HTML Meta Tag - GeoCities Edition!

Example HTML Meta Tag!

This shows how metadata is described within an HTML document. It's like a secret message for browsers and search engines!

<head>
  <meta charset="UTF-8">
  <meta name="description" content="Free Web tutorials">
  <meta name="keywords" content="HTML, CSS, JavaScript">
  <meta name="author" content="John Doe">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
</head>

Try it Yourself » Divider

More "Try it Yourself" examples below!

Definition and Usage

The <meta> tag defines metadata about an HTML document. Metadata is data (information) about data. These tags always go inside the <head> element, and are typically used to specify character set, page description, keywords, author of the document, and viewport settings.

Metadata will not be displayed on the page, but is machine parsable. It's used by browsers (how to display content or reload page), search engines (keywords), and other web services.

Amazing! There is a method to let web designers take control over the viewport (the user's visible area of a web page), through the <meta> tag (See "Setting The Viewport" example below).

Browser Support

Element
`<meta>`	Yes	Yes	Yes

Attributes

Attribute	Value	Description
`charset`	`character_set`	Specifies the character encoding for the HTML document.
`content`	`text`	Specifies the value associated with the http-equiv or name attribute.
`http-equiv`	`content-security-policy \| content-type \| default-style \| refresh`	Provides an HTTP header for the information/value of the content attribute.
`name`	`application-name \| author \| description \| generator \| keywords \| viewport`	Specifies a name for the metadata.

The <meta> tag also supports the Global Attributes in HTML.

More Examples

Check out these totally tubular meta tag examples!

Define keywords for search engines:

<meta name="keywords" content="HTML, CSS, JavaScript">

Define a description of your web page:

<meta name="description" content="Free Web tutorials for HTML and CSS">

Define the author of a page:

<meta name="author" content="John Doe">

Refresh document every 30 seconds:

<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="30">

Setting the viewport to make your website look good on all devices:

<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">

Setting the Viewport

The viewport is the user's visible area of a web page. It varies with the device - it will be smaller on a mobile phone than on a computer screen.

You should include the following <meta> element in all your web pages:

<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">

This gives the browser instructions on how to control the page's dimensions and scaling. The width=device-width part sets the width of the page to follow the screen-width of the device (which will vary depending on the device). The initial-scale=1.0 part sets the initial zoom level when the page is first loaded by the browser.

Here is an example of a web page without the viewport meta tag, and the same web page with the viewport meta tag:

Without the viewport meta tag With the viewport meta tag

Tip: If you are browsing this page with a phone or a tablet, you can click on the two links below to see the difference.