Meta tags are one of the first elements worth checking during a website SEO audit. Placed in HTML code, they inform search engines and users about the content of a page—though some of them are now primarily historical.
In this article, we explain which meta tags actually affect SEO, which are technically important, and which can be safely omitted.
What are meta tags and where are they located in the page code?
Meta tags, also known as meta tags, are HTML code elements placed in the head section of a document. They are invisible to website visitors – the browser doesn't display them in the content; they only provide search engine robots and other systems with information about the page : its topic, language, display on mobile devices, and indexing rules.
The definition of a meta tag is simple – it is a tag written in the format without any counterpart in the visual layer of the page. The exception is the tag – is not written as <meta>, but it has a similar informational function and in SEO it is treated as part of the same tag family.
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How to find meta tags in a page's source code?
To check where meta tags are located on a page, simply open the page's source code (Ctrl+U in most browsers) and locate the <head> section. This is where, not in the visible page content, all the key metadata that influences how the page is presented in search results is located.
In the same section of the code there is also a language tag indicating the language of the subpage and a charset attribute – both of which are discussed later in the article along with other technical tags.
Meta tags that affect positioning
Several meta tags have direct relevance to technical SEO . The first is title tags—the title of the page displayed in search results and on browser tabs. Google considers them when determining the topic of a page, so it's best to place the keyword near the beginning of the title.
The optimal length is 50–60 characters with spaces, i.e. approximately 600 pixels – a longer title is truncated by the search engine and sometimes even replaced with another version consisting of, for example, an H1 heading or a fragment of the page content.
Google can replace a title tag even if its length is correct – this happens when the algorithm determines that another part of the page better reflects the user's intent. This is a good argument for ensuring that the title and H1 tags are consistent in content, although they don't have to be identical.
Meta description isn't a ranking factor in the narrow sense, but a well-written description increases CTR, and a higher click-through rate can signal to the algorithm that the page meets user needs . A safe length for a meta description is 155–160 characters, including spaces; longer text will be truncated in search results. Similar to title tags, Google can generate its own description based on the page's content if it determines it better matches the user's query.
Robots and canonical tags – how to control indexing and duplicate content?
The robots tag controls link indexing and tracking, for example, through noindex and nofollow values. The canonical tag, in turn, indicates the version of the URL that the search engine should treat as the primary version—a fundamental tool for dealing with duplicate content when the same subpage is available at multiple addresses, for example, with filtering parameters in an online store.
Here's an example of a well-constructed tag pair for a blog post: title – "Meta tags in SEO – how they affect your website's positioning", description – "Check which meta tags actually impact SEO and which can be omitted. A practical guide to meta tags."
Both tags are within safe limits and contain the main phrase.
Meta tags are technically important, but have no impact on ranking
Viewport is responsible for responsiveness – it allows the website to scale correctly on smartphones and tablets. It's not a ranking factor, but its absence can reduce the user experience on mobile devices, which affects users' assessment of the website's quality.
Charset specifies the character encoding, most often UTF-8, and allows the browser to correctly display Polish diacritical marks. Without this tag, letters like ą, ę, or ż may appear as random symbols. The language tag serves a similar, purely technical purpose, indicating the primary language of the subpage's content.
Open Graph meta tags (og:title, og:description, og:image) and Twitter Card control the appearance of a page when shared on social media. They don't affect Google rankings, but they are responsible for how the link appears on Facebook or LinkedIn, which translates into the number of clicks from these channels . Schema.org structured data serves a similar function—building a better page presentation in search results— though they are not meta tags, but a separate type of markup in the page's code.
Meta tags that are outdated or unnecessary from an SEO perspective
Meta keywords were once used to indicate a page's keywords. However, Google stopped recognizing them over a decade ago, primarily due to widespread overuse—sites would include dozens of phrases unrelated to the content to artificially expand their reach. Today, these tags have no relevance to SEO.
Here are some other tags that have also lost their practical use:
- revisit-after – was supposed to inform robots how often they should return to the website; search engines themselves decide on the indexing frequency and ignore this tag,
- rating – determined the age category of the content; today it is rarely read by search engines,
- expiration – indicated the expiration date of the content; does not affect how Google treats the page,
- refresh – forced automatic page refresh after a specified time; currently considered a problematic solution for UX and is rather not used,
- author – informs about the author of the page, but search engines do not use it to assess the credibility of the content.
None of these tags will improve the visibility of the website in search engines, and implementing them would require time that would be better spent on optimizing the title, description, or content.
How to add and check meta tags on a website?
Meta tags are entered directly in the HTML code, in the section :
Page title
In most CMS systems, you don't need to edit the code manually. For WordPress, the most common plugins are Yoast SEO , which provides title and description fields for each page and allows you to manage robots and canonical tags without having to know HTML. Other SEO plugins available for popular CMS systems also offer similar features.
How to check meta tags on a website?
To check meta tags on an already published page, simply open the page's source code (Ctrl+U) and locate the section—that's where all the tags you're interested in are located. You can also use your browser's developer tools (Ctrl+Shift+I, Elements tab) or free online meta tag analyzers, which immediately show the title and description length in characters and pixels.
Regularly checking meta tags is especially important after a website migration or CMS change – this is often the moment when the title and description are reset to default values and the website loses the previously achieved CTR.
The most common meta tag errors
Title duplication is one of the most common problems on larger websites – when multiple subpages have identical titles, search engines have difficulty determining which one should be displayed for a given query. It's worth regularly checking title uniqueness in Google Search Console.
A description that's too long or too short is another common mistake. A description longer than 160 characters will be truncated, while one that's too short won't use the available space to entice the user to click. The same problem applies to titles – too short titles can be interpreted as insufficiently descriptive.
Stuffing keywords in the title and description – i.e. repeating the same phrase multiple times – does not increase the effectiveness of the tag, and search engines interpret such text as spam, which may reduce the credibility of the subpage in the algorithm's assessment.
The last common mistake is leaving the default, automatically generated meta tags by the CMS – without manual editing of title and description, the website loses the chance for better CTR and precise matching to user queries.
Meta Tag FAQs
Meta tags are special markers in a page's HTML code that provide search engines (e.g., Google) and browsers with key information about the site's content. They are invisible to users browsing the page, but they play a crucial role in the indexing and display of the page in search results.
From the point of view of positioning, the three most important tags are: Meta Title (title tag), Meta Description (page description) and Meta Robots (instructions for indexing robots).
The Meta Title is one of the most important on-site ranking factors. It tells search engines exactly what a given page is about. A good title should be unique, include the main keyword (ideally at the beginning), and be between 60 and 70 characters long to prevent Google from truncating it in search results.
No, the Meta Description tag hasn't been a direct ranking factor for a long time. However, it has a huge impact on CTR (Click-Through Rate). An attractive, distinctive description with a call to action (CTA) catches the user's eye and encourages them to visit the page, which indirectly boosts SEO.
This tag is a direct instruction to search engine robots (e.g., Googlebot). It allows you to manage what gets indexed by the search engine. You can use it to allow or disallow indexing of a given page (index/noindex) and to tell robots to follow or ignore links on the page (follow/nofollow).
There's no need for that. For over a decade, Google has completely ignored the Meta Keywords tag when evaluating and ranking pages. Instead of wasting time entering keywords there, it's much better to focus on optimizing titles and descriptions.
Summary
The above article covers the following topics:
- Meta tags are invisible tags in HTML code that provide search engines with key information about a page and influence its SEO.
- Title, description, robots and canonical tags are the most important meta tags that shape the visibility and correct indexing of a website in search engines.
- Technical meta tags do not affect ranking, but are crucial for the correct display and sharing of the page.
- Outdated and unnecessary meta tags are ignored by search engines and have no impact on the website's positioning.
- Meta tags are added in HTML code or via CMS plugins, and checked using the source code or online tools.
- The most common meta tag errors are duplicating them, incorrect length, keyword stuffing, and leaving the default settings.
