An HTML meta element providing information such as a description, viewport setting or robots instruction.
A practical example
A page can use a robots meta element to tell supporting search engines not to index it.
What to watch for
Different meta elements have different purposes. A meta keywords list is not a useful Google ranking tactic, and directives need correct implementation.
Related reading
Explore Meta Description and robots.txt. Try our noindex checker for a practical next step. See how this fits into Technical SEO.