{"id":21132,"date":"2020-01-30T15:20:18","date_gmt":"2020-01-30T15:20:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/glosario-digital\/meta-tag"},"modified":"2026-09-29T06:39:46","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T06:39:46","slug":"meta-tag","status":"publish","type":"encyclopedia","link":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/meta-tag","title":{"rendered":"Meta tag"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"boxpad wp-image-14623 size-full alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/GLOSARIO-M-1.jpg\" alt=\"HTML code for a meta tag\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" \/><strong>Definition:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A <strong>meta tag<\/strong> is an HTML element that provides metadata about a page to browsers, search engines and other applications. It is usually placed in the document&#8217;s <code>&lt;head&gt;<\/code> and does not create a visible content block by itself.<\/p>\n<p>Meta tags can describe the page, declare its encoding, guide mobile presentation or send directives to particular crawlers. Each consumer recognises a specific set, so an unsupported tag may be <strong>ignored<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n<h2>How a Meta Tag Works<\/h2>\n<p>The <code>&lt;meta&gt;<\/code> element is a void element: it contains attributes but no text or closing tag. In its most common form, <code>name<\/code> identifies the type of data and <code>content<\/code> supplies its <strong>associated value<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>For example, <code>&lt;meta name=\"description\" content=\"Page summary\"&gt;<\/code> declares a description. Other forms use <code>charset<\/code>, <code>http-equiv<\/code>, <code>property<\/code> or <code>itemprop<\/code> for different <strong>metadata models<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The <code>&lt;title&gt;<\/code> element, canonical links declared with <code>&lt;link&gt;<\/code> and structured data in JSON-LD also provide information about a page, but they are <strong>different elements<\/strong>. Some tools use \u201cmeta title\u201d for the SEO title, although it is not technically a meta tag.<\/p>\n<h2>Functions of Meta Tags<\/h2>\n<p>The function depends on the attribute and value interpreted by each browser, search engine or platform. <strong>Common uses<\/strong> include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Encoding:<\/strong> <code>&lt;meta charset=\"utf-8\"&gt;<\/code> declares the document&#8217;s character encoding.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Mobile presentation:<\/strong> The <code>viewport<\/code> tag guides the browser on the page&#8217;s width and initial scale.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Description:<\/strong> <code>description<\/code> summarises the content for systems that choose to use that text.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Crawling:<\/strong> <code>robots<\/code> communicates supported directives about indexing, link following or search-result presentation.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Appearance:<\/strong> Values such as <code>theme-color<\/code> can affect parts of the browser interface.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Meta tags are therefore not exclusively for SEO, and their effects are not always invisible. Their <strong>actual scope<\/strong> depends on the agent processing them and the specifications it supports.<\/p>\n<h2>Use in Search Engines<\/h2>\n<p>Search engines read certain meta tags together with content, links and other technical signals. The <strong>meta description<\/strong> may be used as the result snippet when it accurately summarises the page, although Google can generate different text for a particular query.<\/p>\n<p>An accurate, specific description can help users understand a result and affect its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/ctr\">CTR<\/a>, but it does not guarantee a ranking position by itself. It should match the visible content and avoid strings of <strong>repeated keywords<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The <code>robots<\/code> tag can communicate directives such as <code>noindex<\/code>, <code>nofollow<\/code>, <code>nosnippet<\/code> or preview limits. A search engine must be allowed to crawl a URL before it can read a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/noindex\">noindex<\/a> directive. Equivalent rules for non-HTML resources can be sent through the <strong>X-Robots-Tag header<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The former <code>keywords<\/code> tag has no effect on Google <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/indexing\">indexing<\/a> or ranking. Other systems may define their own tags, but <strong>unrecognised names<\/strong> do not require a search engine to use them.<\/p>\n<h2>Metadata for Social Networks<\/h2>\n<p>Social platforms can inspect specific tags to construct a link preview. The <a href=\"https:\/\/ogp.me\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Open Graph<\/a> protocol uses <code>property<\/code> attributes such as <code>og:title<\/code>, <code>og:description<\/code>, <code>og:image<\/code> and <code>og:url<\/code> to define the <strong>shared representation<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>These values do not necessarily replace the title, description or image used by a search engine. They allow the social card to be adapted and to provide an image with suitable dimensions, format and alternative text. Some platforms also maintain their <strong>own extensions<\/strong> and caches.<\/p>\n<h2>Implementation Errors<\/h2>\n<p>A valid meta tag may lose its effect when it is duplicated, conflicts with another directive or sits outside a correctly formed <code>&lt;head&gt;<\/code>. <strong>Common problems<\/strong> include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Duplicate values:<\/strong> Several descriptions or incompatible directives create an ambiguous signal for the consumer.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Outdated content:<\/strong> The summary or image no longer represents what the URL provides.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Conflicting directives:<\/strong> A global rule and a crawler-specific rule may produce a more restrictive result.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Late insertion:<\/strong> Generating or changing tags with JavaScript may prevent some clients from receiving the expected state.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Obsolete names:<\/strong> Tags such as <code>keywords<\/code> or retired directives remain even though the recipient no longer uses them.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The number of tags does not improve a page by itself. It is better to include only the necessary metadata, with <strong>valid syntax<\/strong> and values consistent with the document.<\/p>\n<h2>Meta Tag Verification<\/h2>\n<p>A review should inspect the HTML response and, when the page modifies its <code>&lt;head&gt;<\/code> with scripts, the rendered DOM. Browser developer tools can locate duplicates and confirm the <strong>final value<\/strong> exposed to each client.<\/p>\n<p>For SEO, URL inspection and crawling tests help confirm which version a search engine processes. HTML validators and social-media debuggers can reveal incorrect attributes, inaccessible images or stale caches. Verification should also cover <strong>HTTP headers<\/strong> when X-Robots-Tag rules are present.<\/p>\n<p>A correct implementation combines <strong>valid code<\/strong>, unique metadata and consistency with visible content. Meta tags are one specific part of a page&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/metadata\">metadata<\/a>, not a replacement for its content or technical architecture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A meta tag provides page information to browsers and search engines. Learn its types, SEO uses, common errors and ways to verify implementation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":81039,"template":"","encyclopedia-tag":[1397],"class_list":["post-21132","encyclopedia","type-encyclopedia","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","encyclopedia-tag-seo-elements"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia\/21132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/encyclopedia"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"encyclopedia-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia-tag?post=21132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}