According to Google:
All pages should have a unique title and description and should fit the page content
I don’t know about Google Analytics meta tags.
I have used Google Analytics but do not have meta tags for it, just the Analytics code at the bottom of the page
I searched Google for “Google Analytics meta tags” and was not able to find where they are used, just “Google Webmasters verification code” from Google Tools.
The article states that the only single meta tag that Google does not reference is “keywords”. Many other search engines could possibly follow the Google guidelines.
Q: Does this mean that Google ignores all meta tags?
A: No, Google does support several other meta tags. This meta tags page documents more info on several meta tags that we do use. For example, we do sometimes use the “description” meta tag as the text for our search results snippets, as this screenshot shows:
[hr]
@Greg_Baka;
If you use PHP then set variables then include a “header.php” file.
page
<?php include "_doctype_.php"; ?>
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en" xml:lang="en">
<head>
<?php
$title = /* SEO IMPORTANT */ words here are usually shown in a browsers search results";
$description = /* SEO IMPORTANT */ words here are usually shown in a browsers search results";
$canonical = /* SEO IMPORTANT */ "UNIQUE_page_title_goes_here.php";
$no_cache = /* SEO IMPORTANT */ true - prevents Google Webmaster Tools screaming about duplicate data
$stylesheet = "style-001.css";
require VIEWPATH ."_header_.php"; // single file included in nearly 3,000 pages
if( DEBUGGING or TESTING )
{
echo "<style type='text/css'>";
echo "body {background-color: pink; color:#900;}";
echo "</style>";
}
?>
<head>
</body>
I suppose I should clarify, because that’s a simple miscommunication between industries. I’m sure for a coder meta tags must mean the description, title, and keywords. In my industry, there’s MEta Title, Meta Description, and Meta Tags (keywords) which aren’t valued as much by Google anymore due to spam/abuse. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use them, other search engines apparently count them as well.
Greg,
When you write about meta tags, I think you mean javascript snippets, but here is my take on your list.
You should have the Google Analytics code in the head (it’s not blocking other loading, so it’s fine to have it in the header) - but go to your Analytics settings page and make sure you have the latest code snippet.
Both Webmaster tools and Adsense can be connected to your Analytics account - that way you don’t need anything for those services.
Social plugins like google+ and Facebook is usually good to put at the end, just before the closing body tag.
What I would add is open graph metadata. It helps Facebook and Google+ show good snippets for your sites when someone shares them. Take a look at these guides: