Last Updated on July 20, 2024 by Admin
HTML tags for SEO can be considered secret codes that assist search engines in understanding your website. Your visitors do not see them as having a close relationship to your site’s performance in front of the search engines. Using the right tags enables the search engines to get key clues about your content in terms of its purpose and structure.
Do not be concerned if you do not know how to code. Though this approach involves coding, it is not difficult to implement. Knowing and applying the fundamental tags of HTML is not as complicated as it seems. Here, you will find the step-by-step guide to the fifteen basic HTML tags that can have a positive impact on the SEO of the website.
What Are HTML Tags?
HTML tags are the foundation of any webpage that is displayed on the internet. They are really unique characters that inform the web browsers about how to present the content and provide the search engines with critical information about the page.
HTML tags for SEO are much like name tags for parts of your web content. When you move from one house to another, you label your boxes in the same way. These tags assist in categorizing and explaining the elements of your page. For instance, there are tags for headings, paragraphing, images, and links.
Here is how you can easily identify an HTML tag:
- They always appear inside angle brackets, like this: Thus, <tag>
- Most tags come in pairs: an opener of
and a closer </tag> - The content you want to describe is placed between these tags
Some HTML tags are vital for SEO as they give essential information to the crawlers, more than others do. These tags assist Google and other search engines to comprehend:
- What is your page about
- When you make content, which sections will be compelling to your readers?
- How your page is laid out
- What type of content is allowed on your page, for example, image or video content?
When you employ proper HTML tags for SEO, what you are doing, in essence, is writing in a language that the search engines are most familiar with. The precise messaging can also increase your site’s ranking in search engines and attract more traffic to your site.
15 Must-Know HTML Tags for SEO
Knowing the basics, let’s discuss the 15 most significant HTML tags for SEO. All these tags have a specific purpose in SEO and enhancing visitors’ experience on your website.
#1. Title Tags <title>
The title tag is one of the most important factors for SEO and user experience. It is the clickable link on the SERP and is located at the top of the browser window as the title tab. The website’s keyword density is one of the most significant components of on-page SEO.
The goal of the title tag is to provide a brief description of the page and include the keyword, preferably at the start. It is best to keep it short, preferably within 60 characters, so you can be certain it does not get cut off in search engine results pages.
Every page of your site should have an individual title that attracts users’ attention. However, do not forget that the title tag is one of the first things that a visitor will see and, hence, should be effective.
#2. Meta Descriptions <meta description>
Meta descriptions do not have a direct impact on rankings, but they are a critical factor in the rates of click-through from searches. This tag is useful for briefly summarizing the content of your page and is displayed below the page title in the SERP.
The meta description should be eye-catching, describe the content of the page, and include the key phrase. Ideally, limit them to 150-160 characters so that they are not cut off in the search engine results.
Every page should have a meta description that is like a brief description of the page to prospective visitors. Thus, a good meta description will give you better click-through rates, which in turn should help you rank higher over time and boost your SEO.
#3. Header Tags <h1> to <h6>
A heading tag helps organize your content, which is helpful for users to understand the main points of your page and for search engine crawlers to understand its hierarchy.
The H1 tag is mostly used for the page title, and it is recommended that you place your main keyword in it. Ideally, it is best to limit the use of H1 to one per page. In general, additional headings starting with the secondary level (H2 to H6) should be applied to group subtopics in a hierarchy.
It is advised to incorporate keywords into your headings logically, but remember, the headings should be clear and easy to navigate. Structuring headings enhances content reading and assists search engines in analyzing and indexing the content.
#4. Image Alt Text <img>
The alt attribute within image tags has many significant functions. For SEO, it gives information about the image to the search engines since these cannot ‘see’ images like humans can. This also assists the images to be indexed for image search and boosts the relevancy of the page for a given keyword. Also, alt text is needed for accessibility because it provides descriptions of images for users with vision impairments.
When providing alt text, it is best to use words to describe the image, contain keywords in the text without keyword stuffing, and ensure the text describes the image’s purpose on the page. For non-informational images that do not convey any new information, use alt=’ ‘ to let the screen reader know that the image can be skipped.
#5. Canonical Tags <canonical>
A canonical tag enables you to indicate the original copy of a website when there are multiple copies of the same website.
For instance, if you are running an ecommerce website, then you would define your goals in that context. The different colors of one product have different links. Nevertheless, the content of each of the pages is the same or, rather, contains the same information. Employ the canonical tags to tell Google which of the two URLs you would want the search engine to index.
This is why canonical tags are crucial. They assist in avoiding the creation of duplicates in relation to SEO, which may have a negative effect on rankings. Search engines are also capable of determining which version of the page to crawl and show to users.
#6. Robots Meta Tag <meta robots>
It is possible that you do not wish the search engines to crawl all the pages of your site. Applying robot meta tags together with directives such as ‘noindex’ or ‘nofollow’ allows the spiders to crawl and index your site effectively.
A robot meta tag is a type of page-level tag that instructs web spiders, both search engines and website crawlers, how to crawl your site.
The robot’s meta tag indicates whether a given page should be crawled by search engines and whether links on the page should be followed.
#7. Schema Markup
Schema markup is a form of structured data that can be implemented at a site’s source level to help search engines index it.
Site owners frequently utilize this data to describe a specific page in more detail. This includes product details, reviews, ratings, and many others.
#8. Table <table>
A table tag is an HTML tag used to develop tables on web pages.
Although populating your content with tables may not sound like an SEO optimization technique, you can use them to present data in a tabular manner. This can improve the appearance of your content in a reader’s eyes. Given this kind of treatment, it makes it easier to read.
Employ table tags to create rows and columns inside your content, presenting data in a systematic and highly arranged manner.
#9. Iframe <iframe>
An iframe or an inline frame is an HTML element that can be used to embed an HTML document inside another HTML document. It is a part of your page that shows content from another location in the manner that a window does.
Scenarios where you might use an iframe can include:
- Embedding multimedia elements. For instance, videos, audio, animations, and those from social media sites such as YouTube, SoundCloud, and other related ones.
- Embedding documents. Like a PDF.
- Integrating a third-party application. Like a Google Maps widget.
- Accessing content from other sources. Such as tweetAccessingk and Instagram updates.
#10. List Tag <li>
List tags are beneficial in providing information in a format that is easy to scan and quickly process. They divide content and make it simpler to comprehend. Lists have the potential to be featured in a search engine result as featured snippets, and search engines usually prefer well-structured content.
There are two main types of lists:
- Numbered lists are created with the help of <ol> tags
- Bullet points are created using <ul> tags
Every item in the list is enclosed within the
#11. Hyperlinks <a>
Hyperlinks are an essential component of the Web and used to be critical for SEO. The <a> tag creates a connection between the pages. It assists search engines with the relation between different contents of the web, and while linking to other pages, uses the words that are clickable as a means to inform both the users and the search engines of the content that is on the other side of the link. Internal linking remains useful in distributing the page authority of every site and makes it easier for the users to navigate through the site. You can support your text with hyperlinks to other trustworthy sources. It is possible to use the nofollow attribute for links to the resources of third parties or to the sponsored links.
#12. Open Graph Tags and Twitter Cards
Although they do not directly affect search engine rankings, Open Graph tags and Twitter Cards will indeed affect the way your content is shared on social media platforms.
These tags determine the look of your content when it is shared on social networks and thus can affect the click-through rates. The Open Graph tags that Facebook and many other sites use let you define what title, description, and image should be used when the content you create is shared. Twitter Cards have a similar purpose, but they are designed for Twitter only.
#13. Hreflang Tag
The hreflang tag is especially important for SEO in cases of websites that are aimed at different languages and regions. It informs search engines of the language you are using on a certain page to enable them to provide the correct content to people.
It is especially relevant for situations when two similar pages are created for different languages to prevent the problem of duplicative content. Incorporate hreflang tags in the
block of your HTML or within your XML sitemap.This way, you can even define the language and country of the user, which gives you a very precise level of control over which version of your content will be displayed to them.
#14. Nofollow Tag
The nofollow attribute is used within anchor tags to instruct the search engine not to pass link juice/ranking power through that given link. And it is a useful instrument for keeping your site’s link profile clean and free from manipulations.
Use nofollow to avoid endorsement of some links, such as paid links or links from user-generated content. Although Google has added more specific characteristics of links like “sponsored” and “UGC,” nofollow is still actively used and recognized.
#15. Responsive Site Meta Tag
A responsive site meta tag also called a viewport meta tag, specifies how browsers should control the size of your site and its elements in relation to the screen it is displayed on. This tag is important when designing a responsive site, as it should look good on all the possible devices it can be accessed on.
A mobile-friendly site is convenient for users and is preferred by search engines, especially when searching on mobile devices. Using this tag is one of the starting points in designing a responsive view, which can result in improved user interaction, decreased bounce rates, and possibly increased position in search results.
Conclusion
Learning and implementing the following 15 HTML tags for SEO can make a huge difference in your website traffic. At AlgoSaga SEO services, we know all these technical factors and how they affect the business and its online image. By using these tags correctly, one is not only making provision for search engines but also improving the usability for visitors. As we have always said, SEO is a long-term strategy, and you must keep track of the changes in SEO trends to enhance your site’s ranking.