What are SEO Tags?
SEO tags (also called Meta tags) are located in the header of webpages and include the description and title tags. Meta tags are an essential part of your SEO strategy because they tell search engines what your page is about and help your site appear in search results for desired keywords. Title tags appear as the clickable headline in search results and are a ranking factor in Google. Meta descriptions, while not a ranking factor, provide a brief summary of what a web page is about, enticing users to click through to your site.
Properly optimizing your meta tags not only helps your site to appear for target keywords but also improves click-through rates by making your pages more appealing to potential visitors. Regularly auditing and updating these tags is essential to ensure they remain aligned with your content and SEO strategy. Whether you’re an eCommerce business, a service provider, or an information site, strong meta tags are a foundational element in an effective SEO strategy.
How to Check Your Site’s Meta Tags
Knowing how to check SEO tags is essential if you manage your company’s digital marketing efforts. There are a few quick ways you can inspect the meta tags on pages to make sure they are communicating the proper information to search engines:
Check the Source Code
This is the most basic method of checking SEO tags and can be accomplished in any browser. To look at the source code in most browsers, simply right-click on the web page and scroll down to “View Page Source.” A new window will open displaying the HTML code for the page. The meta tags will be toward the top of the page and look like this:
Use an SEO Tool Like Screaming Frog
Screaming Frog is a more sophisticated way to check SEO tags. This is especially useful when inspecting multiple pages where doing so manually wouldn’t be practical or time-efficient. There are free versions of the software available for Windows, Ubuntu Linux and Mac computers, making it accessible for most users.
The tool works by crawling your website, much like a search engine spider, and providing detailed reports on title tags, meta descriptions, header tags, and more. By using Screaming Frog, you can quickly identify missing, duplicate, or poorly optimized tags and make the necessary adjustments to improve your site’s SEO performance.
Add an Extension like SEO Pro to Chrome
SEO Pro, by Marketing Syrup, is a free plugin that allows you to add SEO tag checking directly to your Chrome browser. When you have this installed, you can quickly analyze any webpage to evaluate key SEO elements like the meta title, description, headers, and more. The information will be displayed in an easy to read popup.
Outsource Your SEO Strategy to the Experts
Analyzing your website’s SEO is an essential part of marketing online. Zero Gravity Marketing’s SEO team is one of the largest in the state, equipped with the expertise and tools to audit and optimize your meta tags as part of a larger SEO strategy. We work to ensure that your company’s website is getting exposure in search results, whether you’re looking to refine your existing strategy or build one from the ground up. Contact us today for more information!
