What is Metadata?
Metadata is the information that is kept in a webpage’s HTML code that helps search engines interpret the page and determine the page’s relevance.
In simple terms, metadata is data that describes other data of your content or website. Generally invisible to the reader, metadata works behind the scenes to drive search engines towards the page in question. However, some of the most critical pieces of metadata like the title, description and URL are not only visible to the audience, but play an important role in search engine optimization.
Why is Metadata Important?
Meta tags are important for SEO because they make sure search engines know what your content is about. Based on these tags, search engines will be able to show the website in the appropriate results. They improve the website’s visibility and accessibility so that people can find you easily.
Meta tag best practices
‘Metadata’ and ‘meta tags’ are often used interchangeably. Meta tags are a type of HTML tag that provides search engines with information about a webpage and directly influences how search engines view a website.
Most meta tag elements are for the benefit of search engines, like Googlebot and other web crawlers. And they generally comprise a number of elements, such as-
1. Keywords meta tags
Also known as ‘Meta Keywords’ – are a specific type of meta tag that helps tell search engines what the topic of the page is and determine which page on your site should rank for a search.
2. Title tags
The title tag informs search engines of the title you want to be displayed on the search pages. It’s a simplified phrase of the headline that appears on the webpage that makes it easier for search engine crawlers to read, classify, and rank your content. The title tag should:
- Be 70 characters or less
- Contain descriptive keywords
- Avoid – long , generic, vague or clickbait titles (although clickbait does occasionally work on the human mind)
3. Description Meta Tags
A meta description summarizes the content of the webpage for search engine crawlers and internet users. It appears below the title tag on the search engine results page.
This description needs to be-
- Within 160 characters or less
- Compelling
- Truthful
- Unique and contain the key phrases that people would use to find this page
4. Alt Tags
Generally located within the image tags themselves, alt tags provide a text-based alternative for search engines to read and interpret. For example, for incorporating an image of a laptop, the word ‘laptop’ is added to the image’s alt tag. Besides helping search engines to better interpret the image, using alt tags can have an effect on the page’s overall ranking.
5. Viewport Meta Tag
The viewport meta tag is used to instruct the browser, such as Chrome, to display a webpage on different screen sizes, such as mobile, desktop or tablet.
Understanding the basics of metadata can go a long way in optimizing your web content. There are various tools used for metadata and to perform SEO Audits to check your page status and gather information about competitors. Used correctly, your website metadata will greatly improve your website’s visibility in organic search results, and can lead to a greater amount of traffic to your site.