Meta Tags For SEO: Why It’s Important For SEO [Guide For Beginners]

Here, we will discuss:

☛ What are Meta Tags?

☛ 3 Important Things That Makes Meta Tags

☛ 3 Major Types Of Meta Tags

☛ Importance Of 6 Top Meta Tags For SEO

Let’s get started….

In SEO, sometimes people tend to concentrate on a single aspect of optimization efforts in comparison to others. Link building is mainly often touted as the “single most essential thing to optimize”. In fact, Google’s top experts remind you, there is no specific essential thing- no magic to pull cosmically high rankings from the hat. Instead, you need to concentrate on an effective SEO plan that you might get through efficient SEO packages. Part of that plan involves HTML meta tags- an important aspect for SEO success.

What are Meta Tags?

Meta tags offer information about the page in the HTML of the document. This information is known as “metadata” and while it is not showcased on the page itself, it can be ready by web crawlers as well as search engines. Search engines like Google utilize metadata from meta tags to know about additional information about the webpage. They can use this information for ranking, to showcase snippets in search results, and sometimes they can neglect meta tags.

For instance meta tags involve the <title> and <description> components.

3 Important Things That Makes Meta Tags

There are 3 vital parts of Meta tags that you can utilize:

1. Title – The title tag is the tag that occurs in search engine listings. We know that this is not essentially a meta tag, but it functions the same like one.

<title>Title text here</title>

2. Description –The meta description tap is where you would need to put your website’s summary. This is where you put what your website is all about and what you are providing. It should not be too long as the search engines only read up to a specific number of words. This also helps you to quickly improve google rankings.

<meta name=” description” content=” This is where you write your website’s summary”/>

3. Keywords – The meta keywords tag is where you add all the keywords you utilize on your website. This is mainly where you need the words which will take you to the top of the search engine page to be. Your keywords are essential- even if you take away all other words, the user should know what your website is all about when they read your keywords.

<meta name=” keywords” content=” SEO, Hacker, Google, Search, etc”/>

These three things make up your meta tags.

3 Major Types Of Meta Tags

1. The Indifferent Meta Tags

Various website will have to use these in some instances, but if you can go without, please go ahead.

☛ Social meta tags – Twitter and open graph data are essential for sharing. For this, you can always consider the top biggest SEO trends.

☛ Robots – One big myth is that it’s very essential to have a robot’s meta tag. Let’s make this very clear: In terms of indexing as well as link following if you do not highlight a meta robots tag, they read that as an index. It is only if you need to change one of those two commands that you have to include meta robots. Hence, if you need to noindex but follow the links on the web page, you would include the following tag with only the noindex, as the following is implicit. Only change what you need to be varied from the norm.

<meta name=”robots” content=”noindex” />

☛ Specific bots (Googlebot) –These tags are utilized to provide particular bot instructions such as noodp and noydir. Usually, the search engines are best at this type of thing on their own, but if you think you require it, feel free. There have been some instances people have seen where it is essential, but if you must, consider utilizing the entire robots tag mentioned above. Here, you can always consider efficiently hire dedicated SEO experts.

☛ Language – The only reason to utilize this tag is if you are moving globally and require to specify the main language utilized on the page. Check out this meta languages resource for an entire list of languages you can declare.

☛ Geo –The last I heard, these meta tags are supported by Bing but not Google (you can aim to a country inside Search Console). There are three different kinds: position (longitude and latitude), placename, and region.

<META NAME=”geo.position” CONTENT=”latitude; longitude”>
<META NAME=”geo.placename” CONTENT=”Place Name”>
<META NAME=”geo.region” CONTENT=”Country Subdivision Code”>

☛ Keywords – Yes, people add this on the “indifferent” list. While no efficient SEO is going to recommend investing any time on this specific tag, there is some small possibility it could help you somewhere. Leave it out if you are establishing a site, but if it is automated, there is no reason to neglect it. The professional SEO reseller can assist you in this with their skills.

☛ Refresh – This is the poor man’s redirect and should not be utilized, if at all possible. You should always utilize a server-side 301 redirect. I know that sometimes things require to happen now, but Google is not an encourager.

☛ Site verification – Your site is verified with Google and Bing, right? Who has the verification meta tags on their web page? These are sometimes important as you cannot get the other types of site verification loaded, but if at all possible try to verify in another manner. Google allows you to verify by external file, DNS, or by linking your Google Analytics account. Google allows you to verify by external file, DNS, or by linking your Google Analytics account. Bing still only allows by XML or meta tags, so go with the file if you can.

2. The Good Meta Tags

These are the meta tags that should be on each page, no matter what. Analyze that this is a small list; these are the only ones that are needed, so if you can work with just these, please do. Knowing these will also tell you completely why do you need SEO.

This tag is essential to announce your character set for the page and should be present on each page. Leaving this out could impact how your web page renders on the web. Some options are mentioned below, but your web designer should know what is best for your website.

<meta http-equiv=”Content-Type” content=”text/html; charset=utf-8″ />
<meta http-equiv=”Content-Type” content=”text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1″>

Title – While the title tag does not begin with “meta”, it is in the header and holds information that is very essential to SEO. You should always have a unique title tag on each page that described the web page. Analyze this post for more information on title tags.

Meta description – The infamous meta description tag is utilized for one important purpose: to describe the page to searchers as they read via search engines. This tag does not influence ranking, but it is very essential regardless. It is the ad copy that will analyze if users click on your outcome. Keep it within 160 characters, as well as write it to catch the user’s attention. Sell the page- get them to click on the outcome.

Viewport – In this mobile world, you should be highlighting the viewport. If you do not, you run the risk of having a bad mobile experience- the Google PageSpeed Insights Tool will convey more about it. The standard tag is:

<meta name=viewport content=”width=device-width, initial-scale=1″>

3. The Bad Meta Tags

Nothing bad can affect your website if you use these- let me just make that very clear. They are simply a waste of space though; even Google says so ( and that was 12 years ago now!). If you are ready and willing, it might be the time for spring cleaning of yourarea. If you want professionals for guidance, you need to consider the best SEO link building solutions.

☛ Author/web author – This tag is to specify the author of the page. It is just not necessary on the webpage.

☛ Revisit after – This meta tag is a request to the robots to return to a page after a particular period of time. It is not followed by any top search engine.

☛ Rating – This tag is utilized to denote the maturity rating of content. People wrote a post about bow to tag a web page with mature images using a very complicated system that has since been updated. It looks as if the perfect way to note bad images is to locate them on a specific directory from other images on your website as well as alert Google.

☛ Expiration/date – Expiration is utilized to note when the page expires, and the date is the date the page was created. Are any of your web pages going to expire? Just remove them if they are. And for a date, make an XML sitemap as well as keep it up to date. It is much more beneficial.

☛ Copyright –That Google article says this with me a bit but look at the footer of your website. People will guess it says “Copyright 20xx” in some type. Why say it twice?

☛ Abstract – This tag is sometimes utilized to place an abstract of the content and utilized majorly by educational pursuits.

☛ Distribution – The distribution value is mainly utilized to control who can access the document, specific set tip global. It is inherently implied that if the webpage is open that it is meant for the world. Go ahead with it, and leave the tag in the webpage.

☛ Generator– This is utilized to note which program developed the page. Like “author,” it’s useless.

☛ This is utilized to note what program developed the page. Like “author,” it is useless.

☛ Cache-control – This tag is established in hopes of controlling when and how often a page is cached on the web. It is perfect to do this in the HTTP header.

☛ Resource type –This is utilized to name the kind of resource the page is, such as a document. Save your time, as the DTD declaration does it for you.

There are different meta tags out there that you can use to majorly increase website traffic in 2021.

Importance Of 6 Top Meta Tags For SEO

1. Title Tag

The title tag is the first HTML aspect that highlights your page for search engines and to an audience. The title aspect supports all browsers involving Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and so on.

Always include your Title tag in the section of your website.

<head>
<title>This is Title Sample</title>
</head>

• Optimal Length For The Title Tag: Google basically represents 55-64 characters (Keep it within 60).

Title tag optimization is essential for search engines and audiences. It occurs in the SERP and in browser tabs.

Tips to write a good Title tag:

✓ Include “modifiers” to your title tag ( How to | Best | Tips | The current year | Find | Top | Easy | Buy)
✓ Include long-tail keywords in title tags.
✓ Include number to your title
✓ Begin your title tag with your major targeted keyword
✓ Do not overstuff your keywords
✓ Every page should have a new title tag

2. Heading Tags (H1-H6)

Heading tags are HTML tags utilized to analyze subheadings and headings within your content from other kinds of text. The usage of heading tags nowadays is a source of some debate. While H2-H6 tags are considered not as essential to search engines, the proper utility of the H1 tag has been highlighted in different industry studies.

At the same time, professionals keep telling people that headings are not ranking aspects at all, and surely not in the sense of hierarchy- H1 tag is not more essential than H2, which is not more essential in comparison to H3, and so on. What people should be thinking about instead is that headings are important for text as well as content organization, and people should consider it seriously.

Use the heading tags generally adds up to the architecture of the content.

•  For search engines, It is convenient to understand and read the well-organized content in comparison to crawl through structural problems.

•  For users, headings are like anchors in a wall of text, directing them through the web page and make it convenient to digest.

Both these aspects raise the significance of careful optimization, where little information adds up to the big SEO or say powerful off page SEO and user-friendly picture and can increase ranking.

Best Practices

•  Keep your headings appropriate to the chunk of text they are describing. Just because they are not an essential ranking aspect, does not mean search engines do not take them into consideration.
•  Always have your headings showcase the sentiment of the text they are located. Ignore headings.
•  Do not use the keywords and the tags plenty of times in them. Maintain its readability for users.

Should Your Title Tag & H1 Match?

As per Google’s recommendations, you are encouraged to meet your page’s H1 and title, altering the order a little bit, switching it up here and there. Therefore if you are struggling to come up with the best H1, just use your title tag.

3. Meta Description Tag

A meta description is an HTML aspect that summarizes your page. Search engines basically show the meta description in SERPs below your title tag.

• Code sample

<head>
<meta name=”description” content=”This is a sample of meta description. We can include around 160 characters.”>
</head>

Google does not utilize the meta description as a ranking aspect, still, it has a great impact on your page CTR as it shows up in search results. In a specific year, Google increased the length of snippets in SERPs.

What will be the length for Meta Description?

The new length of the description snippet field on a desktop is about 160 characters, down from more than 300 characters.

Mobile characters for the SERPs snippets are now down to an average of 130 characters. There are different link building strategies that you can use to write a perfect meta description.

Google-Generated Description In Search Results

Aspects to write a perfect meta description tag:

•  Do not put emphasis on the characters, as Google might pull meta description text from your content according to a user’s query.
•  Do not include duplicate meta descriptions
•  Include clear call-to-action in your description such as apply today, contact us today, check-out, and so on. See these CTA keywords in your marketing campaigns.
•  Include your targeted keywords in descriptions
•  Strategically offer solutions to an issue.
•  Write for your users and support them to click with particular and relevant content.
•  Include any offers or discounts you have going on.
•  Show empathy in writing your meta descriptions.

4. Robots Noindex and Nofollow Meta Tags

Robot meta tags are not always essential. By default, all the links and pages you develop on your site are indexed as follows by search bots as well as web crawlers. Whenever you need to redirect them, you will require a robot meta tag.

Mentioned below is the noindex HTML code:

<html><head>
<meta name=”robots” content=”noindex” />
(…)
</head></html>

This would be within the header and highlight this page does not require to be indexed. It is beneficial for syndicated and duplicate content that your readers or customers could utilize, but you do not need credit in search indexes.

Mentioned below is the HTML for a robot nofollow.

<meta name=”robots” content=”nofollow”>

This is utilized for links you do not essentially want to endorse.

5. Canonical Tag

The Canonical tag is basically an HTML link tag with “rel= canonical” attribute that is utilized if you own a specific page URL that has the same content with different other page URLs.

By executing the canonical tag in the code, people are telling search engines that this URL is the main page and ignoring other duplicate page URLs. You can also consider knowing importance of mobile SEO as this is also trendy nowadays.

A canonical tag Syntax:

<link rel=”canonical” href=”http://example.com/” />

Where should you select a canonical URL?

Multiple URLs:

http://www.example.com
https://www.example.com
http://example.com
http://example.com/index.php

Google goes through all the above-mentioned URLs as duplicate versions of the homepage. And to fix this issue, the canonical tag was established.

• Session ID URLs:

These are the automatic system-generated URLs and are commonly made because of the tracking URLs, breadcrumb links, and permalinks in CMS.

http://example.com/properties/villa-331-clothing brand? partnerID=18
http://example.com/target.php?session_id=rj3ids98dhpa0mcf3jc89mq1t0

• Mobile URL:

When utilizing a specific URL for the mobile version of your site.

The professional site has 2 versions- one is a mobile version and another one is a desktop version. For the mobile and desktop version, some sites are preferring the following canonical tag:

<link rel=”canonical” href=”https://www.semrush.com/” />

6. Open Graph Meta Tags and Twitter Cards

These tags make social media syncing convenient. Open graph meta tags encourage integration between LinkedIn, Facebook, Google, and your site.

Listed below are samples of how open graph tags lo9ok like in standard HTML:

• <meta property=”og:type” content=”article” />
• <meta property=”og:title” content=”TITLE OF YOUR PAGE” />
• <meta property=”og:description” content=”DESCRIPTION OF PAGE CONTENT” />
• <meta property=”og:image” content=”LINK TO THE IMAGE FILE” />
• <meta property=”og:url” content=”PERMALINK” />
• <meta property=”og:site_name” content=”SITE NAME” />

Twitter cards work in the same manner as Open Graph, except for Twitter.

Twitter will utilize these tips to improve the display of your web page when shared on their platform.

Listed below us a sample of How Twitter card seem like in standard HTML:

• <meta name=”twitter:title” content=”TITLE OF POST OR PAGE”>
• <meta name=”twitter:description” content=”DESCRIPTION OF PAGE CONTENT”>
• <meta name=”twitter:image” content=”LINK TO IMAGE”>
• <meta name=”twitter:site” content=”@USERNAME”>
• <meta name=”twitter:creator” content=”@USERNAME”>

Meta tags are not all there is to rank higher. But they are the easiest way to assist you to decrease duplicate content, and boost traffic and increase clicks. Simply put: this is one arena of a webpage that should get as much focus as the rest of the content on the page. Lastly, as much as there is the crucial importance of link building, meta tags are equally important.

Wrapping It Up:

Identifying your use of meta tags is a great beginning to improve your on-page SEO. The meta tags provided by professionals are something that will assist you to rank better. LinkBuildingCorp, an SEO service provider has a team that has enough knowledge to give both human users and Google a better idea of what your site is about. The more you utilize meta tags to identify, the more value you will offer.

So, want to talk to our professionals, contact us now.

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