Please help! I can't find the purpose of the <meta> tag!

Please help! I can't find the purpose of the tag!

Daniel Fischer · 2025-03-11T18:29:34+00:00

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I have searched all over to find out wha the purpose of the <meta> tag is and I can't get to the bottom of it. Any insight is appreciated!!

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The <meta> tag is used to provide metadata about an HTML document. Metadata is information about the document that isn't displayed directly on the page but is used by browsers and search engines to understand more about the page.

Common uses of the <meta> tag include:

Specifying the character encoding:
<meta charset="UTF-8"> ensures that the page supports a wide range of characters.
Setting the viewport for responsive design:
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0"> helps control the layout on mobile devices.
Defining the page description for search engines:
<meta name="description" content="This is a description of the webpage"> provides a summary of the page for search engine results.

Example of a <meta> tag:

<head>
  <meta charset="UTF-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
  <meta name="description" content="Learn HTML and CSS with examples and tutorials">
  <title>Learn Web Development</title>
</head>

These meta tags improve the functionality of your webpage, such as ensuring it’s mobile-friendly or helping with SEO.