Meta
“Meta” is a prefix derived from Greek, meaning “beyond” or “transcending.” In various contexts, it denotes a concept that is an abstraction from another concept, often referring to self-referential or self-aware processes. For instance, something described as “meta” typically reflects upon its nature or creation in literature or art. For example, a book about writing books is “meta.” Generally, it means thinking about or looking at something in a higher or more abstract way.
In the tech industry, “Meta” has recently gained attention as the new name for the company formerly known as Facebook symbolizing its shift in focus from social media to building the metaverse.
The word META is a trademark of META PLATFORMS, INC
What is the Metaverse?
The metaverse is a hypothetical, immersive, three-dimensional virtual space shared by many users and spans different digital platforms. It’s built on virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) devices, real-time collaboration software, and blockchain-based decentralized finance tools. In the metaverse, users can move around freely as digital avatars, or facsimiles of themselves, and experience life in ways that wouldn’t be possible in the physical world. This is extremely cool if you haven’t tried it yet!
Meta and websites
The rest of this blog is in the context of websites and best practices. The last blog we wrote inspired us to continue the conversation.
What is a Meta Tag?
A meta tag is an HTML tag that provides metadata about a webpage. It does not appear directly on the webpage itself but is embedded within the HTML code of the page. Meta tags provide information about the page’s content, such as its title, description, keywords, author, viewport settings, and other metadata that help search engines understand and categorize what the webpage is about.
Below, are some common types of
Meta tags used in websites
Meta Description Tag
This tag provides a summary of the webpage’s content. It often appears in search engine results pages (SERPs) as the snippet below the title link, providing users with a preview of what the page is about.
Meta Keywords Tag
Previously used to specify relevant keywords related to the content of the webpage, this tag has largely become obsolete in terms of SEO. Search engines now primarily rely on content and context rather than keywords specified in meta tags.
Meta Title Tag
Also known as the <title> tag, this meta tag defines the title of the webpage that appears in the browser’s title bar or tab. It is crucial for both SEO and usability, as it directly impacts click-through rates in search results.
Meta Robots Tag
This tag instructs search engines on how to crawl and index the page. It can specify whether to index the page, follow links on the page, or whether to display the page in search results.
Meta Viewport Tag
This tag controls the layout and scaling of the webpage on different devices and screen sizes. It is particularly important for responsive web design and ensuring a consistent user experience across devices.
Meta tags are placed within an HTML document’s <head> section and are not visible to users when viewing the webpage. Instead, they provide important information to search engines and browsers to improve the web page’s visibility, accessibility, and usability. Properly optimized meta tags can significantly improve a webpage’s SEO performance and user engagement.
