Meta Tags for SEO — Title, Description & Open Graph Explained
Updated October 2026 · 4 min read
Quick start: Open the free Meta Tag Generator — fill in title, description and OG fields to get ready-to-paste HTML tags instantly.
Meta tags are HTML elements in a page's <head> that communicate metadata to browsers, search engines and social platforms. Getting them right is one of the simplest SEO wins available — yet many pages still have missing or poorly written tags.
The Tags That Actually Matter
| Tag | SEO impact | Recommended length |
|---|---|---|
| <title> | High — direct ranking signal | 50–60 characters |
| meta description | Indirect — affects CTR | 120–160 characters |
| og:title / og:description | Social sharing only | Same as title/description |
| og:image | Social sharing CTR | 1200×630px recommended |
| robots | Critical — controls indexing | index,follow (default) |
| canonical | Prevents duplicate content | Full absolute URL |
Writing a Good Title Tag
Put the primary keyword at the start of the title — Google weights earlier words more heavily. Keep it under 60 characters or it gets truncated in search results. Include your brand name at the end, separated by a dash or pipe. Example: UK Stamp Duty Calculator — SDLT 2024 | MetricPane.
Meta Description Best Practices
Google does not use the meta description as a direct ranking signal, but it is shown in search results and directly affects click-through rate. Write it as an ad for your page: include the primary keyword, a clear benefit and a call to action. Google will sometimes override your description with a snippet from the page — this typically happens when it judges its snippet is more relevant to the query.
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