Metatags and SEO
Meta tags are HTML code tags written within the <head> section of a webpage. You can see these tags by going to -View- Page Source on your internet browser. The meta tags will be at the top of the ducument.
They were first developed to help search engines understand what a web page was about. In the past, meta tags were very important. They were mainly used to tell search engines what the most important words are in a document, including misspellings.
Search engines are much more sophisticated now and they automatically correct misspellings. In addition they are now able to understanding the topic of the webpage by the content alone.
Meta tags were also a source for abuse as well. They were used to trick search engines into thinking that a webpage was about a different subject than what the content was about.
Meta tags fell out of favor with search engines due to this abuse, especially with Google, and are no longer useful for SEO. The only exception would be the Title tag, which may not really be considered to be a meta tag actually and the Description tag which some search engines use to provide a summary for searchers.
Adding meta tags do not harm your site in any way, but for the most part they will not help your rankings.
The Different Metatags
The page title tag: The title of the web page is the most important line of markup in the entire document. It is the text that appears on the top of the browser. This is also the line that search engines deliver to a user.
Description meta tag: A brief summary of the webpage. The description is handled differently by search engines. For example, Google sometimes displays it in the results, others index the content but never display it, and still others ignore it completely. That being said, it’s still an important tag to have..
Keywords meta tag: Because of the abuse of the keywords tags, most search engines ignore it. However, adding the tag does not hurt, as it may add some value since search engine algorithms are secret.
Author meta tag: Its purpose is to define the author of the webpage, whether an individual, the company as a whole, or a third party. It has no bearing for SEO
Copyright meta tag: Another optional tag, which defines the copyright information.
Robots meta tag: It instructs search engines how to index the content of the site. It is still used, but not really for SEO purposes.