SEO guide · 6 min read
How to write SEO meta tags (and which to skip)
Title, description, Open Graph, Twitter Card, canonical, robots — every meta tag that still matters in 2026, with examples and the ones to stop using.
Last updated:
[object Object]
[object Object]
1 The tags that actually matter
[object Object]
- [object Object]
2 Title tag formula
[object Object][object Object]
- [object Object]
[object Object]
- [object Object]
3 Meta description formula
[object Object][object Object]
[object Object][object Object]
- [object Object]
4 Canonical tag
[object Object]
[object Object][object Object]
5 Open Graph (Facebook, LinkedIn, Slack, Discord, iMessage)
[object Object][object Object]
6 Twitter Card (now X)
[object Object][object Object]
7 Tags to stop writing
[object Object]
- [object Object]
[object Object]
8 Validation
[object Object]
- [object Object]
[object Object]
Frequently asked questions
Do meta tags still matter in 2026?
Title, description, canonical, robots, and Open Graph absolutely matter. Structured data (schema.org JSON-LD) matters more than it used to — it powers rich results, which dramatically improve click-through. Keyword meta tags remain irrelevant.
How long should my title and description be?
Title: 50–60 characters (pixel-width actually matters, since Google measures width not count). Description: 140–160 characters for desktop, 120 for mobile. Exceeding is fine — Google will just truncate.
Should every page have a unique title and description?
Yes. Duplicate titles are a ranking penalty. For category pages and paginated results, include a disambiguator (page number, filter value, etc.) so each is distinct.
What about hreflang for multi-language sites?
Essential if you serve different languages or regions. Each language version should have `<link rel="alternate" hreflang="...">` tags for every other version *including itself*. Missing self-reference is the #1 hreflang bug.