Do you want to include meta tags on your website? We’ve got you. In this guide, we’ll show you different ways to add meta tags in WordPress with and without plugins.
Optimizing your blog posts with the correct meta tags will yield better search engine results. In this article, you’ll learn how to do it correctly. But before that, let’s better understand what meta tags are.
Table of contents
What Are Meta Tags?
Meta tags are HTML snippets used in the header section of a website. They aren’t visible to visitors on the front end and are used by search engines to understand the content of the page better. Meta tags help you rank your pages higher, so adding them is a must.
Apart from helping search engines, meta tags such as titles and descriptions are also helpful for users. By having a unique title and description in the search engine result pages (SERPs), you can get more organic traffic and outrank your competitors.
Types of Meta Tags
There are three types of meta tags:
- Title tag
- Description tag
- Keyword tag
Let’s take a quick look at each of them.
Title tag: This is the main meta tag for displaying titles on the SERPs. The heading is configured with the title meta tag. Changing the title tag will also change the SEO title.
Description tag: The text you see below each search result is configured with the description tag. It’s what describes the post in 1 or 2 lines. Most people check the description of the search results before deciding whether to click on a result. That’s why you must have a compelling meta description.
Keyword tags: Keywords are also essential tags to use. It tells the search engine the word you’re targeting to rank.
Why Add Meta Tags in WordPress?
When you run an online business, one of your primary goals is to generate more traffic to your site, which will ultimately lead to increased leads and revenue. WordPress comes with limited SEO functionalities, so to enhance the reach of your site in the search engine result pages, you should add meta tags.
As we mentioned earlier, meta tags help search engines and users better understand your content. It is suitable for sharing on social media. Adding Open Graph meta tags allows you to choose a custom thumbnail and description for your blog posts when they are shared on social media.
How to Add Meta Tags in WordPress
You can add meta tags in WordPress in two ways:
- Using a dedicated plugin
- Manually
We will explain both methods so that you can choose the one that is most suitable for you.
1) Add Meta Tags with a Plugin
The easiest way to add meta tags in WordPress is to use a plugin. For this, you can use any SEO plugin like Rank Math, Yoast, All In One SEO Pack, or any other that you like. For this tutorial, we will use Rank Math.
The first step is to install and activate Rank Math on your website. The plugin features a step-by-step customization wizard that allows you to configure it according to your specific requirements. Once you have completed the setup, you are good to move forward.
1.1) Posts/Pages
This section will show you how to add meta tags like keywords, titles, and descriptions to your blog posts and pages. First, open the post you need to customize.
You will see the Rank Math settings. Using the Gutenberg editor, you will see the Rank Math options in the top right corner. If you use the Classic Editor, scroll to the bottom to see the configuration options.
In this case, we use the Gutenberg editor, and the Rank Math options are available in the top right corner.
You can click on it to expand the options. To add a focus keyword, use this box:
You can always add multiple keywords when writing a pillar article. This way, you can ensure the content is well-optimized for each keyword.
Once you have added the focus keyword, click the Edit Snippet button.
From there, you can edit the post’s SEO title, URL, and meta description. Modify them according to your requirements and remember to update the post accordingly.
The live preview option allows you to see every update in real-time. Once you have added SEO titles, meta descriptions, and keywords to your article, publish or update the post.
You can follow the same method to add meta tags to your pages.
This way, you can add SEO titles, meta descriptions, and keywords to your blog posts and pages.
1.2) Category and Tags
Categories and tags are two crucial things for every website. You can add meta tags and optimize them for better SEO.
Under the Posts section, you will see the Category and Tags options.
Open the category or tags section and choose the archive you need to modify. Once you have opened the archive page, scroll to the bottom, and you will see the Rank Math configuration options.
If you allow search engine crawlers to go through the category and tags archive, modifying the SEO title and meta description would be a good choice. This way, your archives in search results will stand out.
1.3) Homepage
Adding a custom SEO title and meta description to your homepage is essential. If you have configured a custom blog post, go to the dedicated homepage and edit the Rank Math SEO settings. If you are not using a dedicated homepage, go to the Titles & Meta option under Rank Math.
Under the homepage section, you will see options to add an SEO title and description.
This way, you can tweak the homepage and add meta tags correctly. Update the settings, and you are good to go.
Apart from using a plugin, you can also add meta tags to WordPress websites manually. Let’s see how to do that.
2) Add Meta Tags Manually
If you don’t want to install another plugin and have some coding knowledge, you can also add tags manually.
As we’ll edit the code of your WordPress theme, we highly recommend generating a complete website backup before moving forward. Once the backup is complete, proceed to the next step.
Go to the theme editor, and you’ll see the theme editor option under Appearance.
There, you will see the theme editor option.
By default, the option will open the style.css file; however, we’ll add meta tags to the header.php file of the theme. Therefore, from the right-hand side, select the header.php file.
Inside the <head> tag, you can add the meta tags.
Some commonly used meta tags are below:
<meta name="resource-type" content="document" />
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" />
<meta http-equiv="content-language" content="en-us" />
<meta name="author" content="Jane" />
<meta name="contact" content="[email protected]" />
<meta name="copyright" content="Copyright (c)2010-2030
John Doe. All Rights Reserved." />
<meta name="description" content="Your meta description" />
<meta name="keywords" content="your keywords" />Once you have added the meta tags, update the file.
This way, you can manually add meta tags to your WordPress website. If you are having trouble editing meta tags through the theme editor, you can also use an FTP client.
Bonus: Tips for Writing Meta Descriptions
A compelling meta description will help you boost your organic traffic. Since most people review titles and meta descriptions before clicking on a search result, having a persuasive meta description is essential.
Here are five points to help you generate the best meta description for your site:
- Have the ideal word count: To ensure the meta description is visible in the search engine result pages, keep the character count under 160. This is important; otherwise, the description will be cut.
- Add keywords: Adding keywords naturally to your meta description is a great idea.
- Make it descriptive: Explain what the user will learn or get in the post. A brief understanding of the topic can help you increase the overall CTR.
- Avoid keyword stuffing: Do not overuse your focus keyword in the meta description. This will affect your ranking negatively. Use the keyword naturally and add synonyms of the keyword to add variation.
- Avoid spelling and grammar mistakes: Avoid spelling and grammar mistakes to give your site authority. Having typos and grammar mistakes makes your site look unprofessional, and it may be the only opportunity you have to attract that user.
Following this guide, you can create the best meta description for your blog posts, pages, and custom post types.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Ignoring duplicate meta tags: Having multiple meta titles or descriptions in your site’s header can confuse search engines and lower your SEO ranking.
- Using the same meta description on every page: Each page should have a unique description that reflects its specific content to improve click-through rates.
- Overstuffing keywords: Adding too many keywords makes the meta description appear spammy and can negatively impact your SEO performance.
- Forgetting Open Graph or Twitter meta tags: Without these, your pages might display poorly when shared on social media platforms.
- Editing theme files directly: Making changes to
header.phpthe parent theme can cause you to lose all edits after updates—always use a child theme. - Skipping the meta title tag: Some users only add descriptions, but the title tag is equally vital for search rankings.
- Not previewing snippets: Failing to check how your title and description appear on Google may lead to truncation or missing keywords.
Troubleshooting Common Issues
- Meta tags not appearing in the source code: Check if your caching plugin or CDN is serving an outdated version of the page. Clear all caches and inspect the live HTML using the Inspect Element feature.
- Meta descriptions not showing in Google: Search engines sometimes choose their own snippets. Ensure your meta description is relevant, concise, and accurately matches the on-page content to increase the likelihood of display.
- Duplicate meta tags showing up: This often happens when multiple SEO plugins are active. Disable one of them or check if your theme automatically adds meta tags.
- Meta tags disappearing after theme updates: Edits made directly in the parent theme
header.phpcan be lost after updates. Always use a child theme for manual meta code. - Special characters displaying incorrectly: Avoid using quotation marks or symbols in descriptions without proper encoding. Use plain text to prevent formatting issues in search results.
- Meta tags missing on custom pages: Some custom templates may lack the
wp_head()function. Add it manually or switch to a theme that supports it. - Changes not reflected after saving: Your SEO plugin settings might be cached. Refresh your permalinks and recheck the plugin’s output to confirm updates are live.
Frequently Asked Questions
Now, let’s take a look at some of the frequently asked questions and answers regarding this topic.
Meta tags are snippets of text that describe a page’s content. They don’t appear on the page itself but are placed in the HTML header, helping search engines understand what the page is about.
Yes. While Google doesn’t use all meta tags for direct ranking, well-written meta titles and descriptions can boost click-through rates (CTR) and improve how your pages appear in search results and social shares.
You can manually insert meta tags by editing your theme’s header.php file or using the wp_head hook in your functions.php. This method is ideal for adding custom tags to specific pages or post types.
Popular options include Yoast SEO, Rank Math, and All in One SEO Pack. These plugins let you add, preview, and control meta tags easily without touching code.
Google sometimes rewrites your meta descriptions if it thinks other text from your page is more relevant to the user’s query. Ensure your tags are relevant, concise, and match the on-page content.
Absolutely. SEO plugins allow you to set unique meta titles and descriptions for every post, page, product, or custom post type—this helps improve visibility for specific keywords.
You can use tools like Google Search Console, Yoast’s snippet preview, or browser extensions such as Meta SEO Inspector to verify if your tags appear correctly on each page.
Conclusion
To improve your organic traffic, it’s essential to invest in SEO. The right keyword, meta description, and title can help you rank better on search engine result pages and outscore your competitors.
In this guide, we’ve shown you different ways to add meta tags in WordPress.
- Using a plugin
- Manually
So which method should you use? It depends on your needs and skills. The easiest way is to use a dedicated plugin, such as Rank Math SEO or Yoast SEO. But if you don’t want to install plugins and have coding knowledge, you can use a bit of code to add meta tags.
Keep in mind that if you change your WordPress theme, you will lose all the modifications you have made to the existing header.php file. Also, if the theme developer decides to update the theme files, you will lose the customization. To avoid that, you can create a child theme.
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Which method are you going to use to add meta tags in WordPress? Let us know in the comments!
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