Here are answers to the most commonly asked questions about metadata.
What is Metadata?
Going back to our original question: what is metadata? Metadata are invisible codes that send vital information about your web page to local search engines – such as Google – regarding how it should be displayed in search results.
Types of Meta Tags
- Meta Titles
- Meta Descriptions
- Meta Robots
- Meta Charset
- Meta Viewport
- Meta Refresh Redirect
Meta Titles
Just like the title of a book, a meta title lets web visitors know what the webpage is about. When a customer submits a search query to Google, the search engine will go ahead and suggest thousands of relevant websites for them to select from. The meta title not only helps attract potential web visitors/customers, but will also provide valuable insight into what the webpage will be about.
RV park owners need to keep in mind that crafting a meta title isn’t always as easy as it looks. For example, you should keep the titles concise. Furthermore, you can’t use the same meta title you developed for one page for another. This is one area in which companies may need help.
Meta Descriptions
Your meta description is just as important to optimizing your SEO as your meta title is. This is the description that displays underneath the title when your site comes up in search engine results. Your meta description must be a concise and accurate depiction of the content on your page.
Previously, the rule of thumb for meta descriptions was that the optimum number of characters was anywhere between 150 to 165 characters. A recent update on Google has allowed for longer snippets to be displayed, somewhere between 300 to 320 characters. It’s recommended that you frontload your meta descriptions with your most important text (aka keywords) within the first 150-165 characters.
Meta Robots
Let’s say you only want specific pages for your site indexed on search engines. This is where the robot meta tag comes in. With this specific meta tag, you can designate which pages get indexed or followed by simply adding commands such as “noindex, nofollow” to a robot’s meta tag. If you don’t utilize this tag, by default all of your pages will be indexed and followed.
So why would you want to use this? There might be pages on your site that, while they might be essential, are a bit thin in terms of content and you don’t want them to be indexed in a search.Meta Charset
In simple terms, the meta charset lets the browser know how characters should be displayed on your page. How exactly does this affect your SEO? While it might not have a direct effect on your rankings, it can cause issues that keep you from generating more traffic. Not only will search engines have trouble understanding your content, but people may not want to link to your page.
Meta charsets may also encourage a high bounce rate and low dwell time, because your page may look broken to someone. To be fair, issues with your charset are not the end of the world with their effect on traffic to your site and can be an easy fix if you implement a meta charset on all of your pages.Meta Viewport
The meta viewport tells your browser how a page is displayed on different screen sizes, including on a desktop, tablet, or phone. This actually plays a significant role in terms of how your site is ranked. Starting in 2015, Google started ranking more mobile-friendly sites higher on mobile searches.
If your page loads up as the desktop version on mobile, people are more inclined to click away from it. This is because, on mobile, a desktop site is harder to read and harder to navigate, creating a less optimal experience for your user. Including a meta viewport tag can help your site rank higher on multiple devices and make your site easy to use on any device.Meta Refresh Direct
This meta tag tells the browser to redirect your user to another URL after a certain amount of time has passed. It’s highly recommended that you do not use this unless it is absolutely necessary. They can be confusing to your user, even raising security concerns.
Some pages need to be parsed before moving along to the new URL, which can be time-consuming. The most important reason is that these kinds of redirects are not supported by all browsers. While Google does understand refresh directs and has no issue with them, not all browsers are created equal, and this can cause a lot of headaches for your user.
If you need to redirect, we recommend going with a 301 redirect instead and avoiding this practice at all costs. Only use meta refresh directs if you absolutely need to and have no other options.
Why are Meta Tags Important?
As previously mentioned, different kinds of meta tags take on different roles in how your page is displayed in a search engine. Although not all of them affect SEO, they are all important to help your site get properly indexed and make your site more appealing to potential visitors when they are searching for information.
