Understanding Meta tags: Definition, meta tag analysis of a webpage of choice and description of each meta tag

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Hello! Let's review meta tags.




(W3schools, 2019) 

Definition and Usage

"The <meta> tag defines metadata about an HTML document. Metadata is data (information) about data.

<meta> tags always go inside the <head> element, and are typically used to specify character set, page description, keywords, author of the document, and viewport settings.

Metadata will not be displayed on the page, but is machine parsable.

Metadata is used by browsers (how to display content or reload page), search engines (keywords), and other web services.

There is a method to let web designers take control over the viewport (the user's visible area of a web page), through the <meta> tag (See "Setting The Viewport" example below)." (W3schools, 2019)


(W3schools, 2019)
(W3schools, 2019)

(W3schools, 2019)



"There are four major types of meta tags worth knowing about and we’ll talk about them all here. Some are not as useful as they once were. Others are worth using regularly, and will very likely increase your traffic by letting Google know who you are and what you provide. (There are more than four kinds of meta tags, but some are less common or not relevant to web marketing).

The four types we’ll discuss here are:

  • Meta Keywords Attribute – A series of keywords you deem relevant to the page in question.
  • Title Tag – This is the text you’ll see in the SERP and at the top of your browser. Search engines view this text as the “title” of your page.
  • Meta Description Attribute – A brief description of the page.
  • Meta Robots Attribute – An indication to search engine crawlers (robots or “bots”) as to what they should do with the page." (WorldStream.com, 2019)

I choosed a home page of website of shop Boots (www.boots.com, n.d.) for meta tag analysis.
For order to find the source code of the page use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+U.


<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">

The http-equiv attribute (HTML tag <meta> ) is actually equivalent to a hypertext header (imitation of an http header), forming the page header and determining its processing. As a rule, they control the actions of browsers and are used to form information that is given out as normal http headers. (css.in.ua., 2023)

<title>Makeup & Cosmetics Products Online - Boots</title>

<TITLE> Meta tag - what is it </ TITLE> - this tag is responsible for the title of the page, which is what you will see in the search results. (Termin.in.ua, 2019)

<meta name="description" content="1,000's of cosmetic products and makeup from top brands including NYX, No7 and Revlon. Collect 4 Advantage Card Points for every pound you spend.">

<META name = “description” content = “What does the term Meta tag mean”> – this meta tag is responsible for describing the content of the page. (Termin.in.ua, 2019)

<meta name="keywords" content="">

<META name = “keywords” content = “metatags, what does it mean, what is it”> – This tag is responsible for the keywords that people search for information (nowadays, this tag is no longer used because it is ignored by search engines). (Termin.in.ua, 2019)

<meta name="pageName" content="Makeup & Cosmetics Products Online - Boots">
"The <meta> content Attribute in HTML is used to given the values that are related to the http-equiv or name attribute. The content attribute can associated with the <meta> element. Attribute Values: It contains single value text which is used to specify the content of the meta information." (GeeksforGeeks, 2019)


Screenshot of the code on the page of shop Boots (www.boots.com, n.d.):


(www.boots.com, n.d)






References:

css.in.ua. (2023). http-equiv атрибут HTML теґа meta. [online] Available at: <https://css.in.ua/html/tag/meta/http-equiv> [Accessed 30 Jan. 2023]


GeeksforGeeks. (2019). HTML | content Attribute. [online] Available at: <https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/html-meta-content-attribute/> [Accessed 30 Jan. 2023]


Termin.in.ua. (2019). Мета-тег (Meta tag) – що це таке та навіщо потрібні метатеги на сайті. [online] Available at: <https://termin.in.ua/meta-teh-meta-tag/> [Accessed 30 Jan. 2023]

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Worldstream.com. (2019) Meta Tags – How Google Meta Tags Impact SEO. [online] Available at: <https://www.wordstream.com/meta-tags> [Accessed 21 January 2023]


W3schools. (2019) HTML <meta> Tag. [online] Available at:<https://www.w3schools.com/tags/tag_meta.asp> [Accessd 21 January 2023]


www.boots.com. (n.d.). Makeup & Cosmetics Products Online - Boots. [online] Available at: <https://www.boots.com/beauty/makeup> [Accessed 29 January 2023]

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