Definition of Meta Tag

Meta tags are also referred to as HTML tags. Meta means or translates to “about this subject,” and each Meta tag contains information about its particular page. This information is not normally visible to the web user, but it can be viewed if the user looks at the webpage’s source code. Each Meta tag contains specific information about a particular webpage that should describe the nature of the content of that specific webpage.

Several search engines utilise spiders that index or categorize webpages according to their Meta tags. Alta Vista is one of those search engines. The Meta tag is designed to include the keywords for the webpage in order to draw traffic to it. It is also possible to design a Meta tag to include an URL address or HTTP for the webpage to transfer to after a certain amount of tie has passed. This is known as a client pull.

External links:

• Wikipedia explanation of Meta elements
• W3 Schools definition of Meta tag
• Search Engine Watch tutorial on Meta tags
• Meta tag analyser
• W3C Global structure of an HTML document