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Semalt Expert Shares 6 HTML Tags SEO Professionals Use 



Many times, our clients walk in, and they want to learn several ways we can help their website get to the first page of SERP. It is common to hear questions on Keywords, Content types, and how to optimize a website for mobile devices. One question that we feel is important but sadly, no one asks is what role does HTML plays in SEO.

Do you know that HTML is the foundation of every website on the internet? In this article, we will be discovering fundamental HTML tags and attributes that do wonders to a website's SEO efforts. Stick around if you want to find out the uses of these tags and how you can code them as we do. 

What does HTML mean?

HTML is used as the markup language that forms the basis of most web pages. Here, we believe the foundation matters. With a strong web foundation, you can build the best website and keep on adding new pages, features, modifications, and it wouldn't crumble. That is why HTML can be considered as one of the most important aspects of technical SEO. 

By using HTML, many professionals can create a bridge to showcase information about the page to its visitors and search bots therefore improving the SEO of webpages. HTML is used to help clarify the importance, nature, and order of contents on web pages. It also determines the relationship of webpages in a website. 

Understanding the differences between tags and attributes

 To understand the differences between what a tag means and what an attribute means, we must first understand what they mean. 

Many people are fond of using the terms tag and attribute interchangeably. However, there are certain differences, and we will be precise in their use. 

Below is the format of a three-part HTML element. 
If it were written as a code, it would look like this:
This element is a headset, and on a web page, it would have been used as a visible title introducing the content about Semalt. 

Understanding tags

Tags must have this <X> in its opening command and </X> as its closing element. If it isn't done this way, the tag will not work. You can also have empty elements such as <br>. These tags do not have any content or end tag in them. 

Attributes 

Attributes are what we add to elements to modify them. Attributes are found within the element such as: <link rel= "canonical" herf=https://www.semalt.com/>.

What are the basic HTML tags you should know? 

When making a useful webpage, there are a few key tags that are needed. They include:

<!DOCTYPE html>

The <!DOCTYPE html> tag is the first tag you find on a website. it functions as the forerunner who introduces the webpage as a webpage/ 

<head>

The <head> tag is used to introduce the first section that appears on a page. This section contains information concerning the page. However, this isn't displayed on the page it is referring to. it is important to know that the <head> tag is that it houses some of the most crucial tags for a website's SEO needs. 

<body>

A body tag is where the information or content on the page is written. It contains the message your audience sees when they visit your webpage. Here, you feature images, videos, and more as you'd like. The body is also home to some other HTML tags that we will discuss later.

What are the common tags for SEO and the Attributes used in them?

<meta>

You will find the <meta> tag within the <head> of the page. it contains attributes that describe information about the webpage that visitors wouldn't see in the contents of the page. This is also called the "metadata" because of the attributes used with it. eventually, it is used to control things such as "meta description" and the no-longer-used "meta keywords."

Name attribute

In order to use the name attribute, you will need to have the <meta> tag. The name attribute is a way of directing any bots that visit the page on whether they need to adhere to the following information or not. For example, we can have a name attribute as <meta name="robots" content ="noindex"/>. This line of code means that all bots that come across this code should obey the index command. This is often called the meta robot tag. 

We can also use the name tags to send instructions to specific search engine bots. An example is <meta name ="googlebot" content = "noindex"/> for this line of command, Google's bot would need to honor the "noindex" directive. 

Noindex attribute

Noindex attribute is one that common in SEO. You may have heard it a couple of times as Noindex tag, but a more accurate description will be an attribute of the <meta> tag. When formulated, it looks like this:

<meta name="robots" content="noindex"/>

This line of code is used to allow publishers to determine what content can be included in a search engine's index. When the "noindex" attribute is added, you instruct the search engine bot not to use this page within its index. This is useful when you have sensitive content; you would not like viewers to form an organic search to be able to see. 

There are certain areas of a site that have restricted access to only paid members. When developing your website, you must find a way to stop this content from reaching the search engine. If it does, it can become accessible without logging in, which defeats the purpose of having subscribed members.
 
For the "noindex" directive to be followed, it must be read. For it to be read, the search bots need to be able to access the page and read its HTML code containing the directive. Making it important that you do not stop the bots from accessing a page in robots.txt. 

Description attributes

The description attribute is what you commonly known as "meta description," which is also used in the <meta> tag.

The content of the meta tag is displayed in the SERP underneath the content of the <title> tag. A meta description allows publishers to provide a quick glimpse of the content on the page in a way that when users see it on SERP, they are convinced that it meets their needs. 

This attribute is vital as it encourages clicks to a page from SERP and beating its competition website featured on the same SERP.

<title>

The title tag is something you should be familiar with if you've studied SEO. Colloquially, it is also called "meta title," and we use this tag to define the title of every page on the website. It appears in the <head> attribute of the site. Because of this, it is not visible to users on the webpage. However, they can still read the meta title by checking the browser bar and in SERP. It allows you to indicate how relevant a page is to the search query both to the user and the search bots.

The <title> attribute is critical to the success of any website that aims to get optimized for search engines. 

<hi>-<h6> title tags

The heading tags are used to indicate different parts of HTML content and how they are styled as headings. The <h1> to <h6> tags are used within the <body> of the page, making these styled headings visible to viewers who view the page's content. One of the fundamental uses of these tags is that it helps structure the page. It also breaks down information into subheadings, which is important in creating a good user experience. 

When crawling a website, developers will allocate a specific style (with reference to the font) to a header. This means that there will be a specific way in which the <h1> tag appears, and this will differ from the <h2> tag. 

This allows users to determine what section of content should be seen under the light of a subheading or if it is another major part under the main title of the page. 

Search engine bots also use heading tags in determining the structure of the content on a web page. 

Conclusion

There are several other HTML tags that we employ as professionals; sadly, we have to draw the curtains here. The message, however, is that HTML is fundamental to the success of any website. This guide is only an introduction that discusses some of the common HTML tags and attributes you may come across while understanding SEO. 

There are more in-depth tags and attributes we use to make a functioning, indexable, and crawlable webpage. As SEO professionals, we are always learning new ways to improve our services. The more we know about how webpages are constructed, the better we can design these webpages to serve the users and be attractive to search engine bots. 

If you have any questions, kindly speak to our customer care representative and get professional answers to your questions.