{"id":12867,"date":"2025-04-29T20:46:07","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T20:46:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/meta-tags-what-they-are-how-to-use-them-to-boost-your-seo\/"},"modified":"2025-04-29T20:46:07","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T20:46:07","slug":"meta-tags-what-they-are-how-to-use-them-to-boost-your-seo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/meta-tags-what-they-are-how-to-use-them-to-boost-your-seo\/","title":{"rendered":"Meta Tags: What They Are &amp; How to Use Them to Boost Your SEO"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Meta tags are snippets of HTML code that live in your webpage\u2019s &lt;head&gt; section. Your website\u2019s visitors won\u2019t see them. But search engines, browsers, and social media platforms can see and use them.<\/p>\n<p>You can think of meta tags as a way to tell Google and other search engines about what your page contains and how they should display it in search results.<\/p>\n<p>Some meta tags are more important than others. In fact, there are really only a couple of meta tags you need to worry about.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ll explain exactly what these are below and how you can optimize yours.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_81 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/meta-tags-what-they-are-how-to-use-them-to-boost-your-seo\/#The_Components_of_a_Meta_Tag\" >The Components of a Meta Tag<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/meta-tags-what-they-are-how-to-use-them-to-boost-your-seo\/#Why_Should_You_Care_About_Meta_Tags\" >Why Should You Care About Meta Tags?<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/meta-tags-what-they-are-how-to-use-them-to-boost-your-seo\/#They_Can_Increase_Your_Click-Through_Rates\" >They Can Increase Your Click-Through Rates<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/meta-tags-what-they-are-how-to-use-them-to-boost-your-seo\/#They_Give_Instructions_to_Search_Engines\" >They Give Instructions to Search Engines<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/meta-tags-what-they-are-how-to-use-them-to-boost-your-seo\/#They_Improve_the_User_Experience\" >They Improve the User Experience<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/meta-tags-what-they-are-how-to-use-them-to-boost-your-seo\/#They_Control_Social_Sharing\" >They Control Social Sharing<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/meta-tags-what-they-are-how-to-use-them-to-boost-your-seo\/#Theyre_One_of_the_Easiest_SEO_Elements_to_Optimize\" >They\u2019re One of the Easiest SEO Elements to Optimize<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/meta-tags-what-they-are-how-to-use-them-to-boost-your-seo\/#Which_Meta_Tags_Actually_Matter_for_SEO\" >Which Meta Tags Actually Matter for SEO?<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/meta-tags-what-they-are-how-to-use-them-to-boost-your-seo\/#Meta_Tag_Impact_Summary\" >Meta Tag Impact Summary<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/meta-tags-what-they-are-how-to-use-them-to-boost-your-seo\/#Title_Tag\" >Title Tag<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-4' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-11\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/meta-tags-what-they-are-how-to-use-them-to-boost-your-seo\/#How_to_Optimize_Your_Title_Tags\" >How to Optimize Your Title Tags<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-12\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/meta-tags-what-they-are-how-to-use-them-to-boost-your-seo\/#Robots_Meta_Tag\" >Robots Meta Tag<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-4' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-13\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/meta-tags-what-they-are-how-to-use-them-to-boost-your-seo\/#How_to_Optimize_Your_Robots_Meta_Tag\" >How to Optimize Your Robots Meta Tag<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-14\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/meta-tags-what-they-are-how-to-use-them-to-boost-your-seo\/#Canonical_Tag\" >Canonical Tag<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-4' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-15\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/meta-tags-what-they-are-how-to-use-them-to-boost-your-seo\/#How_to_Optimize_Your_Canonical_Tags\" >How to Optimize Your Canonical Tags<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-16\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/meta-tags-what-they-are-how-to-use-them-to-boost-your-seo\/#Hreflang_Tags\" >Hreflang Tags<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-4' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-17\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/meta-tags-what-they-are-how-to-use-them-to-boost-your-seo\/#How_to_Optimize_Your_Hreflang_Tags\" >How to Optimize Your Hreflang Tags<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-18\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/meta-tags-what-they-are-how-to-use-them-to-boost-your-seo\/#Meta_Description\" >Meta Description<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-4' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-19\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/meta-tags-what-they-are-how-to-use-them-to-boost-your-seo\/#How_to_Optimize_Your_Meta_Descriptions\" >How to Optimize Your Meta Descriptions<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-20\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/meta-tags-what-they-are-how-to-use-them-to-boost-your-seo\/#Viewport_Meta_Tag\" >Viewport Meta Tag<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-4' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-21\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/meta-tags-what-they-are-how-to-use-them-to-boost-your-seo\/#How_to_Optimize_Your_Viewport_Meta_Tag\" >How to Optimize Your Viewport Meta Tag<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-22\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/meta-tags-what-they-are-how-to-use-them-to-boost-your-seo\/#Charset_Meta_Tag\" >Charset Meta Tag<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-4' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-23\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/meta-tags-what-they-are-how-to-use-them-to-boost-your-seo\/#How_to_Optimize_Your_Charset_Tag\" >How to Optimize Your Charset Tag<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-24\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/meta-tags-what-they-are-how-to-use-them-to-boost-your-seo\/#Open_Graph_and_Twitter_Card_Tags\" >Open Graph and Twitter Card Tags<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-4' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-25\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/meta-tags-what-they-are-how-to-use-them-to-boost-your-seo\/#How_to_Optimize_Your_Social_Meta_Tags\" >How to Optimize Your Social Meta Tags<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-26\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/meta-tags-what-they-are-how-to-use-them-to-boost-your-seo\/#Other_Meta_Tags\" >Other Meta Tags<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-27\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/meta-tags-what-they-are-how-to-use-them-to-boost-your-seo\/#How_to_Add_or_Change_Your_Meta_Tags\" >How to Add or Change Your Meta Tags<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-28\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/meta-tags-what-they-are-how-to-use-them-to-boost-your-seo\/#WordPress_Meta_Tags\" >WordPress Meta Tags<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-29\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/meta-tags-what-they-are-how-to-use-them-to-boost-your-seo\/#Shopify_Meta_Tags\" >Shopify Meta Tags<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-30\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/meta-tags-what-they-are-how-to-use-them-to-boost-your-seo\/#Wix_Meta_Tags\" >Wix Meta Tags<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-31\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/meta-tags-what-they-are-how-to-use-them-to-boost-your-seo\/#Squarespace_Meta_Tags\" >Squarespace Meta Tags<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-32\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/meta-tags-what-they-are-how-to-use-them-to-boost-your-seo\/#How_to_Find_Issues_with_Your_Meta_Tags\" >How to Find Issues with Your Meta Tags<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-33\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/meta-tags-what-they-are-how-to-use-them-to-boost-your-seo\/#Using_Semrushs_Site_Audit\" >Using Semrush\u2019s Site Audit<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-34\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/meta-tags-what-they-are-how-to-use-them-to-boost-your-seo\/#The_Detailed_Chrome_Extension\" >The Detailed Chrome Extension<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-35\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/meta-tags-what-they-are-how-to-use-them-to-boost-your-seo\/#Manual_Checks_with_Dev_Tools\" >Manual Checks with Dev Tools<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-36\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/meta-tags-what-they-are-how-to-use-them-to-boost-your-seo\/#Optimize_Your_Meta_Tags_as_Part_of_Your_Technical_SEO_Strategy\" >Optimize Your Meta Tags as Part of Your Technical SEO Strategy<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Components_of_a_Meta_Tag\"><\/span>The Components of a Meta Tag<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Here\u2019s what a basic meta tag looks like:<\/p>\n<pre>&lt;meta name=\"description\" content=\"This is a description of my webpage that should appear in search results.\"&gt;<\/pre>\n<p>Let\u2019s break down this structure:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>meta<\/strong> tells browsers and search engines that this is a meta tag<\/li>\n<li><strong>name<\/strong> is an attribute that defines what type of information you\u2019re providing<\/li>\n<li>\u201c<strong>description<\/strong>\u201d tells us it\u2019s the description meta tag<\/li>\n<li><strong>content<\/strong> contains the actual information<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure class=\"backlinko-image__visual-chart backlinko-image\">\n<div class=\"backlinko-img-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Components of a Meta Tag\" alt=\"Components of a Meta Tag\" data-aspect-ratio=\"0.63\" src=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/components-of-a-meta-tag.png\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/p><\/figure>\n<p>Some meta tags use different attributes. For example, the charset meta tag looks like this:<\/p>\n<pre>&lt;meta charset=\"UTF-8\"&gt;<\/pre>\n<p>And the viewport meta tag uses the following structure:<\/p>\n<pre>&lt;meta name=\"viewport\" content=\"width=device-width, initial-scale=1\"&gt;<\/pre>\n<p>You don\u2019t need to memorize these formats. Most content management systems (like WordPress, Shopify, and Wix) handle the technical implementation for you.<\/p>\n<p>What matters is understanding which meta tags are important for <a title=\"What is SEO? The Complete Search Engine Optimization Guide\" href=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/hub\/seo\/what-is-seo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SEO<\/a> and how to optimize them for better visibility online.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sc-quote alert blue-box font-georgia type-normal transparent-img-bg\">\n<div class=\"media\">\n<figure class=\"sc-picture media-left hidden-sm-down\">\n            <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/app\/uploads\/2024\/06\/icon-note.png\" alt=\"| Craig Hordlow\" loading=\"lazy\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\">        <\/figure>\n<div class=\"media-body\">\n<blockquote class=\"sc-quote\">\n<p><strong>Important note:<\/strong> I\u2019m going to discuss a few elements that are not strictly speaking \u201cmeta tags.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div class=\"media\">\n<figure class=\"sc-picture media-left hidden-md-up\">\n                    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/app\/uploads\/2024\/06\/icon-note.png\" alt=\"| Craig Hordlow\" loading=\"lazy\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\">                <\/figure>\n<p>                                <cite class=\"sc-name media-body media-middle\"><br \/>\n                                    <\/cite>\n            <\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Tags like &lt;title&gt; are HTML elements in their own right, not meta tags by definition. But they do provide search engines with useful information.<\/p>\n<p>Plus, they\u2019re often referred to in the same way as other meta tags. So I\u2019ve covered them here anyway. But for the sake of accuracy, if it\u2019s not within theHTML element, it\u2019s not a true meta tag.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Why_Should_You_Care_About_Meta_Tags\"><\/span>Why Should You Care About Meta Tags?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Let me make it clear early on:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Your meta tags are not the most important aspect of your site\u2019s SEO.<\/strong> They matter, but there are usually other areas you can likely optimize for greater impact.<\/p>\n<p>But optimizing them won\u2019t hurt your SEO. And in some cases it can actually make a big difference.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"They_Can_Increase_Your_Click-Through_Rates\"><\/span>They Can Increase Your Click-Through Rates<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Your title tag and meta description are the primary elements people see in search results before they even visit your site.<\/p>\n<p>Think of them as your website\u2019s elevator pitch. You have just a few seconds to convince someone to click through. A compelling title and description can be the difference between a click on your result or your competitor\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>By writing meta descriptions that address user intent and include a clear call to action, you can increase your <a title=\"What Is Click-Through Rate (CTR)?: And How To Improve It\" href=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/what-is-ctr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">click-through rates<\/a> (CTRs). This means more traffic without necessarily needing higher rankings.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"backlinko-image__screenshot backlinko-image backlinko-has-border\">\n<div class=\"backlinko-img-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Campaign Monitor \u2013 CTA in meta description\" alt=\"Campaign Monitor \u2013 CTA in meta description\" data-aspect-ratio=\"0.20857142857143\" src=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/campaign-monitor-cta-in-meta-description.png\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/p><\/figure>\n<p>But:<\/p>\n<p>Google often chooses its own titles to display, and even more commonly chooses its own descriptions. That\u2019s because it puts a focus on displaying a description relevant to the search query.<\/p>\n<p>For example, here\u2019s a result that displays our chosen meta description for a post about backlinks:<\/p>\n<figure class=\"backlinko-image__screenshot backlinko-image backlinko-has-border\">\n<div class=\"backlinko-img-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Backlinko \u2013 Google chooses its own meta description\" alt=\"Backlinko \u2013 Google chooses its own meta description\" data-aspect-ratio=\"0.22857142857143\" src=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/backlinko-google-chooses-its-own-meta-description.png\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/p><\/figure>\n<p>And here\u2019s the description Google displays for that same post but for a different query:<\/p>\n<figure class=\"backlinko-image__screenshot backlinko-image backlinko-has-border\">\n<div class=\"backlinko-img-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Backlinko \u2013 Same post, diferent meta description\" alt=\"Backlinko \u2013 Same post, diferent meta description\" data-aspect-ratio=\"0.20857142857143\" src=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/backlinko-same-post-diferent-meta-description.png\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/p><\/figure>\n<p>So while you can improve your CTRs by optimizing some meta tags, it\u2019s not always going to have measurable results.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"They_Give_Instructions_to_Search_Engines\"><\/span>They Give Instructions to Search Engines<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Want to prevent a page from appearing in search results? There\u2019s a meta tag for that. Need to tell Google which version of a page is the original? There\u2019s a meta tag for that too.<\/p>\n<p>These technical meta tags help avoid common SEO issues like <a title=\"Duplicate Content and SEO: The Complete Guide\" href=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/hub\/seo\/duplicate-content\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">duplicate content<\/a>, indexing of private pages, or incorrect international targeting.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"They_Improve_the_User_Experience\"><\/span>They Improve the User Experience<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Meta tags like <strong>viewport<\/strong> and <strong>charset<\/strong> ensure your website displays correctly across different devices and browsers.<\/p>\n<p>While these may not directly impact your search rankings, they certainly impact user experience. This ultimately affects how long people stay on your site and whether they convert.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"They_Control_Social_Sharing\"><\/span>They Control Social Sharing<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>When someone shares your page on Facebook, X\/Twitter, or LinkedIn, specialized meta tags determine how your content appears. These are called Open Graph or Twitter Card tags.<\/p>\n<p>Without these tags, social platforms might pull random text or images from your page. This can lead to unappealing or confusing social snippets.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Theyre_One_of_the_Easiest_SEO_Elements_to_Optimize\"><\/span>They\u2019re One of the Easiest SEO Elements to Optimize<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Unlike many areas of your site that require significant time and resources to optimize, you can update your meta tags relatively quickly.<\/p>\n<p>For most websites, you can improve your meta tags in minutes through your CMS or with simple plugins. For example, Rank Math has an entire section dedicated to \u201cSEO Titles &amp; Meta\u201d:<\/p>\n<figure class=\"backlinko-image__screenshot backlinko-image backlinko-has-border\">\n<div class=\"backlinko-img-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Rank Math SEO \u2013 SEO Titles &amp; Meta\" alt=\"Rank Math SEO \u2013 SEO Titles &amp; Meta\" data-aspect-ratio=\"0.99142857142857\" src=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/rank-math-seo-seo-titles-and-meta.png\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/p><\/figure>\n<p>However:<\/p>\n<p>As I\u2019ll discuss later, not all platforms make it easy to change your meta tags. Some (like Squarespace) don\u2019t give you much control at all.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Which_Meta_Tags_Actually_Matter_for_SEO\"><\/span>Which Meta Tags Actually Matter for SEO?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Not all meta tags are created equal when it comes to SEO impact. Some directly influence your rankings and visibility. Others play supporting roles or have become obsolete over the years (like the keywords meta tag).<\/p>\n<p>So to keep things simple (and prioritize your efforts and resources), let\u2019s focus on the meta tags that actually matter for your website.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Meta_Tag_Impact_Summary\"><\/span>Meta Tag Impact Summary<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<div class=\"table-responsive\">\n<table class=\"table table-primary table-striped table-hover\">\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th scope=\"col\">Tag<\/th>\n<th scope=\"col\">SEO Impact<\/th>\n<th scope=\"col\">Supported By Google<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td scope=\"row\" data-before=\"Tag\">Title Tag<\/td>\n<td data-before=\"SEO Impact\">High<\/td>\n<td data-before=\"Supported By Google\">Yes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td scope=\"row\" data-before=\"Tag\">Robots<\/td>\n<td data-before=\"SEO Impact\">High<\/td>\n<td data-before=\"Supported By Google\">Yes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td scope=\"row\" data-before=\"Tag\">Canonical<\/td>\n<td data-before=\"SEO Impact\">High<\/td>\n<td data-before=\"Supported By Google\">Yes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td scope=\"row\" data-before=\"Tag\">Hreflang<\/td>\n<td data-before=\"SEO Impact\">High (for international sites)<\/td>\n<td data-before=\"Supported By Google\">Yes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td scope=\"row\" data-before=\"Tag\">Meta Description<\/td>\n<td data-before=\"SEO Impact\">Low<\/td>\n<td data-before=\"Supported By Google\">Yes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td scope=\"row\" data-before=\"Tag\">Viewport<\/td>\n<td data-before=\"SEO Impact\">Low<\/td>\n<td data-before=\"Supported By Google\">Yes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td scope=\"row\" data-before=\"Tag\">Charset<\/td>\n<td data-before=\"SEO Impact\">Low<\/td>\n<td data-before=\"Supported By Google\">Yes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p>Now let\u2019s break down each important tag in detail.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Title_Tag\"><\/span>Title Tag<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The title tag isn\u2019t technically a meta tag (it\u2019s an HTML element in its own right). But it\u2019s one of the most important tags in your page\u2019s header from an SEO perspective, so I\u2019ll cover it here.<\/p>\n<pre>&lt;title&gt;Backlinko: SEO, Content Marketing, &amp; Link Building Strategies&lt;\/title&gt;<\/pre>\n<p>Your title tag appears in three key places:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Browser tabs<\/li>\n<li>Search engine results<\/li>\n<li>Social sharing (when you don\u2019t specify an OG title \u2014 more on that soon)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_to_Optimize_Your_Title_Tags\"><\/span>How to Optimize Your Title Tags<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Keep title tags under 60 characters (or about 600 pixels) to avoid truncation in search results<\/li>\n<li>Put your primary keyword near the beginning (but don\u2019t keyword stuff)<\/li>\n<li>Use a unique title tag for every page on your site<\/li>\n<li>Make it clickworthy to boost CTRs (numbers can help here)<\/li>\n<li>Include the year if recency is key (but make sure it\u2019s up to date)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As an example, compare these two title tags. They both contain a number, which may help boost CTR (depending on the query).<\/p>\n<figure class=\"backlinko-image__screenshot backlinko-image backlinko-has-border\">\n<div class=\"backlinko-img-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Comparing Meta Titles\" alt=\"Comparing Meta Titles\" data-aspect-ratio=\"0.66\" src=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/comparing-meta-titles.png\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/p><\/figure>\n<p>But the date in the TeamUpdraft title tag is from last year, making it seem outdated. Meanwhile, the WP Rocket title also tells me their list contains free and paid options.<\/p>\n<p>This helps cater to a wider audience with different budgets. It also adds something unique that could boost engagement by helping it stand out on the search engine results page (<a title=\"What Are SERPs &amp; Why Are They Important for SEO?\" href=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/hub\/seo\/serps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SERP<\/a>).<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Robots_Meta_Tag\"><\/span>Robots Meta Tag<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The robots meta tag controls how search engines interact with your pages. It looks like this:<\/p>\n<pre>&lt;meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\"&gt;<\/pre>\n<p>The default value is \u201call\u201d which you can think of as \u201cindex, follow\u201d (even though <a title=\"Robots Meta Tags Specifications | Google Search Central | Documentation\" href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/search\/docs\/crawling-indexing\/robots-meta-tag\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google\u2019s documentation<\/a> doesn\u2019t list these as accepted values). You can still include \u201cindex, follow\u201d without any negative impact, but it\u2019s not necessary.<\/p>\n<p>If you don\u2019t add a meta robots tag to your page (which Google\u2019s John Mueller says <a title=\"Do I need a robots meta tag?\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=zsxjLJnFg6o\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">is perfectly fine<\/a>), Google assumes there are no restrictions.<\/p>\n<p>If you do want to restrict indexing\/following of links, you can use:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>noindex:<\/strong> Tells Google not to show this page in search results<\/li>\n<li><strong>nofollow:<\/strong> Tells Google not to follow the links on this page<\/li>\n<li><strong>none:<\/strong> Equivalent to noindex, nofollow<\/li>\n<li><strong>indexifembedded:<\/strong> This lets Google index the content of the page if it\u2019s embedded elsewhere through the likes of iframes (only has an effect if there\u2019s also a noindex rule)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You can also use the robots meta tag to control how your site appears in search results via the snippet rules. These include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>nosnippet:<\/strong> Tells Google not to show a text snippet or video preview in search results<\/li>\n<li><strong>max-snippet: [number]:<\/strong> Tells Google to use a maximum number of characters as the text snippet in search results (a value of 0 shows no snippet, and -1 lets Google decide the snippet length)<\/li>\n<li><strong>max-image-preview: [setting]:<\/strong> This tells Google the maximum size of the image preview for this page in search results (values include none, standard, and large)<\/li>\n<li><strong>max-video-preview [number]:<\/strong> Tells Google to use a maximum number of seconds as a video snippet (a value of 0 means Google will at most show a static image, while -1 means there is no limit)<\/li>\n<li><strong>notranslate:<\/strong> Tells Google to not offer a translation of this page in search results<\/li>\n<li><strong>noimageindex:<\/strong> Tells Google not to index images on this page<\/li>\n<li><strong>unavailable_after: [date\/time]:<\/strong> Tells Google not to show the page in search results after the specific date\/time<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you don\u2019t add any of the above rules, Google will just apply its defaults. In other words, if you don\u2019t have any preferences, you don\u2019t need to worry about these meta tags.<\/p>\n<h4><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_to_Optimize_Your_Robots_Meta_Tag\"><\/span>How to Optimize Your Robots Meta Tag<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<p>Most pages should use \u201call\u201d or not specify any meta robots tags. This applies to any pages you want Google to index and follow the links on.<\/p>\n<p>But you may want to use \u201cnoindex\u201d for:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Thank you pages<\/li>\n<li>Login pages<\/li>\n<li>Duplicate content<\/li>\n<li>Private content<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You can even target specific search engines:<\/p>\n<pre>&lt;meta name=\"googlebot\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\"&gt;<\/pre>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Canonical_Tag\"><\/span>Canonical Tag<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The canonical tag technically isn\u2019t a meta tag (it goes within the &lt;link&gt; element). But it is something you add to your &lt;head&gt; section that the user won\u2019t see.<\/p>\n<p>It helps prevent duplicate content issues by specifying the \u201cprimary\u201d version of a page.<\/p>\n<pre>&lt;link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.yourwebsite.com\/primary-page\/\"&gt;<\/pre>\n<p>You can learn more about these in our full guide to <a title=\"Canonical Tags for SEO: How to Fix Duplicate Content URLs\" href=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/canonical-url-guide\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">using canonical tags<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h4><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_to_Optimize_Your_Canonical_Tags\"><\/span>How to Optimize Your Canonical Tags<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Always use full URLs, including the https:\/\/ portion<\/li>\n<li>Ensure your canonical tags match your preferred URL versions (with or without www, trailing slashes, etc.)<\/li>\n<li>The primary version of the page should also have a canonical tag pointing to itself (we call this self-referencing)<\/li>\n<li>For pages with <a title=\"URL Parameters: What They Are and How to Use Them Properly\" href=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/url-parameters\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">URL parameters<\/a>, you typically want to canonicalize to the version without parameters<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Hreflang_Tags\"><\/span>Hreflang Tags<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>For multi-language websites, hreflang tags help search engines show the right version to the right audience. They\u2019re not meta tags by definition. But like canonical tags, they are important for SEO and your user won\u2019t see them.<\/p>\n<p>They look like this:<\/p>\n<pre>&lt;link rel=\"alternate\" hreflang=\"es\" href=\"https:\/\/es.example.com\/page.html\"&gt;\r\n&lt;link rel=\"alternate\" hreflang=\"it\" href=\"https:\/\/it.example.com\/page.html\"&gt;\r\n&lt;link rel=\"alternate\" hreflang=\"en\" href=\"https:\/\/en.example.com\/page.html\"&gt;<\/pre>\n<h4><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_to_Optimize_Your_Hreflang_Tags\"><\/span>How to Optimize Your Hreflang Tags<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<p>If you don\u2019t run a multilingual site, you don\u2019t need to worry about these tags.<\/p>\n<p>But if you do, here\u2019s how to optimize your hreflang tags:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Be careful with the codes you use, ensuring you use the language tag followed by the country value (if needed), like en-us, not us-en<\/li>\n<li>Each language version should reference all other versions<\/li>\n<li>Each page should have an hreflang tag pointing to itself<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It\u2019s easy to make mistakes here, so I recommend checking out our <a title=\"What Is Hreflang and How To Implement It the Right Way\" href=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/hreflang-tag\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">full guide to hreflang tags<\/a> for more information.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Meta_Description\"><\/span>Meta Description<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The description meta tag looks like this:<\/p>\n<pre>&lt;meta name=\"description\" content=\"Your compelling ~120-character description that includes your target keyword and encourages clicks.\"&gt;<\/pre>\n<p>While not a direct ranking factor, your meta description can impact click-through rates.<\/p>\n<p>But:<\/p>\n<p>You shouldn\u2019t assign too much value to these, for two reasons:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Not everyone reads the meta description, so influence over CTR is limited<\/li>\n<li>Google often chooses its own description to show, depending on the query (further limiting the impact)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>So while you can and (I cautiously say) \u201cshould\u201d optimize your meta descriptions, <strong>there are likely more important things you can do<\/strong> if you\u2019re limited on time or resources.<\/p>\n<p>With that out of the way, here are a few best practices:<\/p>\n<h4><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_to_Optimize_Your_Meta_Descriptions\"><\/span>How to Optimize Your Meta Descriptions<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<p>You can optimize your meta descriptions by:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Aiming for 100-120 characters to avoid Google truncating your meta description on mobile devices<\/li>\n<li>Adding a call to action like \u201cLearn how,\u201d \u201cDiscover why,\u201d or \u201cGet your free guide\u201d to encourage clicks (but don\u2019t use clickbait)<\/li>\n<li>Making sure your description aligns with what users are actually looking for (the <a title=\"Search Intent and SEO: How to Optimize for User Goals\" href=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/hub\/seo\/search-intent\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">search intent<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>Writing a unique description for each page<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Here\u2019s an example of an optimized meta description:<\/p>\n<figure class=\"backlinko-image__screenshot backlinko-image backlinko-has-border\">\n<div class=\"backlinko-img-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Jack Black Skin Care \u2013 Page meta description\" alt=\"Jack Black Skin Care \u2013 Page meta description\" data-aspect-ratio=\"0.26857142857143\" src=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/app\/uploads\/2025\/02\/jack-black-skin-care-page-meta-description.png\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/p><\/figure>\n<p>It captures the main benefits of the product, making it clear to a searcher why it\u2019s the right one for them (and why they should click).<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Viewport_Meta_Tag\"><\/span>Viewport Meta Tag<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>This meta tag ensures your site displays properly on mobile devices. It looks like this:<\/p>\n<pre>&lt;meta name=\"viewport\" content=\"width=device-width, initial-scale=1\"&gt;<\/pre>\n<p>This simple tag helps improve your site\u2019s mobile friendliness. While not a direct ranking factor itself as a tag, Google does prioritize sites that provide a great experience on all devices. So it\u2019s a good idea to make sure you implement this one correctly.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sc-quote alert blue-box font-georgia type-normal transparent-img-bg\">\n<div class=\"media\">\n<figure class=\"sc-picture media-left hidden-sm-down\">\n            <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/app\/uploads\/2024\/06\/icon-further-reading.png\" alt=\"| Craig Hordlow\" loading=\"lazy\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\">        <\/figure>\n<div class=\"media-body\">\n<blockquote class=\"sc-quote\">\n<p><strong>Further reading:<\/strong> <a title=\"Mobile SEO: The Definitive Guide\" href=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/mobile-seo-guide\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mobile SEO: The Definitive Guide<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div class=\"media\">\n<figure class=\"sc-picture media-left hidden-md-up\">\n                    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/app\/uploads\/2024\/06\/icon-further-reading.png\" alt=\"| Craig Hordlow\" loading=\"lazy\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\">                <\/figure>\n<p>                                <cite class=\"sc-name media-body media-middle\"><br \/>\n                                    <\/cite>\n            <\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h4><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_to_Optimize_Your_Viewport_Meta_Tag\"><\/span>How to Optimize Your Viewport Meta Tag<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<p>Most content management systems (like WordPress) will set this tag for you. And you\u2019re unlikely to want or need to change it.<\/p>\n<p>You can tweak values like the width and height, but for most cases, you won\u2019t need to.<\/p>\n<p>Just make sure you have one, and ideally use the following values:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>width=device-width<\/strong> to match the user\u2019s device width<\/li>\n<li><strong>initial-scale=1<\/strong> controls the default zoom level<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Charset_Meta_Tag\"><\/span>Charset Meta Tag<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The charset meta tag defines the character encoding for your page. It looks like this:<\/p>\n<pre>&lt;meta charset=\"UTF-8\"&gt;<\/pre>\n<p>If you use the wrong character encoding or implement it incorrectly, you might see some character display issues in your browser:<\/p>\n<figure class=\"backlinko-image__screenshot backlinko-image backlinko-has-border\">\n<div class=\"backlinko-img-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Charset meta tag on your page\" alt=\"Charset meta tag on your page\" data-aspect-ratio=\"0.78571428571429\" src=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/charset-meta-tag-on-your-page.png\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/p><\/figure>\n<h4><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_to_Optimize_Your_Charset_Tag\"><\/span>How to Optimize Your Charset Tag<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<p>Like the viewport meta tag, you\u2019re unlikely to want or need to make any changes to this. Your CMS will likely add this automatically for you.<\/p>\n<p>But if you\u2019re adding it manually, <a title=\"Meta Tags and Attributes that Google Supports | Google Se...\" href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/search\/docs\/crawling-indexing\/special-tags\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google recommends<\/a> you stick with Unicode\/UTF-8.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Open_Graph_and_Twitter_Card_Tags\"><\/span>Open Graph and Twitter Card Tags<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Open Graph is a separate type of meta tag that isn\u2019t going to impact your SEO. But these tags can affect how your content appears when you or others share it on social media.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s what Open Graph meta tags look like:<\/p>\n<pre>&lt;meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Your Compelling Social Title\"&gt;\r\n&lt;meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Your engaging social description\"&gt;\r\n&lt;meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/example.com\/image.jpg\"&gt;\r\n&lt;meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/example.com\/page\"&gt;\r\n&lt;meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\"&gt;<\/pre>\n<p>Here\u2019s an example of a blog post with Open Graph meta tags:<\/p>\n<figure class=\"backlinko-image__screenshot backlinko-image backlinko-has-border\">\n<div class=\"backlinko-img-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Semrush Blog \u2013 Post with open graph meta tags\" alt=\"Semrush Blog \u2013 Post with open graph meta tags\" data-aspect-ratio=\"1.1885714285714\" src=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/semrush-blog-post-with-open-graph-meta-tags.png\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/p><\/figure>\n<p>And here\u2019s how that post looks when it\u2019s shared on X\/Twitter:<\/p>\n<figure class=\"backlinko-image__screenshot backlinko-image backlinko-has-border\">\n<div class=\"backlinko-img-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"X \u2013 Semrush status \u2013 Marketing channel\" alt=\"X \u2013 Semrush status \u2013 Marketing channel\" data-aspect-ratio=\"1.3516666666667\" src=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/x-semrush-status-marketing-channel.png\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/p><\/figure>\n<h4><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_to_Optimize_Your_Social_Meta_Tags\"><\/span>How to Optimize Your Social Meta Tags<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<p>Here are some tips to optimize your Open Graph meta tags:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Keep titles and descriptions concise<\/li>\n<li>Your social titles can be different from your SEO titles, so optimize them for shares<\/li>\n<li>Use images with dimensions of 1200 x 630 pixels<\/li>\n<li>Always ensure your og:url matches your canonical URL<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Other_Meta_Tags\"><\/span>Other Meta Tags<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Before I move on, it\u2019s worth noting a few other meta tags that you may come across.<\/p>\n<p>Here are the main ones and what you can use them for:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>http-equiv:<\/strong> You might use this to refresh the page or for meta refresh redirects, but this is rarely the best method to use (you might also use it to define <a title=\"Content-Security-Policy (CSP) - HTTP | MDN\" href=\"https:\/\/developer.mozilla.org\/en-US\/docs\/Web\/HTTP\/Reference\/Headers\/Content-Security-Policy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">content security policies<\/a>, but you\u2019re unlikely to need to do this)<\/li>\n<li><strong>robots:<\/strong> You can specify meta tags for certain search engine bots, but most of the time you won\u2019t need to<\/li>\n<li><strong>nopagereadaloud:<\/strong> Tells search engines not to read the page aloud with text-to-speech services<\/li>\n<li><strong>google-site-verification:<\/strong> You may use this when verifying that you own a site for Google Search Console<\/li>\n<li><strong>rating:<\/strong> Use this only for labeling adult content to signal that SafeSearch results should filter it<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Here are a few meta tags that Google doesn\u2019t support (and so you probably shouldn\u2019t use):<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>keywords:<\/strong> A long time ago, you could use this to specify keywords to search engines, but it has no impact on rankings now (<strong>don\u2019t use it<\/strong>)<\/li>\n<li><strong>lang:<\/strong> Google doesn\u2019t rely on meta tags to determine the language of a page<\/li>\n<li><strong>next\/prev rel attributes:<\/strong> Google doesn\u2019t use these and they won\u2019t affect indexing<\/li>\n<li><strong>nositelinkssearchbox:<\/strong> Google no longer supports this, as the sitelinks search box no longer exists<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_to_Add_or_Change_Your_Meta_Tags\"><\/span>How to Add or Change Your Meta Tags<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>How you add or make changes to your meta tags depends on how your site is set up.<\/p>\n<p>If you built your site from scratch or have a custom setup, speak with your developer about adding or changing your meta tags.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re doing it yourself, you can add or change them in the &lt;head&gt; section of your page\u2019s code.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"backlinko-image__screenshot backlinko-image backlinko-has-border\">\n<div class=\"backlinko-img-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Editing Meta Tags\" alt=\"Editing Meta Tags\" data-aspect-ratio=\"0.61384615384615\" src=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/editing-meta-tags.png\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/p><\/figure>\n<p>If your site runs on a content management system (CMS), how much control you have over your meta tags is going to vary depending on the platform you use.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"WordPress_Meta_Tags\"><\/span>WordPress Meta Tags<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>WordPress takes care of a lot of meta tags for you. To verify this, I just added a fresh install of WordPress to a domain I own. I deleted all the default plugins my host added, and I only have the 2025 default WordPress theme on the site.<\/p>\n<p>Here are the meta tags it added:<\/p>\n<figure class=\"backlinko-image__screenshot backlinko-image backlinko-has-border\">\n<div class=\"backlinko-img-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"WordPress \u2013 Meta Tags\" alt=\"Wordpress \u2013 Meta Tags\" data-aspect-ratio=\"1.08\" src=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/wordpress-meta-tags.png\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/p><\/figure>\n<p>The platform will:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Automatically choose the recommended charset value (UTF-8)<\/li>\n<li>Add the default meta viewport tag<\/li>\n<li>Add an image-preview meta tag<\/li>\n<li>Not add any special indexing meta tags (so the site is set to indexable by default \u2014 a good thing)<\/li>\n<li>Add a title tag to the page<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>What it didn\u2019t do:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Set a meta description<\/li>\n<li>Apply a canonical tag<\/li>\n<li>Add hreflang tags (not a problem in this case)<\/li>\n<li>Add Open Graph tags<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Note that it might vary depending on whether you run a WordPress.com-hosted domain or are self-hosting and using the WordPress.org software. It might also depend on the theme you use.<\/p>\n<p>You can edit your theme files to adjust your meta tags. But it\u2019s just as easy (or easier) to use plugins. You might even already use a plugin that can do a lot of this for you.<\/p>\n<p>For example, <a title=\"Yoast SEO \u2013 WordPress plugin\" href=\"https:\/\/en-gb.wordpress.org\/plugins\/wordpress-seo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Yoast<\/a> will take care of your page title tags and meta descriptions.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"backlinko-image__screenshot backlinko-image backlinko-has-border\">\n<div class=\"backlinko-img-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Yoast \u2013 Title tag &amp; meta description\" alt=\"Yoast \u2013 Title tag &amp; meta description\" data-aspect-ratio=\"0.55230769230769\" src=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/app\/uploads\/2025\/02\/yoast-title-tag-meta-description.png\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/p><\/figure>\n<p>It\u2019ll also let you adjust your Open Graph tags:<\/p>\n<figure class=\"backlinko-image__screenshot backlinko-image backlinko-has-border\">\n<div class=\"backlinko-img-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Yoast \u2013 Social media appearance\" alt=\"Yoast \u2013 Social media appearance\" data-aspect-ratio=\"1.1614285714286\" src=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/yoast-social-media-appearance.png\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/p><\/figure>\n<p>You can find out more about using this plugin to boost your SEO in <a title=\"Yoast SEO Plugin\" href=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/hub\/seo\/yoast\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">our Yoast guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>As I mentioned earlier, <a title=\"Rank Math SEO \u2013 AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings \u2013 WordPress plugin\" href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/seo-by-rank-math\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Rank Math<\/a> is another option that lets you control a lot of your site\u2019s meta tags. These include site-level and page-level controls over Open Graph tags:<\/p>\n<figure class=\"backlinko-image__screenshot backlinko-image backlinko-has-border\">\n<div class=\"backlinko-img-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Rank Math \u2013 Meta tags control\" alt=\"Rank Math \u2013 Meta tags control\" data-aspect-ratio=\"1.2353846153846\" src=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/rank-math-meta-tags-control.png\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/p><\/figure>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Shopify_Meta_Tags\"><\/span>Shopify Meta Tags<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>You can edit your Shopify store\u2019s main title and meta description for the homepage by going to the Preferences menu in the left-hand sidebar menu:<\/p>\n<figure class=\"backlinko-image__screenshot backlinko-image backlinko-has-border\">\n<div class=\"backlinko-img-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Shopify \u2013 Preferences \u2013 Meta tags\" alt=\"Shopify \u2013 Preferences \u2013 Meta tags\" data-aspect-ratio=\"0.62571428571429\" src=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/shopify-preferences-meta-tags.png\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/p><\/figure>\n<p>You can also change your social sharing image here (for Open Graph).<\/p>\n<p>For other pages like products, access the product page and scroll down to \u201cSearch engine listing\u201d and click \u201c<strong>Edit<\/strong>\u201d:<\/p>\n<figure class=\"backlinko-image__screenshot backlinko-image backlinko-has-border\">\n<div class=\"backlinko-img-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Shopify \u2013 Pages \u2013 Meta tags\" alt=\"Shopify \u2013 Pages \u2013 Meta tags\" data-aspect-ratio=\"0.95076923076923\" src=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/shopify-pages-meta-tags.png\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/p><\/figure>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Wix_Meta_Tags\"><\/span>Wix Meta Tags<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Wix lets you add meta tags through the \u201c<strong>Advanced SEO<\/strong>\u201d menu:<\/p>\n<figure class=\"backlinko-image__screenshot backlinko-image backlinko-has-border\">\n<div class=\"backlinko-img-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Wix \u2013 Meta Tags \u2013 Advanced SEO\" alt=\"Wix \u2013 Meta Tags \u2013 Advanced SEO\" data-aspect-ratio=\"0.74714285714286\" src=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/wix-meta-tags-advanced-seo.png\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/p><\/figure>\n<p>Wix takes care of a lot of meta tags for you by default, including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Title tag (based on the page name)<\/li>\n<li>Meta description (it\u2019s blank by default)<\/li>\n<li>Robots (all pages are indexable by default)<\/li>\n<li>Open Graph title and description (your current title tag and meta description)<\/li>\n<li>Canonical tag (will always use the page URL unless you change it)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Squarespace_Meta_Tags\"><\/span>Squarespace Meta Tags<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Squarespace doesn\u2019t give much control over your meta tags. In fact, you can only really change your title tag and meta description.<\/p>\n<p>Do this via the SEO settings in your post or page and editing the \u201c<strong>SEO Title<\/strong>\u201d and \u201c<strong>SEO Description<\/strong>\u201d fields:<\/p>\n<figure class=\"backlinko-image__screenshot backlinko-image backlinko-has-border\">\n<div class=\"backlinko-img-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Squarespace Meta Tags\" alt=\"Squarespace Meta Tags\" data-aspect-ratio=\"0.77428571428571\" src=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/squarespace-meta-tags.png\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/p><\/figure>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_to_Find_Issues_with_Your_Meta_Tags\"><\/span>How to Find Issues with Your Meta Tags<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Having issues with your meta tags can drastically harm your site\u2019s SEO.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s look at how you can find some of the most common problems.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Using_Semrushs_Site_Audit\"><\/span>Using Semrush\u2019s Site Audit<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Semrush offers one of the most comprehensive tools for finding meta tag issues with <a title=\"Site Audit: Improve the SEO of Your Website | Semrush\" href=\"https:\/\/www.semrush.com\/siteaudit\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Site Audit<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Just set up an audit for your site and let it run.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"backlinko-image__screenshot backlinko-image backlinko-has-border\">\n<div class=\"backlinko-img-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Semrush  \u2013 Site Audit \u2013 Enter domain\" alt=\"Semrush \u2013 Site Audit \u2013 Enter domain\" data-aspect-ratio=\"0.36\" src=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/app\/uploads\/2024\/11\/semrush-site-audit-enter-domain.png\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/p><\/figure>\n<p>Then, head to the \u201c<strong>Issues<\/strong>\u201d tab and search for \u201c<strong>tag<\/strong>.\u201d This will highlight issues related to your meta tags.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"backlinko-image__screenshot backlinko-image backlinko-has-border\">\n<div class=\"backlinko-img-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Site Audit \u2013 Backlinko \u2013 Issues\" alt=\"Site Audit \u2013 Backlinko \u2013 Issues\" data-aspect-ratio=\"0.82571428571429\" src=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/site-audit-backlinko-issues-1.png\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/p><\/figure>\n<p>Site Audit will flag issues like:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Pages with missing\/duplicate title tags<\/li>\n<li>Pages with missing\/duplicate meta descriptions<\/li>\n<li>Title tags that are too long<\/li>\n<li>Pages with missing meta viewport width values<\/li>\n<li>Pages with missing canonical tags<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"sc-quote alert blue-box font-georgia type-normal transparent-img-bg\">\n<div class=\"media\">\n<figure class=\"sc-picture media-left hidden-sm-down\">\n            <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/app\/uploads\/2024\/06\/icon-note.png\" alt=\"| Craig Hordlow\" loading=\"lazy\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\">        <\/figure>\n<div class=\"media-body\">\n<blockquote class=\"sc-quote\">\n<p><strong>Note:<\/strong> A free Semrush account lets you audit up to 100 URLs. Or you can use this link to access a <a title=\"Backlinko &amp; Semrush: 14-day PRO Trial\" href=\"https:\/\/www.semrush.com\/lp\/backlinko-offer\/en\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">14-day trial on a Semrush Pro subscription<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div class=\"media\">\n<figure class=\"sc-picture media-left hidden-md-up\">\n                    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/app\/uploads\/2024\/06\/icon-note.png\" alt=\"| Craig Hordlow\" loading=\"lazy\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\">                <\/figure>\n<p>                                <cite class=\"sc-name media-body media-middle\"><br \/>\n                                    <\/cite>\n            <\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Detailed_Chrome_Extension\"><\/span>The Detailed Chrome Extension<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>You can use the <a title=\"Detailed SEO Extension - Chrome Web Store\" href=\"https:\/\/chromewebstore.google.com\/detail\/detailed-seo-extension\/pfjdepjjfjjahkjfpkcgfmfhmnakjfba\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Detailed Chrome extension<\/a> for quick on-page meta tag checks.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"backlinko-image__screenshot backlinko-image backlinko-has-border\">\n<div class=\"backlinko-img-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Detailed SEO \u2013 Overview\" alt=\"Detailed SEO \u2013 Overview\" data-aspect-ratio=\"1.0957142857143\" src=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/app\/uploads\/2024\/09\/detailed-seo-overview.png\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/p><\/figure>\n<p>It\u2019ll show you that page\u2019s title tag, meta description, canonical tag, robots tag, and more. This makes it very handy for validating quick changes to specific pages.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Manual_Checks_with_Dev_Tools\"><\/span>Manual Checks with Dev Tools<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>You can also just check your page\u2019s meta tags manually by right clicking and selecting \u201c<strong>Inspect<\/strong>\u201d:<\/p>\n<figure class=\"backlinko-image__screenshot backlinko-image backlinko-has-border\">\n<div class=\"backlinko-img-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Backlinko post \u2013 Inspect\" alt=\"Backlinko post \u2013 Inspect\" data-aspect-ratio=\"1.0428571428571\" src=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/app\/uploads\/2025\/02\/backlinko-post-inspect.png\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/p><\/figure>\n<p>Then, search for \u201cmeta\u201d to quickly identify your page\u2019s meta tags:<\/p>\n<figure class=\"backlinko-image__screenshot backlinko-image backlinko-has-border\">\n<div class=\"backlinko-img-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Backlinko \u2013 Page meta tags\" alt=\"Backlinko \u2013 Page meta tags\" data-aspect-ratio=\"0.90571428571429\" src=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/backlinko-page-meta-tags.png\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/p><\/figure>\n<p>This isn\u2019t all that scalable, but it\u2019s handy for checking specific pages.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Optimize_Your_Meta_Tags_as_Part_of_Your_Technical_SEO_Strategy\"><\/span>Optimize Your Meta Tags as Part of Your Technical SEO Strategy<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Meta tags clearly play a role in your site\u2019s overall SEO. But making changes to them usually won\u2019t have a huge impact on performance unless you already have major issues.<\/p>\n<p>There are lots of other aspects of SEO and technical SEO in particular that can actually move the needle.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sc-quote alert blue-box font-georgia type-normal transparent-img-bg\">\n<div class=\"media\">\n<figure class=\"sc-picture media-left hidden-sm-down\">\n            <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/app\/uploads\/2024\/06\/icon-further-reading.png\" alt=\"| Craig Hordlow\" loading=\"lazy\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\">        <\/figure>\n<div class=\"media-body\">\n<blockquote class=\"sc-quote\">\n<p>To find out more about these changes and how to make them to boost your site\u2019s performance, check out our guide to <a title=\"Technical SEO: The Ultimate Guide \" href=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/technical-seo-guide\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">technical SEO<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div class=\"media\">\n<figure class=\"sc-picture media-left hidden-md-up\">\n                    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/app\/uploads\/2024\/06\/icon-further-reading.png\" alt=\"| Craig Hordlow\" loading=\"lazy\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\">                <\/figure>\n<p>                                <cite class=\"sc-name media-body media-middle\"><br \/>\n                                    <\/cite>\n            <\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/meta-tags\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Meta Tags: What They Are &amp; How to Use Them to Boost Your SEO<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Backlinko<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Meta tags are snippets of HTML code that live in your webpage\u2019s &lt;head&gt; section. Your website\u2019s visitors won\u2019t see them. But search engines, browsers, and social media platforms can see and use them. You can think of meta tags as a way to tell Google and other search engines about what your page contains and how they should display it in search results. Some meta tags are more important than others. In fact, there are really only a couple of meta tags you need to worry [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12868,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"h5ap_radio_sources":[],"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-backlinko"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/components-of-a-meta-tag-9evVLg-600x400.png","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/components-of-a-meta-tag-9evVLg-600x600.png","author_info":{"display_name":false,"author_link":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/author\/craig\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12867\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}