What is a meta tag? A meta tag is a an HTML tag that helps to identify that content of a web page. An HTML tag, or hypertext markup language, is a foundational code that is used to structure a web page and the content within it. HTML structures the web page with bullet lists, paragraphs, images, tables, and numbered lists. Meta tags are hidden but can be viewed by right clicking on a browser page and then clicking “view page source,” “view,” or “page source.”

Why are meta tags important? Meta tags are important as they impact how your website will appear in search engine results pages (SERPs). This can affect how much traffic your website gets, which in turn can impact your ranking, conversion rates, and revenue. By using the correct meta tags, you can improve your success in all of these areas.

The three most important meta tags that are used are the title tag, the description tag, and the keyword tag. The title tag is the title that is seen in search engine results listings. Why is the title tag important? It gives users an idea of the content they will see should they click on the link. A short (under 60 characters) and descriptive. A description tag is where you detail your website’s content and what you have to offer visitors. The description tag should not be too long as the search engine will only display up to a certain number of characters. The meta keywords tag is where you will add keywords that appear on your website. This will help you to rank higher on the search engine results page.

Other types of meta descriptions include:

• Meta robot tag: a meta robot tag tells search engines how they should crawl web pages. Using an incorrect robot tag can negatively impact ranking on search engine results pages.
• Meta refresh redirect: the meta refresh redirect tag tells the browser to redirect a user to a different URL. This tag should not be used as not all browsers support it and if a user is redirected without knowing why, it will confise them.
• Meta viewport: the meta viewport tag is what allows the visible area of a web page. This meta tag tells the browser how to display a page on various screen sizes.
• Meta charset: the meta charset tells the browser how to display the text on a web page. If this encoding is incorrect and the characters display incorrectly, this can negatively impact search engine optimization (SEO).

Meta tags play a significant role in whether users see your website in search engine results as well as if they will click through to actually view your website. The right meta tags can greatly improve your on-page SEO. Learning to use meta tags, which might seem complicated when you first start, gets easier with time and practice. Meta tags are beneficial to both search engines and the users who are doing searches.