Do you use meta description tags?

One of the easiest ways to get the ball rolling with your web pages and being noticed by search engines is to use HTML <meta> tags. Years ago, many webmasters took this as an opportunity to abuse the <meta> tags and the search engines found that the quality of search results was suffering. Today, search engines don't give the <meta> tags much weight - Google announced in September of 2009 that neither meta descriptions nor meta keywords affects Google's ranking algorithms for web searches.

However, it's still beneficial to complete this quick and easy task.

There are a few <meta> tags you should use, and these are the most common:

• META DESCRIPTION - Search engines will use the information in the <meta> description tag as well as the <title> to display a brief summary of your site that goes along with its link on search results. SEO experts recommends it to have between 50–160 characters. A well-crafted meta description can improve click-through rates from search results. Learn more on Meta Description
• TITLE TAG - The title tag is crucial for SEO as it tells search engines what the page is about. It's also the headline that appears in search results. Keep it under 50-60 characters to ensure it displays properly in search results. Include primary keywords relevant to the page content, and ensure your title aligns with what users are likely searching for and addresses their needs or queries. Each page should have a unique title to avoid duplicate content issues and ensure each page can rank for different queries.
• HEADER TAGS (H1, H2, H3 etc). - Header tags help structure content and signal to search engines the hierarchy of information. The H1 tag should contain the primary keyword and clearly describe the page content. Use H2, H3, etc., to organize subheadings and support the main topic.
• ALT TEXT FOR IMAGES - Alt text provides a description of images, helping search engines understand the content of the images. Use relevant keywords but avoid keyword stuffing. Alt text also improves accessibility for visually impaired users.
• CANONICAL TAG - The canonical tag helps prevent duplicate content issues by specifying the preferred version of a webpage. It tells search engines which version of a URL to index and rank.
• ROBOTS META TAG - This tag controls how search engines index and follow links on your page. Common values are "index, follow" (default), "noindex" (do not index the page), and "nofollow" (do not follow links on the page).
• META KEYWORDS (less important) - This tag was used to help search engines classify your content. However, major search engines like Google no longer use meta keywords for ranking purposes. It's generally unnecessary to include them. Learn more on Meta Keywords: Should You Use Them?

View more on <meta> tags

We have a program called SSW Code Auditor to check for this rule.