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Meta Tags: Why Is It Important & How to Use Them + Examples

Last updated: Jan 07, 2025

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Are you improving your site performance using SEO? If so, make sure to include meta tags in your site code.

Meta tags can help search engines understand your site's context and idea. However, this tag does not appear publicly on your page; it is located in your site's HTML code.

This article will walk you through meta tags implementation to your site and its impact on your SEO strategies. So, check this out!

What Is Meta Tags?

Meta tags are brief passages of text that describe the content of a page and only show up in the page's source code and not on the page itself. Meta tags are elements that you can see on the search results and contain information about the content.

It will be placed on the <head> section of your content or page. When you put meta tag code for meta description, it will look like this:

<!DOCTYPE html>

<html>

<head>

</head>

</html>

Meta tags in SEO may help your optimization process. Not only do they help users grasp some ideas about what is in the content, but these tags also help search engines understand the content better so that they can determine whether your content is valuable and worth the prominent position on search results or not.

Despite helping search engines to index the content, meta tags are not direct ranking factors. Yet, these tags can help you figure out what content search engines prioritize on search results.

Moreover, since users will see your meta tags first before clicking on your site, you must create them very well and intriguing to users. That way, you can boost click-through rates organically, as well as lead that can convert to customers.

Besides, meta tags like viewport tags can ensure that your site is screen size-friendly, improving the accessibility and user experience.

On top of that, meta tags like meta titles and descriptions can enhance social media sharing. When you share your site content to your social media, the meta tags will give information as follows:

Figure 1: Meta title and description on X post.

Types of Meta Tags

In general, there are three meta tags that you should know, which are meta title, meta description, and meta keywords.

1. Meta Title

Meta title or title tag is the <head> element showing the title of a site or content on search results. When users are looking for information, they can click on the title and visit the content.

The example of a title tag is as follows:

The title tag is used by users to determine whether to visit your page or not based on their information needs and by search engines to find out the content relevance to the query.

2. Meta Description

Other than the title tag, you will find a short description of the content under it, and this is called the meta description. The example of meta description is as follows:

In addition to title tags, users wild decide to visit your site or not by reading the meta description. From the description, if they feel like your content is going to answer their question, then they will click on your content.

Not only that but similar to title tags, a meta description is also used by search engines to understand what you are writing in the content. However, you must make it concise to 150-160 characters to prevent getting truncated by search engines.

3. Meta Keywords

This section provides information on some keywords that are pertinent to the online content. However, Google and other major search engines no longer support it due to its widespread misuse. The meta tag example for the meta keywords is as follows:

Meta Tags Supported by Google

Other than the meta tag types above, you must also know some meta tags supported by Google. Each tag has a distinct function. Below are the lists of meta tags supported by Google:

description: Gives a brief overview of the page. The excerpt that appears in search results can utilize this description.
viewport: Regulates the way the website appears on mobile devices.
robots: Influences the way search engines index and crawl your sites.
rating: Shows that there is explicit content on a webpage.
notranslate: Stops Google from translating your content automatically in search results.
refresh: Gives the browser instructions to change the URL after a predetermined amount of time.
nopagereadaloud: Tells Google not to read the website out loud using text-to-speech (TTS) services.
Content-Type and charset: Identifies the character set and content type for the page.
nositelinksearchbox: Prohibits Google from including a sitelinks search box in your website's search results.
google-site-verification: Confirms the website's ownership for Google Search Console.

How to Create Meta Tags

Now that you already understand what meta tags are and how they can influence your site performance, it is time to learn how you can optimize them for your site. Below are the best meta tags for SEO strategies you can adhere to:

1. Meta Description

Meta description is used to explain briefly what is in your content. Yet, search engines like Google can truncate lengthy meta descriptions to match the appearance and user experience.

There is also a possibility that search engines will rewrite it to match the query. To optimize it, you can follow these best practices:

To prevent being truncated, shoot for about 105 characters.
Naturally incorporate your main keyword into the meta description because Google frequently bolds the keyword when it matches the user's query, which makes your snippet stand out more.
Refrain from keyword stuffing to avoid being penalized.
Do not use the same meta descriptions on different parts of your website.
In addition to providing readers with precise information about what they can expect on each page, unique descriptions aid search engines in comprehending how your pages vary.
Put some calls to action to encourage users to do the desired actions, such as “Learn More”, “Shop Now”, “Book Now”, and many more.

2. Meta Title

Meta titles display the title of the page as well as content and users can click through it to visit the site. Similar to meta description, Google can rewrite your title to match the search query and can truncate it if it is too long. However, you can implement these tips for better tile tags:

Create your title tag for 50–60 characters to not be truncated.
To match search queries, include the page's main keyword early in the title. This could increase visibility and relevancy in search results.
Avoid using the same title tag on more than one page. Duplicate titles might confuse readers and make it more difficult for search engines to distinguish your content.
Avoid keyword stuffing.
Match the search intent.
Refrain from using clickbait and misleading titles.

3. Meta Viewport Tag

The viewport tag regulates how your website appears on different devices and screen sizes. The tag will help you adjust the viewport’s witch and scale so that users can get the best experience despite accessing site from different devices.

To optimize it, you can run a site audit using tools like Site Audit by Sequence and see how your meta viewport tag is working.

4. Meta Robots Tag

This tag is important for the site’s crawlability and indexability. Meta robots tag will tell search engines which pages and content they should crawl, index, and rank on search results. Some robots that you will use include follow, nofollow, index, and noindex.

In using meta robots tag, you must utilize them appropriately. For instance, if you want a page to be displayed on search results, you must put the index tag. But, if you design a certain page for your user only and do not want it to appear on search results, you can use the noindex tag

Another tip is that make sure to put a follow tag on your internal links to get crawled by the search engine bots.

Aside from those four meta tags, you can optimize other tags by performing a site audit and see which tags you should fix if there is any error on them.

Those are information about SEO meta tags that you should understand to make your site appear better on search results and give the best user experience. Meta tags are also important for your SEO efforts, so you must regularly check them and fix the errors if any.

If you want to optimize your meta tags or other SEO strategies, SEO Service by cmlabs can be your expert assistance. We at cmlabs will aid you in implementing on-page, off-page, and technical SEO. Discuss your needs with us now for free!

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