Understanding the Importance of Meta Tags
The internet is a big place where billions of websites compete for attention. Meta tags are the invisible, unsung heroes of this landscape that can significantly impact a website’s visibility.
These small snippets of code play an important role on how search engines classify your website and how they present them to searchers. This guide will help you to understand what a meta tag is, what it is not, and how to optimize your website with them.
What are Meta Tags?
A meta tag is an HTML element found at the top of a web page’s code that provides the browser information about your webpage. Meta tags are invisible to the front-end viewer, but are essential for search engines like Yahoo, Bing and Google, to understand and classify a web page.
There are two basic meta tags:
Title Tags: This is the headline that appears at the top of a search engine result page (SERPs). It should be a brief title that describes the page’s content accurately. It’s duty is to grab attention and interest, like a headline.
Meta Description: This is the headline blurb below the Title Tag that gives a brief summary of the page. It’s duty is to lead your viewer into clicking and visiting. Think of it as a by-line for your website page.
Title Tags and Meta Tags remain the most important forward-facing pieces of a website in search engines and have the greatest importance and impact compared to internal keywords on a page.
Why Meta Tags Matter For Your Website
Consider this: without an enticing and informative Meta Title and Meta Description you won’t be able to find the right people to visit your website.
Properly chosen and formatted meta tags can indirectly influence your search engine rankings. Don’t you think that Google would rank a page for a search for ‘Smartest Dog Breeds’ with a page that had a meta title of ‘10 Smartest Dog Breeds’, or ‘List of Smartest Dog Breeds’, instead of simply a title that says, ‘My Favorite Dog Breeds’. The person looking for a list of smartest dog breeds is more likely to click on the first two examples shown versus the last one.
By being smart with your page and post titles, you will, over time, increase your Click-Through-Rate (your CTR). This is an important metric that shows how many searches were done for similar terms and how many actually visited your site because of it.
You will also enhance your visitor’s experience by clearly stating what your page is about and giving an enticing description relevant to the page’s content.
Meta tags are also the ultimate social influencer in that they play a major role on how and why people visit links and subsequently share content on social media. This helps to influence shares and clicks.
Below is an example of a missing meta title and description. Without this, Google just pulls from whatever is on the page. This is bad SEO.
Why People May Not Know About Meta Tags
Meta tags truly are the unsung heroes of websites. Most people who build a site on their own and have no experience, title their pages out of vanity or don’t understand how vital a good title and meta tag can be.
Maybe they don’t know how to implement best procedures. Or, that because meta tags are essentially a foundational concept of HTML that they are old and outdated. Or they underestimate the importance and impact a good meta title and description can have. While backlinks, internal on-page SEO and social proof is important and useful, the most important part of your website is what people actually see and click on when they go to a search engine.
Best Practices for Meta Tags
SEO ‘rules’ change constantly but there are a few things that remain the same, year after year. Meta tags are one of them. Focus relevant keywords into your meta title and description in a natural way, avoiding repetition and keyword stuffing. And, each page should have a unique meta title and description. A typical meta title tag will be between 50-60 characters, and meta descriptions are typically 160 characters. Any more than that gets cut off in search results.
Write your title tag and description in a compelling way. Really consider what people will actually search to find your content. Ask yourself, “How would I search for this information?”. Once it’s written, periodically check to make sure it’s what the page really represents or if you can optimize it further if you aren’t getting enough clicks and visits.
Common n00b Meta Tag Mistakes
If you think you can save yourself time by just having the same meta title and description for all of your pages, Google and other search engines can penalize you for duplicate content. Don’t overuse keywords in an unnatural way, or add irrelevant information to the title and description. By having a title and description that’s too short you will definitely reduce your visibility in search engines.
How Can I Analyze Meta Tags for My Website?
There are several useful tools us webmasters use to analyse and improve meta tags. One of the more useful ones is Google Search Console that let’s you see what terms people search that eventually click on your page. And Yoast, which we install with every WordPress site we design, provides meta tag optimization features. I also like to use Screaming Frog to break down and analyze a site all at once to see if there are any missing or duplicate tags in a glance.
Advanced Meta Tag Strategies
Basic title tags and meta descriptions are vital, but there are additional points to consider. A Canonical tag prevents duplicate content issues by letting search engines know that they are accessing the preferred version of a webpage. And a Robots meta tag lets search engines know which pages to crawl and which to exclude. And, the Open Graph and Twitter cards optimize your page for social sharing.
By mastering meta tags and implementing these best practices, you can significantly enhance your website’s visibility, attract more organic traffic, and improve user experience. We can do this for you by providing a comprehensive SEO Audit that will give you information on your whole website at a glance so you know where it needs improvement. And, all of our websites at Envoy Web Design are built with SEO first in mind, so every page has the best chance of being seen in search engines. If you need help with your meta tags and descriptions, contact us now for a free consultation.
