Meta Tags – How Do Meta Tags Impact SERP Results?
Meta tags are one of the primary steps to effective on-site SEO, but many sites don’t pay attention to them and further do they really impact SERP results? If not, do they even matter?
If you’re looking to dominate Google SERPs simply by using meta tags — good luck!
That being said, Meta tags, when used properly can still be useful in a number of areas outside just ranking pages e.g. to improve click-through rates from the SERP.
Search engine optimization is essential for every business site in order to generate targeted inbound traffic and sale conversions.
However, when it comes to SEO techniques and tools, most business owners are not aware of how to incorporate them correctly. This is why they hire managed SEO experts with the latest knowledge of search engine optimization strategies and tools to help your business site to establish its brand presence in the market.
A good SEO professional will help you understand the basics of search engine optimization for the benefit of your site so that you gradually know about its importance and how your site can benefit from it.
To that end meta tags can have a significant impact on your sites performance in SERP.
An introduction to meta tags and their role in search engine optimization
Most webmasters and business owners use meta tags for their sites. Meta tags are small snippets of words that describe the content of the webpage. However, you will never see them on the website as they appear in the code of the page. For beginners, you might have seen tags in blog posts however the meta tags are quite similar. They are small descriptions that help search engines know about the webpage.
What is the difference between blogpost tags and website tags?
Blogpost tags and website tags differ when it comes to the place where they are found. Meta tags are found in the HTML code of the website. They are found on the top head of the webpage and search engines can see them. The term “meta” refers to metadata that is what describes them the best as they give you information about the webpage.
How do meta tags impact search engine optimization?
Meta tags do impact SEO, but all of them do not impact search engine optimization every time.
This guide will help you to understand which meta tags work and those that will not. If you want to locate the meta tags of a webpage, you need to check the “view page source.” You just need to right-click any part of the webpage and select the option’ view page source” When you click on this option, you will find a new tab opening up in Chrome, and if you are using the Firefox browser, it will appear as a pop-up window on the top of the page.
How do the different types of meta tags impact the search engine optimization of websites?
As mentioned above, some meta tags impact SERP (search engine rank position) while others do not.
This is why you should know the different types of meta tags. Experts that provide professional SEO services often explain these types of meta tags to you so that you are aware of why they are used. The following are the different types of meta tags that are used for search engine optimization. Note that some of them are not as beneficial as they once were while the others are worth using on a regular basis. They will improve inbound traffic to your site with regular use as they help Google to understand your webpage better. This, in turn, helps Google to rank these pages. Out of the many meta tags that exist in the market, the following four types are the most important to impact search engine optimization for your site-
- Meta Keywords – This is a group of keywords that you regard relevant to the specific webpage. In the past, these meta tags were very popular and often used by search engine optimization specialists however today they serve no use to search engines with the latest changes and developments. Earlier, webmasters would insert keywords that did not relate to their business niche with a goal to get more page views. It was known as keyword stuffing until Google got smart and stopped using meta keywords in ranking as it was an area to abuse easily.
- Title Tag- It denotes the text on the head of the browser that helps search engines to view it as the title of the webpage. Note, out of the four meta tags mentioned in the list; this is the most important of them all. They hugely impact SEO and are the only tags that are visible to the user. They are found on the head of the browser.
- Meta Description- This is a short description of the webpage. Like the previous meta tag, it is useful to Google as it explains what the specific page is all about. Note, this meta tag does not always show up in the Google search results however it is greatly beneficial for SEO. The keywords used in the meta description will not affect page ranks however if it is compelling enough web users will do from the search engine results to your site.
- Meta Robots- This helps search engine crawlers known as robots or bots to determine what they should do with the page. You can instruct them to index or not to index your page. This means you decide whether the page should be displayed in the search engine results or not. Besides indexing, this meta tag will instruct bots what to do with the links on your page- you can set them to follow or nofollow This means you can instruct the robots whether they should trust the page links to move to the next page.
SEO experts say that once you understand how meta tags work, you effectively can manage them yourself. However, if you do not have the time or lack the confidence to do search engine optimization for your website on your own, it is prudent to take the help of professional companies who will do the task for you. When you are choosing these companies, ensure that you check their credentials and past track records so that you are assured they are aware of the latest SEO trends and legitimate techniques to ensure your website get top ranks in Google searches with success. Before choosing a company, ensure you go through online reviews and client testimonials to ensure your website is in safe hands!
