Meta tags are the most important thing for a webpage while discussing SEO or search rankings. If your website doesn’t have correct meta tags, search engines will not be able to read and understand the page’s content.
What are meta tags?
In website language, meta means data about the data. Simply saying, meta tags contain information about the webpage on which they are placed. They inform search engines and ranking algorithms about the topics and main intent of the context of the page.
Some tags are used as agents to provide information to search engines like page titles, page descriptions, keywords, or language. These tags are usually called meta tags.
Effect of meta tags on SEO
Meta tags can affect the website’s ranking position because they convey information to search engines about the contents of the page. If your meta tags are configured accurately to show exact information on your page, it will help the algorithm to put your website in right place.
Searching algorithms crawl every website submitted and then try to figure out what the pages are about. And they get an idea about the content topic or category through meta tags. If you set them correctly, your crawling process will be far faster and more efficient.
List of 10 important meta tags for SEO
These meta tags are not a must thing to do while working on SEO. But if you do these, your ranking on the search pages can improve to great extent.
Meta Title Tags
This tag is the most important tag on your web page. This is usually a clickable link in the search page which can take a visitor to the web page. Try to write this article title as much attractive as you can. You have to catch the attention of visitors once they see your title.
Use: Title tags are used to provide a clear and complete idea of your web page.
Example:
<title>10 most important meta tags for On-page SEO - Onearticle</title>
For example, for this article, the title tag is the main heading of this content. It will allow search engines to figure out what this article is about.
Suggestions:
- Always give only a single title tag to your web page.
- Keep the length of the title between 50 to 60 characters. (Long titles are trimmed on the search result page)
- Place your main keyword at the start of the title. But don’t make it spammy! Do it naturally.
- Use your website name in the title. It doesn’t matter if it is at the start or in the end. It will improve rankings.
- Do not duplicate title tags on your web page, it will create confusion even if they are the same.
- Always place title tags at the head of your web page. (<head>)
Read: How to write SEO-Optimized Article?
Meta Description Tags
This tag is also used in the same way as a title tag. It is displayed on the search result page as an expert or short description of the title. You can place attractive information in this tag which is larger than the title. It will make a visitor curious about the content on your page and it’s better for you.
Use: Description tags are used to provide an excerpt or short description of your web page.
Example:
<meta name="description" content="Meta tags can affect the website’s ranking position because they convey information to search engines about the contents of the page. Here is the list of top 10."/>
For example, this article contains a description of 160 characters, so we can completely describe what is actually on our page.
Suggestions:
- Always assign only one and unique description tag that reflects exactly what’s on your page.
- Keep your description between 150 to 160 characters, it will be trimmed if exceeds.
- Include your primary keywords as well as secondary keywords in the meta description. (Don’t just put only keywords in the description, it will be considered keyword stuffing)
- Use eye-catchy and attractive words or phrases that derive a visitor to your web page.
Heading Tags (H1 to H6)
Heading tags are used to identify topics and sub-topics in your article or content. From H1 to H6 there are 6 heading levels that you can use to write different titles. The most important heading tag is H1 which is considered mostly by search engines. Other tags are not strictly followed by any algorithm.
Use: These tags are used to write different headings for the web page.
Example:
<h1>Heading 1</h1>
<h2>Heading 2</h2>
<h3>Heading 3</h3>
<h4>Heading 4</h4>
<h5>Heading 5</h5>
<h6>Heading 6</h6>
For example, this article is using different heading levels like H3 and H4. The main heading is to write the tag name and the sub-heading is for usage and examples.
Suggestions:
- Keep your heading closely related to the content they are used for.
- Include keywords from the text they are placed for.
- Do not do keyword stuffing in your headings. Keep it natural and fluent for readers.
- Do not overuse heading tags in your content. Only use a necessary number of titles.
Pro Tip! Always keep your title tag and H1 tag exactly the same. (Google’s Recommendation)
Image Alt Tag
The image alt tag is a little bit different from other meta tags. It is specific to only images of a web page and not to the text. To use an image alt tag, you must have an image in your article or text.
Use: Imag alt tags are used in <img> tags. When an image cannot be loaded due to any reason, this alt tag value will be displayed to the visitor. Search engines cannot analyze images without alt tags.
Example:
<img src="logo.png" alt="Website Name">
For example, the above image tag contains the alt=”Website name” attribute. If for some reason, ‘logo.png’ does not load successfully, the browser will display an alt value ‘Website Name’.
Suggestions:
- Create attractive images with eye-catchy colors and graphics.
- Use the Primary keyword in the image alt attribute. (It can rank in Image search)
- Always add alt value to your images, whether they are main images or not.
- Keep your alt text clear and natural, stuffing only keywords will affect your website negatively.
