preface
As a webmaster, whatever the size of your business, you need to use parameters that are effective in SEO. One of the most important in this area is the HTML meta tag.
Among these are web development and content marketing. Professional questions besides all of this use the HTML meta tag. Although meta tags are only read by search engines, they are still one of the most important parameters in Google’s ranking algorithm. So they should not be ignored.
In this article, we are going to introduce and describe the most important and most common HTML meta tags used on sites. So you can also check them out on your website and implement them. In the second part of this article, we will provide more details of the HTML meta tag. These details are very practical and important.
What is an HTML meta tag?
Meta tags are HTML(HTML meta tag) codes that help search engines as well as users to better understand the content of web pages. Note that meta tags are not the main content of the page.
The main purpose of using meta tags is to better describe the content. So HTML meta tag are in the <head> section of the page instead of in the <body> section. Because implementing meta tags requires programming knowledge, you may not have enough skills to put them together. However, using them is essential to the success of your site.
Metadata is data (information) about data.
The <meta> tag provides metadata about the HTML document. Metadata will not be displayed on the page, but will be machine parsable.
Meta elements are typically used to specify page description, keywords, author of the document, last modified, and other metadata.
The metadata can be used by browsers (how to display content or reload page), search engines (keywords), or other web services.
Why is the HTML meta tag important?
We all know that SEO is evolving and the importance of keywords has changed. Keywords are searched for by users, and user searches are a combination of these keywords. Users look after the search results and look for items that fit their queries.
Search engines know that users expect search results to have their search terms. Although search engines understand semantic search terms using semantic search technologies, it is still important to match the search term used by the user.
So why are meta tags important? Because the data contained in these meta tags are sometimes the same ones that appear in the search results
Do HTML meta tag Help SEO?
Yes; meta tags help SEO, but not all of them and not every time. One of our goals in this article is to explain SEO meta tags. To view the HTML meta tag of each page, right-click it and click View Page Source.
This will open a new tab and the meta tags can be viewed at the top of the code and in the <head> section. Meta tags look like this:
What are the SEO meta tags?
Now that you realize meta tags are important in SEO, your next question is probably what are the SEO meta tags. There are many meta tags in HTML that are supported by search engines. But not all of them are necessarily effective in SEO.
There were meta tags in years ago that are no longer used today. So we need to get to know them. Below we will introduce the most important of them.
Original meta tags
Page title meta tags and meta tags are inseparable from SEO. The existence of these two meta tags is essential for Google to rank high. Below we will introduce the main meta tags
1. Title meta tag
The Title tag is an HTML code that describes the content of a page. The content of this tag is displayed in the browser tab as well as in the search results. The keywords in the page title are still one of the most powerful ranking signals in search engines.
Having keywords in the page title also attracts users to click on them. This raises the click rate because users are looking for results that are more relevant to their query. If they don’t see any part of their query in the search results, they will probably be less likely to click on it.
The title of the page should be related to its subject. It is best to have the original keyword at the beginning of this tag and then write one of the sub keywords. Tests show that the closer a keyword is to its beginning, the more likely it will be to rank and click.
2. Meta-discrimination
Meta-discrimination is a meta tag in HTML that describes a short page description (taller than a page title). Although this explanation is hidden from the view of users, search engines display it in search results and under the page title.
Although meta-discrimination is not a factor in Google’s ranking, a good meta-discrimination can encourage users to click on the site.
Meta-discrimination should be written in an attractive way. Since meta-discrimination plays a role in promoting your site, it is a chance for you to get a click-through.
Describe your page well and have a visitor-friendly tone to increase the click rate.
3. Content-Type meta tag
This tag is required on every page because we use it to express the characters of that page. Empty this meta tag will cause page rendering problems in the browser. There are many options for this meta tag that we will introduce below two common types:
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1">
4. Viewport meta tag
Viewport meta tag The meta tag Viewport is used to configure how web pages are displayed on different devices and screen sizes. Commonly this tag is as follows:
<meta name = ”viewport” content = ”width = device-width, initial-scale = 1 ″>
The following screenshots illustrate the difference between displaying on a mobile device if or not this meta tag:
The Viewport meta tag has nothing to do with SEO, but its absence can have a devastating impact on the site’s user experience, especially if you notice that there is a variety of screen sizes available today and mobile usage is increasing day by day.
5. Alternate text for images
Alt-text is added to the image tag and helps search engines understand the content of photos. Search engines are not able to interpret the content of a photo so they can better understand it.
Although most searches are not about images, you can also get better rankings and get more clicks in the same small amount.
Replacement text should be clearly written and contain words to describe it. If your image is an object type, you can add the size or color of the object to give more details about the image.
However, alternative text isn’t just for search engines, they also help blind users understand the content of photos on their devices.
6. Texte de remplacement pour les images
Le texte alternatif est ajouté à la balise d’image et aide les moteurs de recherche à comprendre le contenu des photos. Les moteurs de recherche ne sont pas en mesure d’interpréter le contenu d’une photo, ils peuvent donc mieux le comprendre.
Bien que la plupart des recherches ne concernent pas les images, vous pouvez également obtenir un meilleur classement et davantage de clics avec le même petit montant.
Le texte de remplacement doit être clairement écrit et contenir des mots pour le décrire. Si votre image est un type d’objet, vous pouvez ajouter la taille ou la couleur de l’objet pour donner plus de détails sur l’image.
Cependant, les textes alternatifs ne concernent pas uniquement les moteurs de recherche, ils aident également les utilisateurs non-voyants à comprendre le contenu des photos sur leurs appareils.
7. nofollow meta tag
Google has defined the nofollow tag to allow webmasters to tell search engine robots not to follow links.
The nofollow tag is very useful when we don’t want to transfer page rank to page links. nofollow tags are very useful when you are promoting other sites on your pages and are not interested in transferring your credentials.
8. meta tag noindex
The noindex tag is used when you are not interested in indexing a page and its presence in search results. This tag is essential for keeping pages off the site from search results. noindex tags can be implemented in the form of meta tags or HTTP responses.
conclusion
As you can see, meta tags exist in many different forms. Implementing them requires a little time and resources, but in return for their capital and efficiency, SEO is enormous. We hope you are using this to better structure your SEO.
