What Is a Meta Tag?
Meta tags are snippets of HTML code in your page's <head> section that provide information about the page to search engines and browsers. They are not visible to visitors but play a crucial role in how search engines understand, index, and display your pages.
Meta Tags That Matter for SEO
| Tag | Purpose | SEO Impact |
|---|---|---|
<title> | Page title shown in search results and browser tab | Very High — most important on-page element |
meta description | Summary shown below the title in search results | High — affects click-through rate |
meta robots | Controls whether search engines index/follow the page | High — can block indexing entirely |
meta viewport | Controls how the page scales on mobile devices | Medium — required for mobile-friendliness |
meta charset | Declares character encoding (usually UTF-8) | Low — prevents rendering issues |
link canonical | Specifies the preferred URL for duplicate content | High — prevents duplicate content issues |
meta og:* | Controls social media share appearance | Medium — affects social sharing/CTR |
Meta Tags That Do NOT Affect SEO
meta keywords— Google has ignored this tag since 2009meta author— informational only, no ranking impactmeta generator— identifies the CMS, no SEO value
How to Check Your Meta Tags
Use the meta tag checker to see all meta tags on any page. The main SEO checker analyses meta tags as part of its 30+ point audit. You can also preview how your title and description appear in search results with the SERP snippet generator.
Check your site now: Run a free audit on the RankNibbler homepage to see how your page scores across 30+ SEO checks.
Last updated: March 2026