We have previously discussed the good meta tags and their use. So, if there are good meta tags then obviously there are bad meta tags as well. But, worry not; nothing bad will happen to your site if you use these bad meta tags. The bad meta tags are just a waste of space; even Google says so. Here are some of the bad meta tags that you must avoid using:
1. Author/web author – This tag is used to name the author of the page. It’s just not necessary on the page.
2. Revisit after – This meta tag commands the robots to return to a page after a specific period of time. None of the major search engines follows this so you might as well skip this tag.
3. Expiration/date – “Expiration” is used to note when the page expires, and “date” is the date the page was made. You may simply delete the pages that are going to expire. And for “date,” make an XML sitemap and keep it up to date.
4. Copyright – The copyright tag is not really important. There in the footer of your site is a mark saying, “Copyright 20xx” in some form. So, you don’t have to say about it twice.
5. Abstract – Abstract tag is used mainly by educational pursuits. They are sometimes used to place an abstract of the content.
6. Distribution – The “distribution” value is supposedly used to control who can access the document, typically set to “global.” Global means that the page is open to all. So just let it be that way.
7. Generator – This is used to note what program created the page. This information is not that relevant.
8. Cache-control – This tag is set in hopes of controlling when and how often a page is cached in the browser. It’s best to do this in the HTTP header.
9. Resource type – This is used to name the type of resource the page is, like “document.” You can skip this out as the DTD declaration does it for you.
10. Rating – This tag is used to denote the maturity rating of content. You can skip this without a thought.
These meta tags are not at all important, though there is no harm if you use them. To know the proper use of meta tags you can always take the help of a digital marketing company in India. Know more about Good meta tags and their uses.
