Meta Tags

Meta tags are snippets of code that provide information about your web page to browsers, search engines, and social media platforms. While invisible to visitors, they play a crucial role in SEO, social sharing, and how your page functions. Let's explore the most important meta tags and how to use them effectively.

What Are Meta Tags?

Meta tags are HTML elements that provide metadata—data about data. They live in the <head> section of your HTML document and don't have closing tags (they're void elements).

MARKUP

<head>
  <meta charset="UTF-8">
  <meta name="description" content="This is a meta tag">
  <meta property="og:title" content="Page Title">
</head>

Meta tags use either the name or property attribute to identify their purpose, and the content attribute to specify their value.

Essential Meta Tags

Let's start with the meta tags that every HTML page should have.

1. Character Encoding (charset)

The charset meta tag specifies the character encoding for your document. This should always be the first meta tag in your head.

MARKUP

<meta charset="UTF-8">

Why it matters:

UTF-8 supports all characters from all languages
Prevents weird character display issues (like � symbols)
Allows emojis and special characters 🎉
Required for proper internationalization

🚫 Critical Rule:

The charset meta tag must appear within the first 1024 bytes of your HTML document. Always place it first in the head section!

2. Viewport (Mobile Responsiveness)

The viewport meta tag controls how your page displays on mobile devices. Without it, mobile browsers zoom out to show the full page, making text tiny and hard to read.

MARKUP

<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">

What each part means:

width=device-width: Sets the page width to match the device's screen width
initial-scale=1.0: Sets the initial zoom level to 100%

Other Viewport Options

MARKUP

<!-- Prevent user from zooming -->
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=no">

<!-- Set maximum zoom level -->
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, maximum-scale=5.0">

<!-- Set minimum zoom level -->
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, minimum-scale=0.5">

⚠️ Accessibility Warning:

Avoid using user-scalable=no or restricting zoom levels. This creates accessibility problems for users with vision impairments who need to zoom in to read content.

SEO Meta Tags

These meta tags help search engines understand and display your content in search results.

3. Meta Description

The meta description provides a brief summary of your page. Search engines often display this in search results.

MARKUP

<meta name="description" content="Learn HTML from scratch with our comprehensive tutorial. Perfect for beginners and covers everything from basic tags to advanced concepts.">

Best practices:

Keep it between 150-160 characters
Make it compelling and accurate
Include relevant keywords naturally
Each page should have a unique description
Write for humans, not just search engines

4. Meta Keywords (Mostly Obsolete)

Meta keywords were once used to tell search engines what your page is about. However, they're now largely ignored by major search engines due to abuse.

MARKUP

<!-- Still included by some, but not very useful -->
<meta name="keywords" content="HTML, tutorial, web development, coding">

📝 Note:

Google stopped using meta keywords for ranking in 2009. You can skip this tag for modern websites, though it doesn't hurt to include it.

5. Robots Meta Tag

The robots meta tag tells search engines whether to index your page and follow links.

MARKUP

<!-- Allow indexing and following links (default behavior) -->
<meta name="robots" content="index, follow">

<!-- Prevent indexing but allow following links -->
<meta name="robots" content="noindex, follow">

<!-- Allow indexing but don't follow links -->
<meta name="robots" content="index, nofollow">

<!-- Prevent indexing and following links -->
<meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow">

<!-- Don't show cached version in search results -->
<meta name="robots" content="noarchive">

<!-- Don't use this page's description -->
<meta name="robots" content="nosnippet">

Common values:

index: Allow search engines to index this page
noindex: Don't index this page
follow: Follow links on this page
nofollow: Don't follow links on this page
noarchive: Don't show cached version
nosnippet: Don't show snippet in search results

6. Author Meta Tag

MARKUP

<meta name="author" content="John Doe">

7. Canonical URL (Link, not Meta)

While not technically a meta tag, the canonical link is crucial for SEO. It tells search engines which version of a page is the "original" when you have duplicate or similar content.

MARKUP

<link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/original-page">

Open Graph Meta Tags (Social Media)

Open Graph tags control how your page appears when shared on social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and others.

MARKUP

<!-- Basic Open Graph tags -->
<meta property="og:title" content="Amazing Article Title">
<meta property="og:description" content="A compelling description of the article">
<meta property="og:image" content="https://example.com/image.jpg">
<meta property="og:url" content="https://example.com/article">
<meta property="og:type" content="article">
<meta property="og:site_name" content="My Website">

<!-- For articles -->
<meta property="article:published_time" content="2024-01-15T08:00:00Z">
<meta property="article:author" content="John Doe">
<meta property="article:section" content="Technology">
<meta property="article:tag" content="HTML">

<!-- For videos -->
<meta property="og:video" content="https://example.com/video.mp4">
<meta property="og:video:width" content="1280">
<meta property="og:video:height" content="720">

Essential Open Graph Tags

Tag	Purpose
`og:title`	The title of your page (appears as headline)
`og:description`	Brief description (appears below title)
`og:image`	Image URL (appears as thumbnail)
`og:url`	Canonical URL of the page
`og:type`	Type of content (website, article, video, etc.)

Open Graph Image Requirements

Minimum size: 200 × 200 pixels
Recommended size: 1200 × 630 pixels
Aspect ratio: 1.91:1 works best
File formats: JPG, PNG, or GIF
File size: Under 8 MB (smaller is better)

MARKUP

<!-- Specify image dimensions for better performance -->
<meta property="og:image" content="https://example.com/image.jpg">
<meta property="og:image:width" content="1200">
<meta property="og:image:height" content="630">
<meta property="og:image:alt" content="Description of the image">

Twitter Card Meta Tags

Twitter has its own set of meta tags for controlling how links appear on Twitter.

MARKUP

<!-- Summary card (default) -->
<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary">
<meta name="twitter:site" content="@yourusername">
<meta name="twitter:creator" content="@authorusername">
<meta name="twitter:title" content="Page Title">
<meta name="twitter:description" content="Page description">
<meta name="twitter:image" content="https://example.com/image.jpg">

<!-- Summary card with large image -->
<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image">
<meta name="twitter:site" content="@yourusername">
<meta name="twitter:title" content="Page Title">
<meta name="twitter:description" content="Page description">
<meta name="twitter:image" content="https://example.com/large-image.jpg">

<!-- Player card (for videos) -->
<meta name="twitter:card" content="player">
<meta name="twitter:player" content="https://example.com/video-player">
<meta name="twitter:player:width" content="1280">
<meta name="twitter:player:height" content="720">

Twitter Card Types

summary: Default card with small square image
summary_large_image: Large rectangular image (most common)
app: For mobile apps with download buttons
player: For video/audio players

💡 Pro Tip:

If you have Open Graph tags, Twitter will use them as fallback. You can skip Twitter-specific tags for title, description, and image if they're the same as your Open Graph tags.

HTTP-Equiv Meta Tags

These meta tags simulate HTTP headers. They're less commonly used in modern development but still useful in some scenarios.

Page Refresh/Redirect

MARKUP

<!-- Refresh page after 30 seconds -->
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="30">

<!-- Redirect to another page after 5 seconds -->
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="5; url=https://example.com/new-page">

⚠️ Note:

Meta refresh for redirects is not recommended. Use server-side redirects (301/302 status codes) instead for better SEO and user experience.

Content-Type

MARKUP

<!-- Old way (HTML4) -->
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">

<!-- Modern way (HTML5) - use this instead -->
<meta charset="UTF-8">

X-UA-Compatible (IE Only)

MARKUP

<!-- Force Internet Explorer to use latest rendering engine -->
<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge">

This tag is now obsolete since Internet Explorer is discontinued, but you might see it in older code.

Other Useful Meta Tags

Theme Color (Mobile Browser Bar)

MARKUP

<!-- Changes the browser's address bar color on mobile -->
<meta name="theme-color" content="#4285f4">

Application Name

MARKUP

<!-- Name when page is added to home screen -->
<meta name="application-name" content="My App">

Generator

MARKUP

<!-- Identifies software used to build the site -->
<meta name="generator" content="WordPress 6.0">

Referrer Policy

MARKUP

<!-- Control how much referrer information to send -->
<meta name="referrer" content="no-referrer">
<meta name="referrer" content="origin">
<meta name="referrer" content="no-referrer-when-downgrade">

Complete Meta Tags Example

Here's a comprehensive example with all essential meta tags:

index.html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <!-- Essential meta tags -->
  <meta charset="UTF-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
  
  <!-- Page title -->
  <title>Complete Guide to HTML Meta Tags - Web Dev Tutorial</title>
  
  <!-- SEO meta tags -->
  <meta name="description" content="Learn everything about HTML meta tags including SEO, Open Graph, and Twitter Cards. Comprehensive guide for beginners.">
  <meta name="keywords" content="HTML, meta tags, SEO, Open Graph, Twitter Cards">
  <meta name="author" content="John Doe">
  <meta name="robots" content="index, follow">
  
  <!-- Canonical URL -->
  <link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/html-meta-tags">
  
  <!-- Open Graph / Facebook -->
  <meta property="og:type" content="article">
  <meta property="og:title" content="Complete Guide to HTML Meta Tags">
  <meta property="og:description" content="Learn everything about HTML meta tags including SEO, Open Graph, and Twitter Cards.">
  <meta property="og:image" content="https://example.com/images/meta-tags-guide.jpg">
  <meta property="og:image:width" content="1200">
  <meta property="og:image:height" content="630">
  <meta property="og:url" content="https://example.com/html-meta-tags">
  <meta property="og:site_name" content="Web Dev Tutorial">
  
  <!-- Twitter Card -->
  <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image">
  <meta name="twitter:site" content="@webdevtutorial">
  <meta name="twitter:creator" content="@johndoe">
  <meta name="twitter:title" content="Complete Guide to HTML Meta Tags">
  <meta name="twitter:description" content="Learn everything about HTML meta tags">
  <meta name="twitter:image" content="https://example.com/images/meta-tags-guide.jpg">
  
  <!-- Mobile theme color -->
  <meta name="theme-color" content="#4285f4">
  
  <!-- Favicon -->
  <link rel="icon" href="/favicon.ico">
  
  <!-- Stylesheet -->
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="styles.css">
</head>
<body>
  <h1>Welcome to Our Website</h1>
</body>
</html>

Testing Your Meta Tags

Always test your meta tags to ensure they work correctly:

1. Facebook Sharing Debugger

Visit Facebook Sharing Debugger to see how your page appears when shared on Facebook.

2. Twitter Card Validator

Use Twitter Card Validator to preview your Twitter card.

3. Browser DevTools

JAVASCRIPT

// Check meta tags in console (F12)
document.querySelectorAll('meta').forEach(meta => {
  console.log(meta.getAttribute('name') || meta.getAttribute('property'), 
              meta.getAttribute('content'));
});

4. View Page Source

Right-click on any page and select "View Page Source"
Look for meta tags in the <head> section
Verify all tags are present and correctly formatted

Common Meta Tag Mistakes

Mistake 1: Charset Not First

MARKUP

<!-- WRONG: Other tags before charset -->
<head>
  <title>My Page</title>
  <meta charset="UTF-8">
</head>

<!-- CORRECT: Charset is first -->
<head>
  <meta charset="UTF-8">
  <title>My Page</title>
</head>

Mistake 2: Duplicate Meta Tags

MARKUP

<!-- WRONG: Multiple descriptions -->
<head>
  <meta name="description" content="First description">
  <meta name="description" content="Second description">
</head>

<!-- CORRECT: Only one of each -->
<head>
  <meta name="description" content="The one description">
</head>

Mistake 3: Description Too Long

MARKUP

<!-- WRONG: Way too long (gets cut off) -->
<meta name="description" content="This is an extremely long description that goes on and on and on and provides way too much information that nobody will read because search engines will cut it off anyway and it just looks bad in search results.">

<!-- CORRECT: Concise and compelling (150-160 chars) -->
<meta name="description" content="Learn HTML meta tags in this comprehensive guide. Perfect for beginners. Includes SEO, Open Graph, and Twitter Cards.">

Mistake 4: Missing Open Graph Image

MARKUP

<!-- WRONG: No image (ugly social shares) -->
<meta property="og:title" content="My Article">
<meta property="og:description" content="Great article">

<!-- CORRECT: Always include an image -->
<meta property="og:title" content="My Article">
<meta property="og:description" content="Great article">
<meta property="og:image" content="https://example.com/article-image.jpg">

Mistake 5: Relative URLs in Social Tags

MARKUP

<!-- WRONG: Relative URLs don't work for social sharing -->
<meta property="og:image" content="/images/photo.jpg">

<!-- CORRECT: Always use absolute URLs -->
<meta property="og:image" content="https://example.com/images/photo.jpg">

Meta Tag Checklist

✅ Essential for Every Page:

☑ <meta charset="UTF-8">
☑ <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
☑ <title> (50-60 characters)
☑ <meta name="description"> (150-160 characters)

✅ For Better SEO:

☑ <meta name="robots">
☑ <link rel="canonical">
☑ Unique title and description per page

✅ For Social Sharing:

☑ Open Graph title, description, image, URL
☑ Twitter Card type and image
☑ Images are 1200×630 pixels
☑ Use absolute URLs for all images

Key Takeaways

Meta tags provide metadata about your HTML document
Charset should always be first in the head section
Viewport meta tag is essential for mobile responsiveness
Meta description affects SEO and click-through rates
Open Graph tags control social media sharing appearance
Twitter Cards have their own meta tags
Use absolute URLs for images in social meta tags
Keep descriptions under 160 characters
Each page should have unique meta tags
Test your meta tags with validation tools

What's Next?

Now that you understand meta tags and the head section, we'll move on to the body element. The body is where all your visible content lives— everything users see and interact with on your page. You'll learn how to structure body content and understand its role in the HTML document hierarchy.

What Are Meta Tags?

Meta tags are HTML elements that provide metadata—data about data. They live in the <head> section of your HTML document and don't have closing tags (they're void elements).

MARKUP

<head>
  <meta charset="UTF-8">
  <meta name="description" content="This is a meta tag">
  <meta property="og:title" content="Page Title">
</head>

Meta tags use either the name or property attribute to identify their purpose, and the content attribute to specify their value.

Essential Meta Tags

Let's start with the meta tags that every HTML page should have.

1. Character Encoding (charset)

The charset meta tag specifies the character encoding for your document. This should always be the first meta tag in your head.

MARKUP

<meta charset="UTF-8">

Why it matters:

UTF-8 supports all characters from all languages
Prevents weird character display issues (like � symbols)
Allows emojis and special characters 🎉
Required for proper internationalization

🚫 Critical Rule:

The charset meta tag must appear within the first 1024 bytes of your HTML document. Always place it first in the head section!

2. Viewport (Mobile Responsiveness)

The viewport meta tag controls how your page displays on mobile devices. Without it, mobile browsers zoom out to show the full page, making text tiny and hard to read.

MARKUP

<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">

What each part means:

width=device-width: Sets the page width to match the device's screen width
initial-scale=1.0: Sets the initial zoom level to 100%

Other Viewport Options

MARKUP

<!-- Prevent user from zooming -->
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=no">

<!-- Set maximum zoom level -->
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, maximum-scale=5.0">

<!-- Set minimum zoom level -->
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, minimum-scale=0.5">

⚠️ Accessibility Warning:

Avoid using user-scalable=no or restricting zoom levels. This creates accessibility problems for users with vision impairments who need to zoom in to read content.

SEO Meta Tags

These meta tags help search engines understand and display your content in search results.

3. Meta Description

The meta description provides a brief summary of your page. Search engines often display this in search results.

MARKUP

<meta name="description" content="Learn HTML from scratch with our comprehensive tutorial. Perfect for beginners and covers everything from basic tags to advanced concepts.">

Best practices:

Keep it between 150-160 characters
Make it compelling and accurate
Include relevant keywords naturally
Each page should have a unique description
Write for humans, not just search engines

4. Meta Keywords (Mostly Obsolete)

Meta keywords were once used to tell search engines what your page is about. However, they're now largely ignored by major search engines due to abuse.

MARKUP

<!-- Still included by some, but not very useful -->
<meta name="keywords" content="HTML, tutorial, web development, coding">

📝 Note:

Google stopped using meta keywords for ranking in 2009. You can skip this tag for modern websites, though it doesn't hurt to include it.

5. Robots Meta Tag

The robots meta tag tells search engines whether to index your page and follow links.

MARKUP

<!-- Allow indexing and following links (default behavior) -->
<meta name="robots" content="index, follow">

<!-- Prevent indexing but allow following links -->
<meta name="robots" content="noindex, follow">

<!-- Allow indexing but don't follow links -->
<meta name="robots" content="index, nofollow">

<!-- Prevent indexing and following links -->
<meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow">

<!-- Don't show cached version in search results -->
<meta name="robots" content="noarchive">

<!-- Don't use this page's description -->
<meta name="robots" content="nosnippet">

Common values:

index: Allow search engines to index this page
noindex: Don't index this page
follow: Follow links on this page
nofollow: Don't follow links on this page
noarchive: Don't show cached version
nosnippet: Don't show snippet in search results

6. Author Meta Tag

MARKUP

<meta name="author" content="John Doe">

7. Canonical URL (Link, not Meta)

While not technically a meta tag, the canonical link is crucial for SEO. It tells search engines which version of a page is the "original" when you have duplicate or similar content.

MARKUP

<link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/original-page">

Open Graph Meta Tags (Social Media)

Open Graph tags control how your page appears when shared on social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and others.

MARKUP

<!-- Basic Open Graph tags -->
<meta property="og:title" content="Amazing Article Title">
<meta property="og:description" content="A compelling description of the article">
<meta property="og:image" content="https://example.com/image.jpg">
<meta property="og:url" content="https://example.com/article">
<meta property="og:type" content="article">
<meta property="og:site_name" content="My Website">

<!-- For articles -->
<meta property="article:published_time" content="2024-01-15T08:00:00Z">
<meta property="article:author" content="John Doe">
<meta property="article:section" content="Technology">
<meta property="article:tag" content="HTML">

<!-- For videos -->
<meta property="og:video" content="https://example.com/video.mp4">
<meta property="og:video:width" content="1280">
<meta property="og:video:height" content="720">

Essential Open Graph Tags

Tag	Purpose
`og:title`	The title of your page (appears as headline)
`og:description`	Brief description (appears below title)
`og:image`	Image URL (appears as thumbnail)
`og:url`	Canonical URL of the page
`og:type`	Type of content (website, article, video, etc.)

Open Graph Image Requirements

Minimum size: 200 × 200 pixels
Recommended size: 1200 × 630 pixels
Aspect ratio: 1.91:1 works best
File formats: JPG, PNG, or GIF
File size: Under 8 MB (smaller is better)

MARKUP

<!-- Specify image dimensions for better performance -->
<meta property="og:image" content="https://example.com/image.jpg">
<meta property="og:image:width" content="1200">
<meta property="og:image:height" content="630">
<meta property="og:image:alt" content="Description of the image">

Twitter Card Meta Tags

Twitter has its own set of meta tags for controlling how links appear on Twitter.

MARKUP

<!-- Summary card (default) -->
<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary">
<meta name="twitter:site" content="@yourusername">
<meta name="twitter:creator" content="@authorusername">
<meta name="twitter:title" content="Page Title">
<meta name="twitter:description" content="Page description">
<meta name="twitter:image" content="https://example.com/image.jpg">

<!-- Summary card with large image -->
<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image">
<meta name="twitter:site" content="@yourusername">
<meta name="twitter:title" content="Page Title">
<meta name="twitter:description" content="Page description">
<meta name="twitter:image" content="https://example.com/large-image.jpg">

<!-- Player card (for videos) -->
<meta name="twitter:card" content="player">
<meta name="twitter:player" content="https://example.com/video-player">
<meta name="twitter:player:width" content="1280">
<meta name="twitter:player:height" content="720">

Twitter Card Types

summary: Default card with small square image
summary_large_image: Large rectangular image (most common)
app: For mobile apps with download buttons
player: For video/audio players

💡 Pro Tip:

If you have Open Graph tags, Twitter will use them as fallback. You can skip Twitter-specific tags for title, description, and image if they're the same as your Open Graph tags.

HTTP-Equiv Meta Tags

These meta tags simulate HTTP headers. They're less commonly used in modern development but still useful in some scenarios.

Page Refresh/Redirect

MARKUP

<!-- Refresh page after 30 seconds -->
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="30">

<!-- Redirect to another page after 5 seconds -->
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="5; url=https://example.com/new-page">

⚠️ Note:

Meta refresh for redirects is not recommended. Use server-side redirects (301/302 status codes) instead for better SEO and user experience.

Content-Type

MARKUP

<!-- Old way (HTML4) -->
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">

<!-- Modern way (HTML5) - use this instead -->
<meta charset="UTF-8">

X-UA-Compatible (IE Only)

MARKUP

<!-- Force Internet Explorer to use latest rendering engine -->
<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge">

This tag is now obsolete since Internet Explorer is discontinued, but you might see it in older code.

Other Useful Meta Tags

Theme Color (Mobile Browser Bar)

MARKUP

<!-- Changes the browser's address bar color on mobile -->
<meta name="theme-color" content="#4285f4">

Application Name

MARKUP

<!-- Name when page is added to home screen -->
<meta name="application-name" content="My App">

Generator

MARKUP

<!-- Identifies software used to build the site -->
<meta name="generator" content="WordPress 6.0">

Referrer Policy

MARKUP

<!-- Control how much referrer information to send -->
<meta name="referrer" content="no-referrer">
<meta name="referrer" content="origin">
<meta name="referrer" content="no-referrer-when-downgrade">

Complete Meta Tags Example

Here's a comprehensive example with all essential meta tags:

index.html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <!-- Essential meta tags -->
  <meta charset="UTF-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
  
  <!-- Page title -->
  <title>Complete Guide to HTML Meta Tags - Web Dev Tutorial</title>
  
  <!-- SEO meta tags -->
  <meta name="description" content="Learn everything about HTML meta tags including SEO, Open Graph, and Twitter Cards. Comprehensive guide for beginners.">
  <meta name="keywords" content="HTML, meta tags, SEO, Open Graph, Twitter Cards">
  <meta name="author" content="John Doe">
  <meta name="robots" content="index, follow">
  
  <!-- Canonical URL -->
  <link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/html-meta-tags">
  
  <!-- Open Graph / Facebook -->
  <meta property="og:type" content="article">
  <meta property="og:title" content="Complete Guide to HTML Meta Tags">
  <meta property="og:description" content="Learn everything about HTML meta tags including SEO, Open Graph, and Twitter Cards.">
  <meta property="og:image" content="https://example.com/images/meta-tags-guide.jpg">
  <meta property="og:image:width" content="1200">
  <meta property="og:image:height" content="630">
  <meta property="og:url" content="https://example.com/html-meta-tags">
  <meta property="og:site_name" content="Web Dev Tutorial">
  
  <!-- Twitter Card -->
  <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image">
  <meta name="twitter:site" content="@webdevtutorial">
  <meta name="twitter:creator" content="@johndoe">
  <meta name="twitter:title" content="Complete Guide to HTML Meta Tags">
  <meta name="twitter:description" content="Learn everything about HTML meta tags">
  <meta name="twitter:image" content="https://example.com/images/meta-tags-guide.jpg">
  
  <!-- Mobile theme color -->
  <meta name="theme-color" content="#4285f4">
  
  <!-- Favicon -->
  <link rel="icon" href="/favicon.ico">
  
  <!-- Stylesheet -->
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="styles.css">
</head>
<body>
  <h1>Welcome to Our Website</h1>
</body>
</html>

Testing Your Meta Tags

Always test your meta tags to ensure they work correctly:

1. Facebook Sharing Debugger

Visit Facebook Sharing Debugger to see how your page appears when shared on Facebook.

2. Twitter Card Validator

Use Twitter Card Validator to preview your Twitter card.

3. Browser DevTools

JAVASCRIPT

// Check meta tags in console (F12)
document.querySelectorAll('meta').forEach(meta => {
  console.log(meta.getAttribute('name') || meta.getAttribute('property'), 
              meta.getAttribute('content'));
});

4. View Page Source

Right-click on any page and select "View Page Source"
Look for meta tags in the <head> section
Verify all tags are present and correctly formatted

Common Meta Tag Mistakes

Mistake 1: Charset Not First

MARKUP

<!-- WRONG: Other tags before charset -->
<head>
  <title>My Page</title>
  <meta charset="UTF-8">
</head>

<!-- CORRECT: Charset is first -->
<head>
  <meta charset="UTF-8">
  <title>My Page</title>
</head>

Mistake 2: Duplicate Meta Tags

MARKUP

<!-- WRONG: Multiple descriptions -->
<head>
  <meta name="description" content="First description">
  <meta name="description" content="Second description">
</head>

<!-- CORRECT: Only one of each -->
<head>
  <meta name="description" content="The one description">
</head>

Mistake 3: Description Too Long

MARKUP

<!-- WRONG: Way too long (gets cut off) -->
<meta name="description" content="This is an extremely long description that goes on and on and on and provides way too much information that nobody will read because search engines will cut it off anyway and it just looks bad in search results.">

<!-- CORRECT: Concise and compelling (150-160 chars) -->
<meta name="description" content="Learn HTML meta tags in this comprehensive guide. Perfect for beginners. Includes SEO, Open Graph, and Twitter Cards.">

Mistake 4: Missing Open Graph Image

MARKUP

<!-- WRONG: No image (ugly social shares) -->
<meta property="og:title" content="My Article">
<meta property="og:description" content="Great article">

<!-- CORRECT: Always include an image -->
<meta property="og:title" content="My Article">
<meta property="og:description" content="Great article">
<meta property="og:image" content="https://example.com/article-image.jpg">

Mistake 5: Relative URLs in Social Tags

MARKUP

<!-- WRONG: Relative URLs don't work for social sharing -->
<meta property="og:image" content="/images/photo.jpg">

<!-- CORRECT: Always use absolute URLs -->
<meta property="og:image" content="https://example.com/images/photo.jpg">

Meta Tag Checklist

✅ Essential for Every Page:

☑ <meta charset="UTF-8">
☑ <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
☑ <title> (50-60 characters)
☑ <meta name="description"> (150-160 characters)

✅ For Better SEO:

☑ <meta name="robots">
☑ <link rel="canonical">
☑ Unique title and description per page

✅ For Social Sharing:

☑ Open Graph title, description, image, URL
☑ Twitter Card type and image
☑ Images are 1200×630 pixels
☑ Use absolute URLs for all images

Key Takeaways

Meta tags provide metadata about your HTML document
Charset should always be first in the head section
Viewport meta tag is essential for mobile responsiveness
Meta description affects SEO and click-through rates
Open Graph tags control social media sharing appearance
Twitter Cards have their own meta tags
Use absolute URLs for images in social meta tags
Keep descriptions under 160 characters
Each page should have unique meta tags
Test your meta tags with validation tools

What Are Meta Tags?

Essential Meta Tags

1. Character Encoding (charset)

2. Viewport (Mobile Responsiveness)

Other Viewport Options

SEO Meta Tags

3. Meta Description

4. Meta Keywords (Mostly Obsolete)

5. Robots Meta Tag

6. Author Meta Tag

7. Canonical URL (Link, not Meta)

Open Graph Meta Tags (Social Media)

Essential Open Graph Tags

Open Graph Image Requirements

Twitter Card Meta Tags

Twitter Card Types

HTTP-Equiv Meta Tags

Page Refresh/Redirect

Content-Type

X-UA-Compatible (IE Only)

Other Useful Meta Tags

Theme Color (Mobile Browser Bar)

Application Name

Generator

Referrer Policy

Complete Meta Tags Example

Testing Your Meta Tags

1. Facebook Sharing Debugger

2. Twitter Card Validator

3. Browser DevTools

4. View Page Source

Common Meta Tag Mistakes

Mistake 1: Charset Not First

Mistake 2: Duplicate Meta Tags

Mistake 3: Description Too Long

Mistake 4: Missing Open Graph Image

Mistake 5: Relative URLs in Social Tags

Meta Tag Checklist

Key Takeaways

What's Next?

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Meta Tags

What Are Meta Tags?

Essential Meta Tags

1. Character Encoding (charset)

2. Viewport (Mobile Responsiveness)

Other Viewport Options

SEO Meta Tags

3. Meta Description

4. Meta Keywords (Mostly Obsolete)

5. Robots Meta Tag

6. Author Meta Tag

7. Canonical URL (Link, not Meta)

Open Graph Meta Tags (Social Media)

Essential Open Graph Tags

Open Graph Image Requirements

Twitter Card Meta Tags

Twitter Card Types

HTTP-Equiv Meta Tags

Page Refresh/Redirect

Content-Type

X-UA-Compatible (IE Only)

Other Useful Meta Tags

Theme Color (Mobile Browser Bar)

Application Name

Generator

Referrer Policy

Complete Meta Tags Example

Testing Your Meta Tags

1. Facebook Sharing Debugger

2. Twitter Card Validator