan the page for key information, skip over filler, and zero in on the meat of the piece.
Headings have taken on a more complex role in modern writing. With passage indexing, Google can pull specific content from your page and utilize it as its own search result.
If your headings are search engine optimized, each of them has the potential to appear on its own in the search engine results. It’s much the same as having nested pages.
The following are some guidelines for writing effective headings:
Rank order of headings
The only allowed H1 heading on a page is the page’s title. However, this is different from the title tag. While the H1 header will appear at the top of your content, the title tag will only appear in search engine results.
The H1 heading can be longer than the title tag because there is no character limit on it. In addition, you can utilize H2 headings to divide your work into chapters. Then, use H3 headings to divide your chapters into subsections.
You can take the same reasoning all the way to H6, albeit doing so is usually not advised.
Keywords in headings
Keep in mind that each of your headings has the potential to become its own search result. Each heading must be written as though it were a page title for this to work.
You should use a keyword that is appropriate for the heading’s location on the page and the language it should contain.
Parallel syntax
Your information will have more impact and clarity if you structure it in a parallel fashion. More emphasis on parallelism is a good strategy for improving search engine optimization and advertising material.
Google may use your headings to create a list-style highlighted snippet. Your list snippet will be disqualified if the heads don’t use parallel syntax.
In what way should headings be organized?
- Use concise, descriptive headings.
- Titles should begin with relevant keywords.
- Arrange the various heading levels sensibly.
- Maintain coherence by employing a parallel framework.
- Make sure to format each level of headings differently.
- Use sentence case for headlines and avoid unnecessary punctuation.
4. Alt attribute
Alt text, often known as an alt attribute, is a type of alternative text. It’s a brief description of the image that captures its essence exactly.
This text will not be displayed in the browser window. When an image is inaccessible for whatever reason, the alt text is displayed instead. The text accompanying an image should provide sufficient context and detail so that the viewer can understand the image’s meaning.
<img src="url" alt="Your image description goes here">SEO significance
When optimizing images, alt text is crucial. By providing alternate text in the event that an image cannot be loaded or by assisting screen readers in conveying visuals, you improve accessibility for both humans and search engines.
The biggest advantage is that your photographs will rank higher in image searches if you use well-optimized alt texts. Even though AI has improved greatly at understanding photos, the gap can still be closed with a well-written description.
Avoid having nonexistent alt tags.
Checking for missing alt texts is the first step in making the most of this additional chance to improve search engine rankings through picture optimization.
Attention on images
Optimising each of a thousand photos is not necessary. Pay more attention to those that actually say something, rather than just looking at pretty pictures.
Examples of helpful visuals are photos of your products, screenshots of your business procedures, your logo, infographics, schematics, etc.
Optimize your alt attributes with search terms.
Use your goal keywords in alt texts as well. And, as always, refrain from overusing them. Create a description that places your information in context, and include a keyword whenever possible.
Images that have been optimized for keywords will perform extremely well with the other elements that search engines use to determine page rankings.
5. Open Graph tags
When a URL is posted on social media, it can be formatted in a variety of ways using Open Graph meta tags.
They’re utilized by LinkedIn and Twitter (in the absence of Twitter Cards) and are a part of Facebook’s Open Graph protocol. The head> area of a web page is where you’ll discover them.
Facebook introduced the concept in 2010, and other big social media sites have since adopted it.
SEO significance
With OG tags, you can manage how your page’s data is displayed across various social media platforms. There’s a chance that this could improve the effectiveness of your social media links, leading to more clicks and more sales.
OG title
That’s right; the name of your page is also a tag. You now have three titles: one for search engines (the title tag), one for your website (the H1), and one for social media (the OG title). You can choose to simplify by using one of the existing titles, or you can come up with your own title specifically for social media. Keep in mind that if it’s too long (more than 60 characters), it may be cut off.
OG type
You can use this tag to specify the type of resource you’re sharing, such as a website, article, video, business, etc. You may view the entire catalog here. When your page features a “Like” button, this tag becomes crucial. If the Facebook user “Likes” your article, this setting will be taken into consideration. Since most of the time you’ll be sharing links to websites, “website” is the most common type. If so, the code will automatically interpret it as having that type.
OG description
There are a lot of similarities between this and the meta description tag. While this summary won’t appear in search engine results, it will serve as the preview text when your page is shared. Because of this, you shouldn’t bother trying to subtly include your keywords into the body of this description. Your primary objective here should be to make it resonate with your target demographic and encourage more clicks. In terms of length, 200 characters is often accepted as the sweet spot.
OG image
Including an image with your shared link will increase its appeal significantly. It’s fine to put some text on top of an image, but keep in mind that some sharing platforms may crop out the sides. The optimal size for the OG image is up to 5MB, and its resolution should be 1200×627 pixels. Facebook’s Open Graph Object Debugger allows you to see how your OG meta tags turned out once you’re done with them.
Twitter cards
Twitter cards resemble original meta tags (title, description, image, etc.) but are limited to use on Twitter. Tweets can now be longer than 140 characters, but adding one of these cards is a great way to make your message stand out.
6. Robots tag
With the robots meta tag, you can tell search engines to hide a page from their index. Since “robots” is the value of the name attribute, the regulation is meant to apply to all spiders. The name and content attributes are case-insensitive. It serves a same purpose as robots.txt, but the latter also offers advice. Alternatively, robots can be instructed using tags.
The Importance of SEO
It’s not that the robots tag will necessarily improve your search engine rankings, but it will come in handy if you ever need to prevent some pages from being indexed.
Some sites, including those with sparse material, may not be suitable for indexing by search engines, but you may still want to maintain them. Putting a “noindex” tag on this page will solve the problem.
Address bots by name
To refer to all robots, use robots, but to refer to a specific bot, use its name. The practice of blocking specific bot names from accessing a website is commonplace.
Know your parameters
The following robots tag parameters are understood and respected by Google.
- Noimageindex — images on this page will not be indexed.
- Noindex — prevents search engines from indexing a page.
- Noarchive — prevents a cached copy of the page from appearing in search results.
- Follow — links on the page should be follow even if the page is noindex.
- None — the same as “noindex, nofollow”.
- Nofollow — prevents the search engine from following ALL the links on the page.
You can use any case you like for the robots tag parameters; Google will still comprehend them.
7. Canonical tag
When used in the HTML head section, the rel=”canonical” link element (also known as a canonical element) specifies that another page serves as a more accurate representation of the content on the current page. You can use hreflang tags and other elements as necessary.
A canonical tag is an indicator in a webpage that essentially says “I’m a copy of this other webpage which can be found over there.”
To avoid duplicate content issues, this HTML element can be inserted into a page’s code to indicate to Google and other search engines which version of a page should be used.
Canonical tags provide two major benefits for search engine optimization.
As a first benefit, it helps you avoid publishing the same thing twice. While duplicate content isn’t always cause for alarm, it does raise suspicion. According to Google’s analysis, your pages are nearly identical to others.
Second, it stops people from eating each other. If two pages with comparable content are indexed, they will compete for placement in search results. That will use up valuable resources and lower your overall standing.
<link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/preferred-url-here/" />WordPress
Using an SEO plugin for WordPress, you can make your site’s URLs canonical.
Yoast SEO and Rank Math SEO are two of the most popular tools for this, therefore we’ll examine how to use them.
Yoast SEO Plugin
Visit the Yoast SEO section of any post or page if you’re using that plugin.
The “Advanced” tab can then be widened.
The canonical URL for a certain page can be entered into the corresponding “Canonical URL” column.
Rank Math SEO Plugin
To access the Rank Math SEO plugin’s features, click the “Rank Math SEO” box at the bottom of any post or page. Select the “Advanced” menu option.
You can set the page’s canonical URL in the “Canonical URL” column.
Alternative Methods for Designating Canonical URLs
Canonical tags are used to declare a preference for a canonical URL. However, you can instead try the following alternatives:
- For non-HTML files, the HTTP header attribute rel=”canonical” should be used.
- When possible, redirect duplicates to their canonical counterparts.
- It is recommended that only canonical URLs be included in a sitemap.
The visibility of your site on Google is under your control if you know the canonicalization method to employ. And it helps avoid problems brought on by content duplication.
8. Schema markup
Schema markup is a type of code that is used to improve how your material is indexed and shown in search engine results.
You have undoubtedly already seen rich snippets, which are a type of marked-up content. However, schema markup might assist your SEO in other ways as well.
SEO Significant
By using schema markup, you may draw Google’s attention to specific sections of your page that it can then use to generate rich snippets.
If you add Schema to a website with a recipe, for instance, Google will be able to see the total time it takes to prepare the dish, the ingredients needed, the number of reviews, and the total number of calories in the dish.
Rich snippets, as you can see, are far superior to standard snippets. Over the past few years, Google has increased the availability of various types of snippets.
Article, product, event, book, and movie schemas are just a few of the many available today that can improve the way your results appear in a search.
It’s not feasible to manually type out a complete schema because of its complexity. If you want to add schema to a page, Structured Data Markup Helper is your best bet.
Simply choose the text on the website, enter the URL, and then choose the appropriate Schema to mark it up.
Conclusion
Use headers and Schema markup without question. Google is rapidly evolving its search engine results page (SERP), making it more engaging and introducing different kinds of snippets.
If we want to take part in all that and keep up with the competition in search, we need to get to work, primarily on your headlines and your rich results. Due to the growing power of search engines, optimizing HTML tags is becoming increasingly unnecessary.
It’s crucial to your site’s performance that you know which ones to prioritize. Provide relevant and helpful information in the HTML code for search engines to use in determining page rankings.
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