What are website tags?
Two common and important website tags that relate to SEO include; ‘Metadata Tags’ and ‘Blog Post Tags’. Metadata Tags are used within the HTML to help search engines and site users understand the content for a particular webpage. Blog Post Tags are a way for the website user to identify the topic of a blog post. They can also help the user find related articles within a website. The focus of this article will be about metadata tags. The two most important meta tags that relate to search indexing and visibility include the ‘Meta Title’ and ‘Meta Description’.
Meta Title Tags
Are placed in the HTML code of web page to show search engines and users the title of the page. The words used in the meta title will also be shown at the top of a web browser tab and in the search results.
Meta Description Tags
Are used to give a short description of a webpages content. The meta description helps a user decide if a website contains the information they are looking for.
Search Engine Snippet Example:
How to use metadata elements for SEO?
When creating each individual webpage it’s very important to add the correct meta title and description. There is a method to using metadata that will help search engines index a website correctly. It will also help website users identify the content of the individual webpages. Always remember to write unique meta title and descriptions to avoid any duplicate content problems that may occur otherwise.
Meta titles should be between 40 and 60 characters and should include the most relevant keywords that describe the topic of a webpage.
Meta descriptions should be between 140 to 160 characters and also contain the most relevant keywords. They should also include some additional information to help describe the content topic in more detail. This is evident in the previous example.
SEO and ranking impact of metadata tags
Adding metadata title and description tags is a crucial SEO factor that will ensure a websites pages are indexed correctly in the top search engines. They also play an important role for looking attractive and informative to the user when viewed in the search engine results page.
WEB SWIFT SEO summary
Always remember to write unique descriptive phrases that read well and compel users to choose your website over other competing sites. Use relevant keywords and the recommended amount of characters when writing meta title and descriptions, this is especially important in the mobile web results viewed on smaller screen. Avoid duplicating metadata elements on individual webpages. Check out the metadata for other professional websites and try to write a more compelling title and description that encourages user to click.
