The meta tag is used to generate additional info for the search engine. This information will not be seen, unless the user will select view 'Source' from the 'View' menu where he will have access to the HTML part of the page.
In the meta tag you can add keywords for the page. Here will be put the most important words and a group of words that can target your website. It is recommended that you do not abuse these tags, because using keywords that have no link to the website's content, neither the search engines nor the users will gain any profit.
Here is a moderate example of using the meta tag
html<head>
<meta name="keywords" content="web site, html tutorials, usege of html metatags" />
</head>This example is based on this page's profile.
As you can see, the name specifies what kind of meta tag will be used. Also, the comma that is used to separate the words from each other has to be specified. This is quite trivial but something that many forget that they have to do it.
This tag helps you to describe your website. A maximum of two sentences will be used to complete the content of this tag.
html<head>
<meta name="description" content="A web site resource for those willing to learn HTML and webmasters" />
</head>As you can see, the name specifies what kind of meta tag will be used. Google recommends around 200-250 characters to be used for this tag. This is one of the most important tags in SEO.
It is used to specify the latest update of the website.
html<head>
<meta name="revised" content="1/08/2008" />
</head>Refreshing is done with the help of the http-equiv="refresh" attribute. The purpose of this tag is to reload the page and to display new info in the of an update. A very useful application for a forum, for example.
html<head>
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="10; url=http://www.tutorialehtml.com" />
</head>Redirects are easily done by changing the address of the web page with the one you want it redirected to. The application is handy when you buy a new domain and the redirection of the users to the new page is desired. You can use this site that automatically generates a redirect for you.
html<head>
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="5; url=http://www.etutoriale.ro" />
</head>