# Meta tags

Category: [On-Page & Content](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/category/on-page-content/) › [Titles, meta tags & snippets](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/category/on-page-content/titles-meta-snippets/)

**Meta tags** are `meta` elements in the `<head>` of an HTML page. They carry information for browsers and search engines that does not appear in the visible content, such as a page description, the character set or instructions for indexing.

## Which meta tags does Google support?

Google lists a limited set in its documentation:

- `description` offers a page summary that Google sometimes uses in the snippet.
- `robots` and `googlebot` control crawling and indexing. `robots` applies to all search engines, `googlebot` only to Google.
- `viewport` tells the browser how to render the page on mobile devices.
- `charset` (or Content-Type) sets the character set. UTF-8 is recommended.
- `google-site-verification` verifies ownership in Search Console.
- `notranslate` stops Google from offering translations, `nopagereadaloud` blocks its read-aloud services.
- `rating` marks adult content for SafeSearch.
- `refresh` redirects after a delay, but Google recommends a server-side 301 redirect instead.

Google states that the meta keywords tag is not used by Google Search and has no effect on indexing and ranking. Other values, such as `next` and `prev` link relations, are also not supported.

The `title` element sits in the same `<head>` and is often listed with meta tags, but technically it is a separate element. Open Graph tags for social networks are written as `meta` elements as well.

## Example

```html
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <meta name="description" content="A short summary of the page in one or two sentences.">
  <meta name="robots" content="noindex">
</head>
```

## Common mistakes

- The same description on many pages.
- A `noindex` from a staging site that stays in the code after launch.
- Relying on the keywords tag, which Google ignores.

## FAQ

**Are meta tags still useful?**
Several are. The robots tag, the viewport tag and the description have effects in Google Search as listed above. Others, such as keywords, have none.

**Which meta tags are most important?**
Google does not rank them. In practice the robots tag matters for indexing, and the description can shape the snippet.

## Related terms

- [Title tag](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/title-tag/index.md)
- [Meta description](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/meta-description/index.md)
- [Meta keywords](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/meta-keywords/index.md)
- [Meta robots tag](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/meta-robots-tag/index.md)
- [Open Graph](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/open-graph/index.md)
- [Search snippet](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/search-snippet/index.md)

## Sources

- [Meta tags that Google understands – Google Search Central](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/special-tags)
- [Meta Tags in SEO: the Ultimate Guide – Conductor (secondary)](https://www.conductor.com/academy/what-are-meta-tags/)
- [Using a META tag to block bots from indexing a webpage – InMotion Hosting (secondary)](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/website/using-a-meta-tag-to-block-bots-from-indexing-a-webpage/)
- [HTML Standard (WHATWG) – The title and meta elements](https://html.spec.whatwg.org/multipage/semantics.html)

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Last updated: October 7, 2026
URL: https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/meta-tags/