How to Check and Edit Your Meta Tags
Step-by-step instructions for viewing and updating your meta tags. Works with WordPress, Shopify, and plain HTML sites.
Author
Meta Compass Editorial Team
Editorial Team
Written by the Meta Compass editorial team, focused on practical, clear guidance for Ottawa SEO beginners.
Why Check Your Meta Tags?
Your meta tags are like the first impression your page makes online. They're the snippet people see in search results, and they tell Google what your page is actually about. If they're wrong or missing, you're essentially hiding from search engines.
Here's the thing — most people never actually look at their meta tags once they're set up. You write them, publish the page, and move on. But search engines change, your content evolves, and what worked two years ago might not work now. Regular checks ensure you're still showing the right information to the right people.
We're going to walk through exactly how to find your meta tags, what to look for, and how to edit them depending on what platform you're using.
Three Ways to Check Your Meta Tags
You don't need fancy tools to see your meta tags. Let's start with the easiest method first.
The Right-Click Method (Fastest)
Go to any page on your website. Right-click anywhere on the page and select "View Page Source" (or "Inspect" depending on your browser). Your browser will open the HTML code. Press Ctrl+F (or Cmd+F on Mac) and search for "meta name="description"". You'll see your meta description right there. Search for "og:title" or "og:image" to find social media meta tags too.
This method takes about 30 seconds per page. It's perfect for quick checks.
Browser DevTools (More Detailed)
Press F12 (or Cmd+Option+I on Mac) to open developer tools. Click the "Inspector" tab and look at the
section of the HTML. You'll see all your meta tags listed there, including title, description, viewport settings, and anything else you've added. This view is cleaner than raw source code and shows you everything in one place.This is our recommended method if you're doing serious auditing.
Online Meta Tag Checkers
If you want someone else to do the work, free tools like MozBar or SEMrush's SEO toolbar will show you meta tags instantly. You paste in your URL and they display everything. It's convenient but requires trusting a third-party service with your URL data.
Editing Your Meta Tags by Platform
Where you edit meta tags depends entirely on your platform. The good news? It's usually straightforward.
WordPress with Yoast SEO
When you're editing a post or page, scroll down to the Yoast SEO box. You'll see fields for "SEO title" and "Meta description". Edit these directly in the plugin. Yoast shows you live previews of how your snippet will look in search results. If your description is too long, it'll tell you. This is the easiest setup we've seen.
WordPress without a Plugin
You'll need to edit the HTML directly. Go to your theme's header.php file (through the WordPress file editor or FTP). Find the
section and add your meta tags manually. It's not complicated, but you're typing code instead of filling out a form. Not ideal if you're changing tags frequently.Shopify
Edit your product or page, then scroll to the "Search engine listing preview" section. Click "Edit website SEO" and you'll see fields for title and description. Shopify makes this really visible — you can literally see how your page will look in Google search results as you type.
What to Look For When Editing
Don't just update for the sake of updating. Here's what actually matters.
Title Length
Keep your title between 50-60 characters. Longer titles get cut off in search results. Google typically shows about 55-60 characters on desktop, fewer on mobile. Your title should include your main keyword and be readable, not keyword-stuffed.
Description Quality
Your description should be 120-160 characters. Include your target keyword naturally (not forced), make it interesting enough that someone would want to click, and describe what's actually on the page. If your description doesn't match the page content, visitors will bounce immediately.
Image Meta Tags
Check your og:image tag. This is what appears when someone shares your page on social media. Make sure it's actually an image (not broken), and that it looks good when displayed in a square thumbnail. Use images that are at least 1200x630 pixels for best results.
Viewport Tag
Make sure you have a viewport meta tag: <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">. This tells mobile devices to display your page properly. Without it, your site will look zoomed out and unreadable on phones.
Language Tag
If your site's in English, you should have <html lang="en"> at the top. If you have multiple language versions, add hreflang tags to tell Google which version is for which language. This prevents duplicate content issues across language versions.
Robots Tag
Check if you have a robots meta tag that's preventing indexing. If it says "noindex", search engines won't list that page. This is fine for private pages, but if you want search traffic, you need to either remove it or change it to "index".
Your Next Steps
Meta tags aren't complicated, but they do require attention. Pick one of your top 10 pages today and check what's actually there. You might be surprised — maybe your title's been truncated, or your description disappeared somehow.
Once you've checked them, make sure they're accurate and optimized. Keep titles between 50-60 characters, descriptions between 120-160 characters, and make sure everything actually describes what's on the page.
The reality is, most people skip this step. They write meta tags once and never look again. That's why checking them regularly — even just once every few months — puts you ahead. You'll catch broken tags, outdated information, and missed opportunities to improve your click-through rate.
Start with your homepage and your most important pages. Get those right first, then work your way through the rest of your site. You don't need to do everything at once.
Ready to dive deeper into meta tags?
Read the Complete Meta Tag Writing GuideImportant Disclaimer
Results from updating your meta tags vary depending on many factors including your site's overall quality, your competition, and how well your content matches user intent. Improving your meta tags is one part of SEO, not a guarantee of ranking improvements. Search rankings depend on multiple factors, and no specific outcomes are guaranteed. Always test changes and monitor your performance over time.
Continue Learning
Deepen your understanding of meta tags with these related guides.
Meta Title and Description Writing: The Complete Beginner's Guide
Everything you need to know about crafting meta tags that rank well and get clicks from search results.
Common Meta Tag Mistakes Beginners Make
We've seen thousands of pages with broken meta tags. Here's what not to do, and how to avoid the biggest pitfalls.
Measuring Success: Click-Through Rates and Why Your Meta Tags Matter
You've written good meta tags — now what? Learn how to track whether they're working and what to adjust.