On-Page SEO Beginner’s Guide to Meta Tags for SEO

Search engine optimization is just like everyone standing on two legs. One leg is off-page optimization which focuses on building credibility for your page. And you do that by getting quality backlinks. The other leg or pillar is the on-page optimization, which is more technical.

This one ensures your page gets to rank high on the search engine result page (SERP). And the things you get to work on in this context are the keywords, meta tags, etc.

But you’ve come here today to learn more about meta tags. How should you use them to ensure they work for you?

Well, like always, I’ve got an answer ready for you. And it’s all within this article. Read on to learn all you need to know to push your page to the top.

What are Meta Tags?

Meta tags are your way of providing more information about what you have on your page. And in a real sense, you are trying to help Google see why your page is relevant to its users. So, if you get the hang of this, you can be sure of many more users noticing you. And that builds up your traffic.

Now, meta tags cover a list of tags you work on to help your page rank higher. These include the title tag, meta description, robot meta tags, and viewport meta tags. While I focus more on the title and description in this post, note that all are vital.

What is a Title Tag?

Think back to the last time you were on Google’s search engine result page. You could see this list of blue texts — sometimes: purple if you’ve clicked on the link before.

What you were looking at right there was the title tag to the linked page.

In other words, your title tag is usually the first thing every search engine user sees first. And this can be the deciding factor if they will click on your page or not.

My first tip for you is that every page on your site must have a title tag.

Other tips you should keep in mind when adding this to your pages are:

Keep it short and straightforward. The longer it is, the less likely a user will stay on your title.
Ensure it’s relevant and contains the right keywords.
Avoid clickbait as users don’t like finding mismatched content.
Ensure no two pages on your site has the same tag.

What is a Meta Description?

If you were to go back to the SERP, you’d notice some texts below the title tag.

Now, this is the meta description. And it’s your way of summarizing all that is on your page.

For best practice, you should keep this within 160 characters. And avoid adding keywords in a meaningless way.

Your meta description has little to do with increasing your rank compared to your title tag. On the other hand, it is a better support text to convince users to visit your page.

So, you could say it is the tag next important to your title tag in increasing your click-through rate (CTR). When you add keywords, ensure the text still makes a lot of sense. Keep it relevant, accurate, and concise. That’s how you win search engine users over.

Now, for your bonus. The viewport tag is a must on your page. Why? This tag determines if your page will load well on different screen sizes. And if not there, it can increase the rate at which people leave your page: the higher your bounce rate, the lower your SERP ranking.

Still, the good news is this. With CMS in the world today, you can still work out all these on your pages without knowing a thing about coding.

Now, here’s where we put a stop to this article. See you next time!