Meta tags are special HTML tags that can be used to carry information, which can be read by some search engines. In the early years of the World Wide Web, search engines used there meta tags to rank web pages. Today, the importance of meta tags has decreased to a large extent. However, they should still be used a many smaller search engines still use them to rank pages.

The DESCRIPTION meta tag describes the web page to the search engines. The DESCRIPTION tag is important, so it is advisable to use it right after the title tag. Just write a sentence or two describing about the webpage.

For example:

<META NAME="DESCRIPTION" CONTENT="Information on the importance of meta tags in search engine optimization.">

Don’t stuff too many keywords into the DESCRIPTION tag as it can lead to a ban.

The KEYWORD meta tag is a way of telling the search engines know what the page is about. This tag is not so important these days. However, there is no loss in including it on your page.

Limit the number of keywords to 10 or 12. Include only the keywords on the page and don’t stuff too many keywords. The keywords can be either separated by a comma or a space.

For example:

<META NAME="KEYWORDS" CONTENT="meta tags,description,keywords,search engine optimization.">

There are other meta tags, but none of them are important any more.

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Related Reading:

The Usborne Encyclopedia of the Ancient World: Internet Linked (History Encyclopedias)