Meta tagging is the process of adding information to a web page’s language that search engines use to gather information. Meta elements include description, robot, language, and keyword. While some are still used, others are no longer effective for search engine rankings.
Meta tagging is the process of placing specific information into the language that creates a web page. Many types of meta elements can be placed into the language of a page. Search engines use meta element data to gather information about individual web pages. Using the meta tagging process allows the web page developer to insert additional information within the language that creates the page but does not appear on the page itself.
Search engines, data collection robots, and web page users capture meta-tagging information and use it to determine specific information about a web page. Many search engines use the description element to provide a summary of the information included on the web page. When a user completes a query on a search engine, the search results return a list of items that match the query. Each item returned for the query might include a summary of the information included on that specific web page. The summary information provided within the search results is usually the data provided as a description meta tag.
The meta robot element is used by some developers and search engines to indicate whether or not a spider or data-gathering robot should index the web page. A variety of values can be placed within this meta element -tagging to inform the search engine how to use its bots to index web content. Although some search engines use this element to collect these values, apparently it is not the best way for a website to provide this information to each search engine. There are specific text files that should be stored within the files associated with a web page that are a better way to provide this information.
Language is a meta element used by some web developers to tell search engines the native language of the web page. Tools on the Internet allow web pages to be translated into other languages with the click of a button. The meta language element allows the search engine to know for sure which language the web page is using. Meta tagging for language is beneficial to the users of the web page; however, it has no effect on page ranking with a particular search engine.
Another frequently used meta element is the keyword. Historically, meta tagging for keywords was an important part of the search engine optimization process. Search engines would use the information included in the meta keyword element to learn the key information areas included within a particular web page. This element has been abused by a variety of players on the internet, hence all search engines they stopped using this meta element for any kind of search engine rankings. Many web developers continue to use this meta element in their web pages even though search engines have stopped using the information.
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