What Are Meta Tags? – Definition of Meta Tags
Meta tags are text snippets that describe a page’s content; they only appear in the source code of a page, not on the actual page. Meta tags are simply tiny content descriptors that assist in describing to search engines the subject matter of a web page.
The sole distinction between tags you can see and tags you can’t see (on a blog post, for example) is where they are located: meta tags only exist in HTML and are typically found at the “head” of the page, making them only visible to search engines (and people who know where to look). The “meta” in these tags stands for “metadata,” which is information about the information on your page.
Can Meta Tags Improve SEO?
Yes, they do, but not always and not in all cases. The explanation of which meta tags may benefit your SEO rankings and which have mostly lost use is one of the objectives of this article.
Simply right-click anywhere on the page and choose “View Page Source” to see if a specific page is using meta tags.
In Chrome, a new tab will open; in Firefox, a pop-up window will appear. The meta tags would be located in the area at the top, or “head,” of the page.
Understanding Meta Tags
We’ll cover all four of the key categories of meta tags that are important to understand in this article. Some no longer serve their original purpose. Others are valuable to use frequently because they’ll inform Google about you and the services you offer, which will almost certainly enhance traffic to your site. (There are more types of meta tags than just the four, although others are less prevalent or have no bearing on web marketing.)
The four categories we’ll talk about here are:
- A list of keywords that you believe are appropriate for the analysed page.
- The text you see in the SERP and at the top of your browser is the title tag. This language is what search engines consider to be your page’s “title.”
- Meta Description Attribute: A great summary of the page.
- An explanation of what search engine crawlers (also known as “robots” or “bots”) should perform with the page is provided by the meta robots attribute.
Tags: Title
The most significant of all the meta tags covered here, however, are title tags. These tags are the only ones that actually affect search rankings, which is maybe even more significant.
This is especially helpful if you want to offer the page a single major title for the user but also want to make it clearer or simpler for search engine optimization and for users who switch between many tabs on their desktop.
Meta Description Attribute
The meta description is a helpful meta tag since it, quite simply, informs search engines and (sometimes) searchers themselves about the subject matter of your page. Imagine you were searching for “meta keywords” on Google, for instance.
The meta description element is valuable in other ways, although it won’t always appear in the search results from Google (Google frequently chooses a snippet of text from the page itself). Keywords in meta descriptions won’t have an impact on your rankings, according to Google. However, if your site’s meta description incorporates the terms people were looking for, you might be able to persuade them to click through from the SERP to your page. Additionally, a high click-through rate from the SERP may help your ranks.
Google’s motivations are unclear, but their actions are clear: meta descriptions are considerably more important than meta keywords these days.
Meta Robots Attribute
By using this attribute, you can instruct search engines how to treat your pages:
- Index/Noindex — This instructs search engines whether or not to include your page in their results.
- The follow/nofollow option instructs search engines whether to believe and “follow” links on your site to the following page or not.
We’ve discussed the very real effects that meta tags can have on search engine optimization. To sum up:
- Your search engine rankings may be impacted just by the Title Tag.
- Users could be persuaded to visit your website by descriptive tags.
- A possible use for the meta description is as “organic ad text.”
- The majority of search engines no longer support meta keywords.
You don’t really need a programmer to implement meta tags; all you need is basic familiarity with HTML. Try our Meta Tag Generator Tool at Kuvilam to determine the best keywords to utilise in the meta tags for your website.
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