March 7, 2025
Do you want to be found more easily in search engines? Meta tags are the hidden heroes of search engine optimization! These small pieces of HTML code provide search engines with essential information about your website. They determine how your page appears in search results and can make the difference between getting clicks or being ignored.
What are meta tags?
Meta tags are essential for a strong online SEO strategy. They are small pieces of HTML that help search engines and visitors understand what your page is about. Think of the title and meta description: they appear in search results and must grab attention. With compelling and relevant meta tags, you not only increase your visibility but also entice more visitors to click on your link. At Seeders, they know exactly how to optimize this effectively!
A complete overview of important meta tags!
Title tag
The title tag is the first impression your website makes in search engines. It is the clickable title in search results and plays a crucial role in SEO. A well-optimized title tag clearly conveys what your page is about and includes key SEO-focused keywords. Nowadays, with AI tools, generating engaging and SEO-proof meta titles in bulk is a breeze!
Meta description
A strong meta description is essential to stand out in search results. This short text snippet under the title grabs visitors' attention and encourages them to click. Today, Google often makes its own decision and picks a "random" text snippet from the content. This means that the entered meta description may be ignored.
Robots meta tag
The robots meta tag is a powerful tool for controlling how search engines index your website. With this tag, you decide which pages should be visible in search results and which should not. Whether you want to avoid duplicate content, protect privacy, or optimize your crawl budget, the right settings make a difference. By strategically applying these instructions, you ensure that search engines display the right content and improve your online presence.
Meta viewport
The meta viewport tag ensures optimal display of your website on mobile devices. It defines how your page adapts to different screen sizes, ensuring a seamless user experience. This is not only important for your visitors but also for SEO: search engines reward mobile-friendly websites with better rankings. Websites today are often built with WordPress, which includes many standard HTML functions, eliminating the need for manual configuration. SEO with WordPress is accessible to everyone!
Alt tag
Alt tags are crucial for both search engine optimization and accessibility. By providing a good description for each image, you help search engines understand what your image is about, which can improve rankings. Adding alt texts also increases the chances of appearing in image search results. Additionally, alt tags help visually impaired users experience your website’s content better through screen readers.
Meta social media tag
Adding meta social media tags (such as Open Graph for Facebook and Twitter Cards for Twitter) ensures that your pages are displayed more attractively and relevantly when shared on social media, increasing traffic. If your business profile has a large number of followers or visitors, this can positively impact your rankings. It signals popularity, which Google increasingly values, aligning with the Google EEAT principle.
Canonical tag
Use a canonical tag to specify which version of a page is preferred, especially when you have similar content on multiple pages. This helps search engines avoid duplicate content and index the correct page. The canonical tag is especially important for SEO in webshops.
Summary of meta tags
The table below provides the HTML code and explanation for each meta tag, describing its impact on Google’s crawler.
| Meta Tag | HTML Code | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| Title Tag | <title>Your Page Title</title> | The title of your page displayed in search results and browser tabs. |
| Meta Description | <meta name="description" content="Short description"> | A short summary used by search engines to display your page in results. Ensure it is persuasive to drive clicks. |
| Robots Meta Tag | <meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow"> | Controls which pages search engines should or shouldn't index. |
| Meta Viewport | <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0"> | Ensures your website is displayed correctly on mobile devices. |
| Canonical Tag | <link rel="canonical" href="https://www.example.com/your-page"> | Prevents duplicate content by specifying the preferred version of a page. |
| Alt Tag | <img src="image.jpg" alt="Image description"> | Describes images for search engines and accessibility. |
| Open Graph Meta Tags | <meta property="og:title" content="Your Page Title"> | Used by social media to display your page attractively. |
| Twitter Card Meta Tags | <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary"> | Optimizes your page for Twitter sharing. |
Which meta tags have the most SEO impact?
Here are tips and guidelines for effectively using meta tags, including common mistakes to avoid, such as incorrect application of robots meta tags. If you decide to optimize meta tags, we recommend the following order based on their impact in Google:
- Title Tag
- Meta Viewport
- Robots Meta Tag
- Canonical Tag
- Alt Tag
- Meta Description
- Open Graph Meta Tags
- Twitter Card Meta Tags
Which tools can you use to optimize meta tags?
Here are some recommended tools to help you manage and optimize your meta tags easily:
- Yoast SEO: A powerful WordPress plugin that helps optimize title tags, meta descriptions, and more.
- SEMrush: Provides extensive SEO analysis, including meta tag optimization and keyword monitoring.
- Ahrefs: A comprehensive SEO tool that analyzes your metadata, including meta descriptions and title tags, and suggests improvements.
- Google Search Console: Shows how search engines index your pages and whether there are issues with your meta tags.
- ChatGPT: Useful for generating engaging and SEO-optimized meta titles and descriptions in bulk.
- Meta Tags Analyzer: An online tool for quickly checking whether your meta tags are correctly set up for SEO.
There are various helpful tools available to efficiently manage and optimize your meta tags. Yoast SEO is ideal for WordPress users, assisting with title tags and meta descriptions. Tools like SEMrush and Ahrefs offer in-depth metadata analysis and provide recommendations for improvement. Google Search Console helps you understand how search engines index your pages, while Meta Tags Analyzer quickly evaluates the effectiveness of your tags. These tools support you in achieving better SEO results.
Are all meta tags still relevant in 2025?
In 2025, some meta tags—such as the meta title, canonical tag, and robots meta tag—will still be important for SEO. However, other meta tags are losing popularity because Google either ignores manually entered tags or because their SEO impact is negligible in practice.
Publishing Specialist
Esmee Bruins is a Publishing Specialist at Seeders Zwolle. With a keen eye for detail and a passion for helping clients achieve their online marketing goals, Esmee plays a crucial role in ensuring that content is optimized for maximum visibility. With experience in the publishing industry, she brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the Seeders team.
