Meta tags
Meta tags are HTML tags placed in the <head> section of a web page that provide structured information about the page content to search engines, browsers, and social networks. The most important meta tags from an SEO perspective are the title (page title) and meta description (page description). Although they are not visible directly on the page, they fundamentally affect how your website appears in search results.
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Title tag — the most important meta tag
The title tag defines the page title shown in the browser tab and as the main link in search results. Google considers it one of the strongest on-page SEO factors. The ideal length is 50–60 characters. The title should contain the main keyword, be unique for each page, and entice clicks. For example, instead of „Home“, „Bespoke website development | Appitect“ is far better.
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Meta description — your sales copy in search
The meta description is a short page summary (up to 155 characters) shown below the title in search results. It does not directly affect rankings, but it fundamentally affects click-through rate (CTR). A good description clearly tells the visitor what they will find on the page and includes a call to action. Google sometimes rewrites the description with its own text from the page if it considers it more relevant to the user's query.
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Open Graph and Twitter Cards
Special meta tags for social networks determine how your page appears when shared on Facebook, LinkedIn, or X (Twitter). They define the title, description, and preview image. Without them, the social network picks random content from your page, which usually doesn't look professional. In Next.js we set Open Graph tags directly in the metadata export, so they're always correct.
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Other important meta tags
Other useful meta tags include canonical (prevents duplicate content), robots (controls indexing), viewport (mobile display), and hreflang (language variants). Google has ignored the meta keywords tag for years now, so there's no point filling it in. Setting canonical URLs correctly is especially important for e-shops with product filtering, where hundreds of duplicate pages can be generated.
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Practical example
Imagine two pages at the same position in search for the query „website development“. Page A has the title „Home“ and description „Welcome to our website“. Page B has the title „Bespoke website development from £999 | Appitect“ and the description „Modern websites built on Next.js with fast loading. 50+ happy clients. Free consultation and proposal within 48 hours.“ Page B will have a 3–5x higher click-through rate because it clearly communicates value.
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