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SEO Basics·5 min read·July 1, 2026·Updated July 16, 2026

Meta Tags Explained: Title, Description, and Open Graph (With Examples)

Meta tags are the text Google and social platforms show for your pages. Here's how to write them correctly — and how to generate them for every page at once.

TC
Written by Tyler C., founder

What are meta tags?

Meta tags are HTML elements in your page's <head> that provide information about the page to search engines and social platforms. They don't appear on the page itself — only in the HTML source and in search results.

The three meta tags that matter most for SEO and social sharing are:

  1. Title tag — the blue clickable link in Google results
  2. Meta description — the gray snippet text below the title
  3. Open Graph tags — what Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter show when someone shares your link

Writing a great title tag

Your title tag should:

  • Be 50–60 characters (Google truncates at ~60)
  • Include your primary keyword near the beginning
  • Be unique for every page — never duplicate titles across pages
  • Include your brand name at the end: Keyword-rich Page Title | Brand Name

Bad: Home | Smith Plumbing
Good: Emergency Plumber Jacksonville FL | Smith Plumbing

Writing a meta description that earns clicks

Google does not use the meta description as a direct ranking signal. A useful description can improve the snippet people see for some queries, although Google may select different page text when it better matches the search. A strong description:

  • Summarizes the page concisely; there is no fixed character limit because snippets are truncated to fit the device and query
  • Includes the primary keyword naturally
  • Has a clear value proposition or call to action
  • Is unique per page

Bad: We are Smith Plumbing. We fix pipes.
Good: Fast, reliable plumbing in Jacksonville FL. Emergency repairs, drain cleaning & water heater installs. Available 24/7. Call (904) 555-0123.

See this in action on your own site

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Open Graph tags for social sharing

When someone shares your link on social media, the platform reads your Open Graph tags to build the preview card. Without them, it guesses — often incorrectly.

<meta property="og:title" content="Your Page Title" />
<meta property="og:description" content="Your description here." />
<meta property="og:image" content="https://yoursite.com/og-image.jpg" />
<meta property="og:url" content="https://yoursite.com/page" />
<meta property="og:type" content="website" />

Your og:image should be 1200 × 630px. Every major platform uses this size.

Twitter Card tags

<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image" />
<meta name="twitter:title" content="Your Page Title" />
<meta name="twitter:description" content="Your description." />
<meta name="twitter:image" content="https://yoursite.com/og-image.jpg" />

Generate meta tags for every page automatically

Writing optimized titles and descriptions for 20, 50, or 200 pages by hand takes days. Peak Visibility crawls your site and generates character-precise, keyword-aware meta tags for every page — along with Open Graph tags, schema markup, and a sitemap. Free for 5 pages, no credit card required.

Sources and further reading

Technical claims in this guide were checked against primary documentation. Search features can change, so verify important implementation details before deploying.

See this in action on your own site

Paste your URL for a free, instant SEO check — no signup required.