During the early days of the Internet, much weight was placed on meta tags as they carry vital information that let users know of the content of a given website. Nowadays it seems meta tags are increasingly being deemed unnecessary.
A lot of people started implementing dubious means in an effort to push their rankings higher, often placing deceiving information in the tags. Meta tags are so susceptible to spamming that it practically renders the tags useless.
Consequently, most of the major search engines like Yahoo and Google don’t really factor it in anymore when judging a website’s relevance and have altogether stopped using it as a criterion in determining site rankings.
There are also other hazards associated with meta tagging. Since the tags contain information about your website, this may potentially be used against you by your competition. They become familiar with the keywords you painstakingly chose and use them to promote their own sites. A poorly constructed meta tag can actually hurt your ranking chances and possibly get your website banned even if you didn’t intend to break any rules in the first place. Some people contend that you are better off devoting attention to title tags as search engines still give importance to them.
Are meta tags truly an unnecessary practice? While meta tags no longer determine how well a website does in search engine rankings, there is nothing wrong with continuing to use them provided they are constructed well and do not overstep ethical boundaries.
A meta tag contains a description of what your site offers and if it is well written, can entice visitors to click on your link. It may not boost website rankings but it is still a legitimate method of generating traffic. Plus if you do not write a meta tag for your website, the search engine will construct one for you and this might not be a wise move as you are the one who knows about your site best.
It is better to write a meta tag that accurately describes what you offer rather than sticking with a generic description of your site. If you do choose to continue using meta tags as an SEO method, there are certain things you must keep in mind. Do not make your tags too long and be sure your description matches the content found within your site. Put in relevant keywords and do not be repetitive.
