Tag <meta> HTML Reference



Example

Describe metadata within an HTML document:

<head>
<meta name="description" content="Your website description" />
<meta name="keywords" content="Your website keywords" />
<meta name="author" content="Author name" />
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" />
</head>

Browser Support

Internet Explorer Firefox Opera Google Chrome Safari

1. Definition and Usage

Metadata is data (information) about data.

The <meta> tag provides metadata about the HTML document. Metadata will not be displayed on the page, but will be machine parsable.

Meta elements are typically used to specify page description, keywords, author of the document, last modified, and other metadata.

The <meta> tag always goes inside the <head> element.

The metadata can be used by browsers (how to display content or reload page), search engines (keywords), or other web services.


2. Tips and Notes

Note: Metadata is always passed as name/value pairs.


3. Differences Between HTML and XHTML

In HTML the <meta> tag has no end tag.

In XHTML the <meta> tag must be properly closed.


4. Examples

Example 1 - Define keywords for search engines:

<meta name="keywords" content="Your website keywords, comma separated list of keywords" />

Example 2 - Define a description of your web page:

<meta name="description" content="Your website description" />

Example 3 - Define the last revision of your page:

<meta name="revised" content="Author name, 30/08/2012" />

Example 4 - Refresh document every 30 seconds:

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

5. Required Attributes

DTD indicates in which HTML 4.01/XHTML 1.0 DTD the attribute is allowed. S=Strict, T=Transitional, and F=Frameset.

AttributeValueDescriptionDTD
contenttextGives the value associated with the http-equiv or name attributeSTF

6. Optional Attributes

AttributeValueDescriptionDTD
http-equivcontent-type
content-style-type
expires
set-cookie
others
Provides an HTTP header for the information/value of the content attributeSTF
nameauthor
description
keywords
generator
revised
others
Provides a name for the information in the content attributeSTF
schemeformat/URISpecifies a scheme to be used to interpret the value of the content attributeSTF

7. Standard Attributes

The <meta> tag supports the following standard attributes:

AttributeValueDescriptionDTD
dirrtl
ltr
Specifies the text direction for the content in an elementSTF
langlanguage_codeSpecifies a language code for the content in an elementSTF
xml:langlanguage_codeSpecifies a language code for the content in an element, in XHTML documentsSTF

8. Event Attributes

The <meta> tag does not support any event attributes.


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