Meta tags are snippets of HTML code which serve as the main way to communicate with search engine robots. Meta tags can influence where your website ranks in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) in a multitude of ways. First of all, if written well, they can help the search engine bots better understand the concept of the page, which usually results in being higher up in SERPs. They also add additional information about the page and whether it should be indexed or not. Also, metatags can offer quality information to the user while they are searching. Meta tags show up on google as Meta title tags and Meta description tags. Have you ever seen the small description below the website heading while searching on Google? that’s how meta description tags appear to users.
When creating meta description tags, it’s good to include hf keywords naturally because they will often be what the user is looking for. However, keyword stuffing has the opposite effect because it reduces the quality of the description and looks like gibberish. Meta description tags should be kept within the 140-160 character limit. The same advice goes for meta title tags, but those have a 60 character limit. It’s a good idea to make them accurate to the website content and to not repeat keywords.
There are more types of meta tags, but the ones discussed above are the ones you have probably interacted with the most. If you would like to learn more, visit Full List of Meta Tags, Why They Matter for SEO & How to Write Them (hubspot.com)
2 Responses
Nice post, great length, and captivating title. Meta tags have always been a bit confusing to me but this post unblur the fog in my head about them. I especially liked the description of what they look like to Google users.
Thank you for your description of meta tags. I didn’t realize all of the nuances to their importance in SEO.