If you are new to managing your business’s SEO, here is an important element of SEO strategy that might be unfamiliar: meta tags. Read on to learn more about what meta tags are, why they matter and how you can optimize them to encourage business success.
What Meta Tags Are
Written into a webpage’s HTML code, meta tags are snippets of information about the webpage that can give search engines and web users valuable context. There are many different types of meta tags, to include title tags, meta descriptions, robots tags, language meta tags, author tags, copyright tags and more. Every type of tag has its own HTML code associated with it to tell the website how to function appropriately.
Why Meta Tags Matter
Meta tags help both search engines and web users in various ways. First, meta tags provide much-needed context, but meta tags can also serve to optimize user experience, which also impacts SEO.
Meta titles and descriptions are perhaps the most obviously valuable tags. In crawling the web, Google’s spiders read meta tags to understand what a webpage contains and how it might be relevant to different search queries. Then, Google often pulls a page’s meta title and description to display in its search results, which means that web users rely on meta tags to select which webpages to visit.
However, other meta tags are equally useful in ensuring that webpages load quickly and correctly. For example, the viewport meta tag helps webpages load correctly based on the size of the browser window. Google will rank webpages lower if they do not prioritize user experience with tags like this.
Meta tags are small, useful additions to every webpage — and not just because Google has decided they are. Fortunately, it should be relatively easy for you to add meta tags to every webpage on your business website.
How to Optimize Meta Tags in 2023
Once you know how to add meta tags, you can go about ensuring their high performance. There are a few simple guidelines that can improve how search engines and web users interact with your meta tags, such as:
Title tags: These should be no more than 55 characters and perhaps include a keyword. Most importantly, the title tag should be clear and accurately descriptive of the content on the webpage.
Meta descriptions: Professional advice for meta descriptions is evolving as Google moves away from using meta descriptions whole-cloth in search. Still, you should consider drafting traditional meta descriptions for every page, which means creating a snippet of text around 155 characters that includes a targeted keyword.
Robots tags: This tag tells a search engine’s spiders not to index or follow the links on a particular webpage. This might be useful for pages on your site that are important but offer little content for web users.
Alt text: This is a meta tag attached to images on your site. Alt text should describe a specific image, which helps a search engine “see” what the image contains and improves accessibility for web users relying on screen reading tools.
The world of SEO has become incredibly complicated, to the extent that few business leaders can manage every facet of SEO strategy on their own. While meta tags alone might be doable for you and your small crew, there are so many other aspects of SEO that are likely beyond well beyond your capability and capacity. To ensure your business has the best chance at success, you should consider taking advantage of the comprehensive services provided by a digital marketing firm utilizing white label SEO.
Professional SEO services can add meta tags to a broader SEO strategy, ensuring greater success with ranking. What’s more, when business leaders utilize SEO services from a digital marketing agency, they can integrate SEO efforts into a comprehensive digital marketing campaign, which makes it easier to meet significant business goals and achieve incredible business growth.
Knowing more about meta tags and other details of SEO can be beneficial, even if you choose to outsource your SEO going forward. With a foundation of knowledge, you can effect positive change in your company’s SEO, making many of your small business dreams come true.
