The Most Common Website Problems Meta Tags

Published on 09/09/2020 9:44 am

Your meta tags help search engines identify the subject matters of your pages to connect them with the keywords and phrases used by searchers.

Creating the right title tags means choosing the relevant keywords to form a unique and click-worthy link for users in the search engine results pages (SERPs).

The meta descriptions give you additional opportunities to include keywords and related phrases.

They should be as unique and tailored as possible - if you don’t create your own, Google will automatically generate them based on the keywords in users’ queries, which can sometimes lead to mismatched search terms and associated results.

Optimized title tags and meta descriptions need to include the most appropriate keywords, be the correct length and avoid duplication as much as possible.

Some industries, such as e-commerce fashion, are unable to create unique descriptions for every single product, so they need to offer unique value in other areas of their landing pages’ body copy.

If unique meta data are possible, though, you should head in that direction to give your site the best chance of maximizing its impact in the SERPs.

The Most Common Meta Tag Mistakes that May Hurt Your Rankings:

Duplicate title tags and meta descriptions
Missing H1 tags
Missing meta descriptions
Missing ALT attributes
Duplicate H1 tags and title tags

Duplicate title tags and meta descriptions:

Two or more pages with the same titles and descriptions make it difficult for search engines to properly determine relevance and, in turn, rankings.

Missing H1 tags:

H1 tags help search engines determine the topic of your content. If they are missing, there will be gaps in Google’s understanding of your website.

Missing meta descriptions:

Well-written meta descriptions help Google understand relevance and encourage users to click on your result. If they are missing, click-through rates can fall.

Missing ALT attributes:

ALT attributes provide search engines and visually impaired people with descriptions of the images in your content. Without them, relevance is lost and engagement can suffer.

Duplicate H1 tags and title tags:

When H1 tags and title tags are the same on any given page, it can look over-optimized and it can mean opportunities to rank for other relevant keywords have been missed.

Other common meta tag mistakes include: