Meta Tags
Meta tags might not be visible to common users, but they can significantly affect how your content performs. A well-thought-out meta tag can significantly enhance your visibility, bring the correct audience to your page, and take your entire SEO efforts to another level. This section will help you understand how to use meta tags effectively, highlight their best practices, and tell you about the most common mistakes to avoid while writing them.
What are meta tags?
Meta tags are texts placed in the website's back-end to provide information to search engines. While they are invisible to users, they are crucial in helping search engines assess the website's credibility and authenticity.
Developers insert meta tags in the heading section of an HTML page for various purposes. They help with indexing, explain titles and descriptions to search engines, and improve content appearance on browsers and social media. Beyond SEO, meta tags enhance user experience and boost compatibility with search engines and browsers.
Different types of meta tags
There are many different types of meta tags, and each of them has its own functions and purposes. Some of them are useful for improving SEO efforts, and others also help enhance the surfing experience and decide how the content on the website appears on search engines. Understanding the different types of meta tags will help you take more control over your website performance.
- Meta Title or Title Tag - It is the title that you see on the result page or browser tabs. This is important from the SEO perspective because search engines use these tags to understand the heading of the page or the website.
- Meta description - It provides a small summary of what the page is all about. The meta description doesn't have a direct influence on SEO rankings, but it can affect website clicks. The description helps the users get an idea of what they can expect from the website.
- Meta keywords - These keywords were once used to highlight the main topics of a webpage. However, due to overstuffing, the content looked artificial and not genuine. As a result, search engines no longer consider them as a ranking factor.
- Robots Meta Tags - They direct search engines on how to crawl and rank a page. For example, the "index follow" tag tells search engines to list the page. This gives website owners more control over the content they want to display.
- Viewport Meta Tags - Viewport meta tags are essential for a device-friendly website. They control page scaling and display on various devices. Without these tags, users will struggle to view the site on different screen sizes, affecting their experience and search rankings.
- Social Media Meta Tags - These tags help customise how the content will look when it is shared on different social media platforms.
Tips for writing excellent meta tags
Writing meta tags is not only about adding keywords or just random text to fill empty spaces. They are the first piece of content that your users will see, and they will help search engines understand what your content is all about. A well-thought-out and strategically written meta tag can bring you more clicks, increase your website's visibility, and give your content the reach that it deserves. Here are some important tips for writing meaningful meta tags.
- Always keep it clear and to the point. Don't use difficult terms or vague language that makes it difficult for the users to understand what you are trying to say.
- Every tag should give an exact list of the content of the page that it is attached to. Avoid misleading or using common terms that might harm your users' trust, as it will also increase the bounce rate on your website.
- Try to use keywords in your meta tags and description, but make sure you don't add too many keywords.
- Don’t go above the word limit, which is a maximum of 60 characters for the title and 160 characters for the description. Exceeding the word limit may lead to text removal and weaken your message.
- Use phrases that encourage action and lead to clicks. Words like ‘Find out now, Learn more, or take this opportunity’ can make your link appear more compelling.
