This tutorial will list the different meta tags used in web design. We’ll explain what they are used for, which meta tags are important, and which meta tags you need to avoid. This is not a full comprehensive list, however it lists many of the more popular meta tags used in web design and development today.

Introduction

This tutorial will list the varous meta tags used and their purpose. We will discuss how search engines use meta tags and why its important to have meta tags. Although much discussion has recently arose about the need for meta tags, we still need to use them when making webpages. We’ll list the different types of meta tags and their format. We’ll also explain what each one is used for and their importance in web design and development.

Lets start by listing their format:

<meta name="stuff" content="content">

This is what the meta tag will look like . Where stuff is the name of the meta tag. Which can be any of the meta tag names listed below. And content is .. well you guessed it the content . Content holds the value of the meta tag. For instance if our meta tag was for keywords, it would look like this:

<meta name="keywords" content="web design development css tag script">

*Note that the keywords meta tag , its optional to use commas*

The List of Different Meta Tags

author - Tells the author of the webpage or document

copyright - Tells who owns the copyright to the document

audience - Tells the documents audience (ie. General)

company - Tells the company that owns the document

keywords - Lists keywords of the document. (ie this doc would have ‘tutorial, meta,tags, info, free’)

description - Tells a short description of the document

reply_to - Gives the email for users to contact the author ( Warning: This will give you spam if you use it)

publisher - Tells the publisher of the document

page_topic - Tells the topic of the page

page_type - Tells the type of page it is (ie. tutorial)

rating - Tells the page rating (ie. All)

title - Tells the title of the page ( Note this can be different than the title tag )

robots - Tells a search engine robot what to index and what not to.

 

Why use meta tags?

The answer is simple. To gain search engine exposure which in turn will increase traffic to your site. Some search engines give little importance to meta tags now, almost completely overlooking them. However, there are stull search engines that do use them. Because of that, they need to be used. Not all are as important as others. For instance, using the ‘reply_to’ meta tag will only generate spam to your inbox. While the ‘description’ is one of the most important. Using meta tags are still important and need to be utilized properly.

Closing and Copyright

this tutorial was written for PrimeGraphix Web Design and Development. Any questions or comments can be directed to the contact form on our website : http://www.primegraphix.com . For reprint rights, please contact us. This tutorial is copyright 2005 by PrimeGraphix.com and may not be used without consent from the author.