Meta Tags - All your work could be for nothing!

As a developer, if your website is not showing up on the first page of a search engine all your hard work is for nothing. Just have a look at the statistics below if you don't believe me.

68% of online experiences begin with a search engine.

0.63% of Google searchers click on results from the second page.

One key way to optimise your website for search engines is meta tags. They are an essential part of website development that help provide information about the web page to search engines and other applications that use metadata, such as social medial platforms.

What are Meta Tags?

Meta tags are snippets of HTML code that provide information about the contents of a web page to search engines and other web crawlers. In this article, we'll cover the main meta tags you need to know and how to use them effectively.

Meta Tags for SEO optimization:

There are several types of meta tags that you can use to optimize your website for search engines. The most common ones include:

1. Title tag: The title tag is the most important meta tag for SEO. It is displayed in the search engine results as the clickable headline for your web page. Here is an example of a good title tag for a web page about dog training: <title>Dog Training: How to Train Your Dog in 30 Days | XYZ Dog Training</title>

2. Description tag: The description tag is a summary of what your page is about. It is displayed in the search engine results beneath the title tag. The description tag should be between 120 and 160 characters and should include your main keyword. Continuing with the dog traing theme below is an example of a good description tag for a web page about dog training: <meta name="description" content="Learn how to train your dog in just 30 days with our proven dog training program. XYZ Dog Training provides expert guidance and support to help you achieve success.">

3. Keyword Tag: A list of keywords that are relevant to your web page. These keywords are not visible to users, but search engines use them to understand the content of your page. It's important to avoid keyword stuffing and only include relevant keywords. <meta name="keywords" content="dog training, obedience training, puppy training, dog behavior, dog obedience">

4. Robots Tag: The robots tag tells search engines and other web crawlers how to treat your page. It can be used to prevent search engines from indexing certain pages or to tell them to follow links on your page. Several values that can be used with the robots tag, including: index: tells search engines to index your page noindex: tells search engines not to index your page follow: tells search engines to follow links on your page nofollow: tells search engines not to follow links on your page Here is an example of a robots tag that tells search engines to index your page and follow links: <meta name="robots" content="index,follow">

5. Canonical Tag: The canonical tag is used to indicate the preferred URL for a web page. This is useful when you have multiple versions of the same page, such as a print-friendly version or a mobile version. By indicating the preferred URL, you can avoid duplicate content issues and ensure that search engines index the correct version of your page. Here is an example of a canonical tag: <link rel="canonical" href="https://www.example.com/page">

By using relevant keywords and concise descriptions, you can optimize your website for search engines and improve its visibility in search results.

Helpful articles and websites: SEO statistics 2023 Google SEO starter guide