Content revised 20 October 2026.
Meta tags describe aspects of a page or give processing instructions. They belong in a wider on-page SEO review, not a plan to rank through hidden wording alone.
Separate the common elements
The title element provides a page title, although it is not itself a meta tag. A meta description can summarise the page. A robots meta tag can express supported indexing and preview instructions. A canonical link identifies a preferred URL; that is a link element, not a meta description. Knowing the difference makes an audit easier to act on.
Make the summary fit the page
Write a description that explains the actual information or offer. Avoid claiming a price, credential or outcome that the visitor will not find on the page. Search engines may generate a different snippet for a query, so don't treat the description as guaranteed display copy.
Review instructions carefully
An accidental noindex instruction can prevent the intended search appearance. A robots.txt restriction is a different control and should not be treated as an equivalent replacement. Check the public output rather than assuming that a setting in a plugin was applied correctly.
Keep one clear owner
- Check whether an SEO plugin already outputs titles and descriptions.
- Avoid a second theme snippet that creates conflicting tags.
- Review canonical and robots output after a redesign.
- Keep meaningful titles, headings and visible content aligned.
Do not rely on meta keywords
Google doesn't use the meta keywords tag for web ranking. Put the effort into explaining the topic, improving the page and checking the supported metadata that actually applies.
Official guidance: Google’s snippet guidance, Robots meta instructions.