In short, Meta tags help tell search engines and users what your site is about. When meta tags are implemented correctly they assist search engines in answering users queries accurately and help those users searching for your product or service find you.

By streamlining your Meta tags you have a chance to stand out from your competitors and attract more customers to your website.

The Meta Title

The Meta title appears at the very top in the web tab and are generally shown as the title of your website in Google search results. The title tag should contain important keywords to help the search engine determine what the page is about.

Although it’s not considered a Meta tag it’s still used very closely with the Meta description to provide descriptive and concise information about your website to users. With a max of 70 characters, choose your keywords wisely.

Remember: Write title tags for humans; format them for search engines.

The Meta Description

A meta description is like the slogan in your commercial. It appears under your website title in Google searches. It’s main purpose is to draw the user in with relevant, descriptive information about your website and convince them to click the link.

Leaving your Meta description blank means Google will fill it for you with random information from your page and often this is disastrous for your online traffic. I personally avoid websites with artificially written description as they don’t have a personality I as a user can connect with and they give off a ‘I don’t care’ vibe.

Remember: You only get 155 characters so make it count!

What about Meta Keywords?

This question seems to come up all the time and the short answer is don’t stress. Google themselves have admitted that they don’t use the keywords meta tag when ranking your page and some SEO specialists are leaving them out altogether unless the website itself requires them for an internal search.

Read what google says about meta keywords here.