Editing meta tags for SEO (includes: meta title, meta description)

Customize SEO metadata like titles and descriptions to improve how your site appears in search results.

Meta tags help search engines understand your website. They control how your site appears in Google search results and when shared on social media. You can customize your meta title and meta description!

What are meta tags?

Meta title: The clickable headline in search results.

Meta description: The short text snippet below the title in search results.

These tags don't appear on your actual website. They show up in:
- Google search results
- Social media link previews
- Browser tabs
- Bookmarks

Why customize them?

SEO. Help search engines understand your site (if you want to be searchable).

Click appeal. A good title and description encourage people to visit.

Branding. Control exactly how your site is described.

Social sharing. Meta tags often appear when your link is shared.

How to edit meta tags

1. Go to Site in your main navigation
2. Click the settings icon to open Site settings
3. In the General tab, scroll down to find the Wedding website title field
4. Below it, find the Wedding website description field
5. Enter your custom text
6. Click Save changes

Your meta tags are now set!

Meta title guidelines

Length: Keep it under 60 characters so it doesn't get cut off in search results.

Be descriptive. Include your names and "wedding" so people know what it is.

Front-load important info. Put the most important words first.

Include your date if you want.

Examples:
- "Emily and Jordan's Wedding - May 15, 2026"
- "The Rodriguez-Kim Wedding"
- "Emily & Jordan Get Married!"
- "Our Wedding - Em & J"

Meta description guidelines

Length: 150-160 characters is ideal. Longer gets cut off.

Be inviting. This is your chance to entice people to click.

Include key info. Names, date, location.

Call to action. Maybe "RSVP by March 1st" or "See event details and travel info".

Natural language. Write like a human, not a robot.

Examples:
- "Join us as we celebrate our wedding on May 15, 2026 in Portland, Oregon. RSVP and find all the details here!"
- "Emily Rodriguez and Jordan Kim are getting married! Find event details, travel info, and RSVP online."
- "We're getting married! See our wedding website for all the details, photos, and more."

What if you leave them empty?

If you don't set custom meta tags:

Title might be: Your site's default title or couple's names.

Description might be: Auto-generated from your site content, or blank.

It's better to set them yourself for control over how you appear!

SEO considerations

If you have noindex enabled (preventing search engines from indexing your site), meta tags matter less for search. But they still affect how your link appears when shared!

If you want to be searchable, good meta tags help:
- Include relevant keywords like "wedding", your names, location
- Be descriptive and natural
- Don't keyword-stuff (don't repeat words unnaturally)

Testing your meta tags

Google search: If your site is indexed, Google your wedding website to see how it appears.

View source: Right-click on your website and select "View Page Source". Look for <title> and <meta name="description">.

SEO tools: Use tools like "SEO Meta Checker" to preview how your tags look in search results.

Share your link: Post it on social media to see if your meta title and description appear correctly.

Meta tags vs. page title

Page title: Shows on your actual website page (like a heading).

Meta title: Shows in search results and browser tabs.

They can be the same or different! Often they match, but you have the flexibility to customize them separately.

Updating meta tags

You can change them anytime! If you update:

Search engines might take time to reflect the change in search results.

Shared links might show old meta tags until social platforms re-scrape your site.

Browser tabs update immediately when guests visit.

Per-page meta tags

Most wedding websites use one set of meta tags for the entire site. Some systems let you set different meta tags for each page, but that's more advanced!

For most couples, one good meta title and description for your whole site is perfect.

Keywords meta tag

You might see a "keywords" meta tag option. This is outdated! Most search engines ignore it now. Focus on title and description instead.

Social media meta tags (Open Graph)

Your meta title and description often get used for social sharing too! But some systems have separate fields for:
- Open Graph title (for Facebook, LinkedIn)
- Open Graph description (for social media)
- Twitter Card title (for Twitter)

If your system has these, fill them out. If not, your regular meta tags will be used!

Common mistakes

Too long. Search engines cut off long titles and descriptions.

Too short. One-word descriptions don't help anyone.

Keyword stuffing. "Wedding wedding marriage Emily Jordan Portland wedding" looks spammy.

Not descriptive. "Website" as your meta title doesn't tell people anything.

All caps. "EMILY AND JORDAN'S WEDDING" feels shouty. Use normal capitalization.

After the wedding

Some couples update meta tags after the wedding:

Before: "Join us for our wedding on May 15, 2026!"

After: "Emily and Jordan's wedding website - Relive our special day!"

This makes sense if you're keeping your site live as a memory!

Meta tags are behind-the-scenes magic that makes your site look great in search results and when shared. A little effort here goes a long way!