Meta tags tell search engines what your pages contain. Here is how to optimise them.
1. The main tags
- Title: the page title, shown in search results and in the browser tab. It states the main topic of the page.
- Description: a short summary shown under the title in search results. It makes people want to click.
- Other useful tags:
- Robots: tells search engines whether they may crawl and index the page (for example “index, follow” or “noindex, nofollow”);
- Canonical: indicates the reference version of a page when content is duplicated;
- Viewport: controls display on mobile devices.
2. Optimising the title
- Length: 50 to 60 characters, so it isn’t cut off.
- Keywords: put your main keywords at the start.
- Uniqueness: a different, relevant title for each page.
- Clarity: describe the page content accurately.
3. Optimising the description
- Length: 150 to 160 characters.
- Keywords: work them in naturally.
- Call to action: encourage clicks (“Discover”, “Learn more”…).
- Relevance: summarise the page accurately and attractively.
4. Further tips
- Long-tail keywords: more specific, they attract better-qualified traffic.
- Think of your visitors: use the words they type into their searches.
- Measure: track the results of your tags and adjust them if needed.
Useful tools
- Google Search Console: to analyse how your pages perform in search results.
- SEO analysis tools (SEMrush, for example): to help you improve your tags.
In 123ventes, you enter titles and descriptions in the “SEO” menu, for each language.