Meta Tags
Most commonly, meta tags are used to list keywords and descriptions of a site. However, there are other uses for the meta tag.
The most common meta tags
Examples:
- <meta name="keywords" content="meta tags, html, help, examples">
- <meta name="description" content="A description of your site goes here">
- <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
Each keyword should be seperated by a comma or space. The best thing to do is check out Overture Search Suggestion for keyword suggestions. As well, the charset can be set to any set you wish to use. Although the two most popular are iso-8859-1 and utf-8.
Meta tag refresh
Example: <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="x"> where x equals the amount (in seconds) before the page refreshes.
or
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="x;url=http://www.newurl.com"> to redirect to a new page.
Setting language in meta tag
Example: <meta lang="de">
Using Meta name
The meta name has many uses. Some of which have been seen already on this page, but others include, author, generator and revised. When using the name attribute you must follow it up with the content attribute. For example: <meta name="author" content="Gary R. Hess">. Author, generator and revised are not standard in search engines so their use is limited.