All web pages have HTML tags as their base code, but there are also specific HTML code types that give search engines vital information for SERP display. In essence, these elements describe for search crawlers the critical areas of your content that are important for search.
However, using only some of these additional code tools would be best. Thanks to the advancement of search engine technology, HTML tags are no longer as widely used as they once were. But a few tags are still hanging on, and some have become more valuable in terms of SEO.
This article will discuss some essential HTML tags for SEO that are still relevant in 2023.
What Do SEO HTML Tags Mean?
Small HTML code called tags instructs search engines how to “read” your content correctly. In fact, by including SEO tags in HTML, you can significantly increase search engine visibility.
A search engine crawler examines the website’s HTML tags when it encounters your content. This information aids search engines like Google in figuring out the subject matter of your content and how to categorize it.
Some of them also enhance how users in those search engines perceive your content. Additionally, social media platforms use content tags to display your articles.
HTML tags for SEO will ultimately determine how well your website performs online. Without these tags, you stand a much lower chance of genuinely connecting with an audience.
Seven SEO Tags You Must Know
1. The Title Tag
This is the most crucial tag you should be aware of when improving your rankings.
Any search engine must understand the topics of your content, each page, and your website to rank your website.
The topic of each page or piece of content on your website is described in the title tag. It also accomplishes this in a way that search engines can comprehend.
On Google, this is where the title tag will appear.
To tell search engines how to rank you, your title tag must contain the keywords your content focuses on.
For instance, I’m going to assume that the keyword Smart Insights is attempting to rank for is “digital marketing strategy” in the title tag above.
2. Meta Description Tag
The meta tag is an absolute requirement for anyone serious about their SEO, right after the title tag.
Consider the meta description to be the book’s back summary. The heading is the title, and the extra few sentences in the meta description are used to describe the content further.
If you do this correctly, your meta description will sell the “click” with the compelling copy, in addition to helping you rank highly on Google.
In a Google result, this is where the meta description appears.
As you can see, the meta description includes the focus keywords for the title tag: “Digital marketing strategy.”
This is important.
For search engines to understand what you’re going to discuss, there must be consistency between your title tag and your meta description.
Imagine that you only use the word “SEO” in your meta description but use the phrase “digital marketing” in your title tag. Because search engines can’t tell what the content is about specifically, they will rank you lower.
3. Canonical Tags
Use the canonical tag to organize your content and prioritize one web page over duplicate web pages.
But I don’t have any same web pages you tell yourself.
I’m sorry to break it to you; you’re mistaken.
There are duplicate web pages on every website.
That’s initially challenging to comprehend because we do not search engines but rather human beings.
I’ll explain. These various URLs could all be used by a search engine to crawl the same web page.
And all of those appear to be the same web page to us. But each one seems like a duplicate of a search engine.
Most web pages contain many more duplicates than just this small sample. There could be hundreds or thousands of duplicate pages on your website.
When search engines try to rank your content, this becomes a problem. The search engine finds it confusing and rates each of these URLs separately.
You can fix this issue using the canonical tag by telling Google which URL to prioritize over all others.
This is how the tag appears.
Doing this will improve how search engines read and rank your website.
4. Header Tags
It’s effortless to add them to your content.
They travel nowhere unique. They jump right into the information.
Take a closer look at the bolded text that reads “header tags” above the number three.
That line is an h2 tag throughout.
There are various types of header tags. Depending on your format, you might have h1, h2, h3, and occasionally h4 or even h5.
As they get smaller, these make excellent headings and subheadings for structuring your content.
But header tags do more than help readers navigate your content. It also benefits SEO.
Consider this.
When you tag each topical heading in the post, you tell search engines what the content is about.
This is how Google generates snippets you occasionally see when searching for a subject.
Google knows how to structure this content when displaying it to web searchers because the author broke it up into simple-to-read steps.
It’s straightforward to include these header tags in any of your content.
In most cases, you must click on the appropriate heading when using a visual editor.
Use the tags h1> for the front and /h1> for the end when using an HTML editor. The same procedure applies to all other header tags.
5. Image Alt Tags
Many people overlook the opportunity that alt tags present for SEO.
It’s simple to ignore the images and concentrate solely on the words you’re writing for the content.
However, it is a fact that not everyone uses Google’s “All” tab for searches.
Occasionally, users will also search under the “Images” tab.
The SEO game changes a little bit when they do that.
Search engines cannot read images, but words can.
This means that you must add alt tags to all of your screenshots and images if you want them to have a chance of ranking on Google.
That way, your content will still be searchable when someone uses the “Images” tab.
6. Links and Anchor Text Tags.
You should include links to various websites throughout your content.
Make sure to give credit where credit is due whenever you want to include statistics or images from different sources.
In most cases, a link to that website will do.
However, many people need to be aware of link tag anchor text.
Most people will omit the anchor text when adding the link, which is unfortunate for SEO efforts.
Here is how the entire thing appears as an HTML tag.
This portion—a href=”http://example-website.com”>—is the actual link tag. This is a link to my website, and right after that is the anchor text. </a>.
However, why is anchor text so crucial?
Google, however, uses the anchor text to determine the topic of the link. What are the links to, and where are they from?
These queries should be addressed in your anchor text for Google.
A good anchor text performs several functions.
When linking to someone else’s website, a strong anchor tag will boost their rankings more than just the link itself.
Furthermore, keeping your content organized by linking to a page on your website will increase the domain authority of that website.
Search engines adore organized content.
The final tag is now at our disposal.
7. Use of Nofollow Link Tags
There are a few factors that warrant your knowledge of nofollow link tags.
Let me first describe what they are.
Nofollow tags instruct search engines not to give the backlink you are building for the website any weight.
In other words, a link to a website or piece of content would typically raise the domain authority of that website. But it won’t if there is a no follow tag.
Don’t worry, though; the link will still function. Whoever clicks on it will still be directed to the proper location. It will simply not benefit the website’s SEO.
Here is an example of a no-follow tag.
But why is it essential to understand nofollow links?
There are several of them.
Knowing whether the backlinks you receive are do-follow or no-follow is essential to developing a website backlink SEO strategy. Your rankings will benefit more from do-follow links than no-follow links.
There is one small caveat, though.
Nofollow links may still aid rankings, but less, according to some arguments. They, therefore, are only partially helpful. They aren’t as beneficial as following links.
Additionally, if you link to a website with low domain authority, consider using nofollow links on your website.