HEAD
A list of everything that could go in the <head>
of your document
Table of Contents
- Recommended Minimum
- Elements
- Meta
- Link
- Social
- Browsers / Platforms
- Browsers (Chinese)
- App Links
- Notes
- Other Resources
- Related Projects
- Other Formats
- Translations
- Contributing
- Author
- License
Recommended Minimum
Below are the essential tags for basic, minimalist websites:
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta http-equiv="x-ua-compatible" content="ie=edge">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<!-- The above 3 meta tags *must* come first in the head; any other head content must come *after* these tags -->
<title>Page Title</title>
Elements
<!-- Document Title -->
<title>Page Title</title>
<!-- Base URL to use for all relative URLs contained within the document -->
<base href="https://example.com/page.html">
<!-- External CSS -->
<link rel="stylesheet" href="styles.css">
<!-- In-document CSS -->
<style>
/* ... */
</style>
<!-- JavaScript -->
<script src="script.js"></script>
Meta
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta http-equiv="x-ua-compatible" content="ie=edge">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1, shrink-to-fit=no">
<!-- The above 3 meta tags *must* come first in the head; any other head content must come *after* these tags -->
<!-- Allows control over where resources are loaded from -->
<meta http-equiv="Content-Security-Policy" content="default-src 'self'">
<!-- Place as early in the document as possible -->
<!-- Only applies to content below this tag -->
<!-- Name of web application (only should be used if the website is used as an app) -->
<meta name="application-name" content="Application Name">
<!-- Short description of the page (limit to 150 characters) -->
<!-- In *some* situations this description is used as a part of the snippet shown in the search results. -->
<meta name="description" content="A description of the page">
<!-- Control the behavior of search engine crawling and indexing -->
<meta name="robots" content="index,follow,noodp"><!-- All Search Engines -->
<meta name="googlebot" content="index,follow"><!-- Google Specific -->
<!-- Tells Google not to show the sitelinks search box -->
<meta name="google" content="nositelinkssearchbox">
<!-- Tells Google not to provide a translation for this page -->
<meta name="google" content="notranslate">
<!-- Verify ownership for Google Search Console -->
<meta name="google-site-verification" content="verification_token">
<!-- Used to name software used to build the website (i.e. - Wordpress, Dreamweaver) -->
<meta name="generator" content="program">
<!-- Short description of your sites subject -->
<meta name="subject" content="your website's subject">
<!-- Very short sentence describing the purpose of the website -->
<meta name="abstract" content="">
<!-- Describes the topic of the website -->
<meta name="topic" content="">
<!-- Brief summary of the company or purpose of the website -->
<meta name="summary" content="">
<!-- A deprecated tag that does the same as the keywords meta tag -->
<meta name="classification" content="business">
<!-- Full domain name or web address -->
<meta name="url" content="https://example.com/">
<!-- Does the same as URL, older and not supported -->
<meta name="identifier-URL" content="https://example.com/">
<meta name="directory" content="submission">
<!-- Does the same function as the keywords tag -->
<meta name="category" content="">
<!-- Makes sure your website shows up in all countries and languages -->
<meta name="coverage" content="Worldwide">
<!-- Does the same as the coverage tag -->
<meta name="distribution" content="Global">
<!-- Gives a general age rating based on sites content -->
<meta name="rating" content="General">
<!-- Allows control over how referrer information is passed -->
<meta name="referrer" content="never">
<!-- Disable automatic detection and formatting of possible phone numbers -->
<meta name="format-detection" content="telephone=no">
<!-- Geo tags -->
<meta name="ICBM" content="latitude, longitude">
<meta name="geo.position" content="latitude;longitude">
<meta name="geo.region" content="country[-state]"><!-- Country code (ISO 3166-1): mandatory, state code (ISO 3166-2): optional; eg. content="US" / content="US-NY" -->
<meta name="geo.placename" content="city/town"><!-- eg. content="New York City" -->
- Meta tags that Google understands
- WHATWG Wiki: MetaExtensions
- ICBM on Wikipedia
- Geotagging on Wikipedia
Meta: Not Recommended
Below are the meta attributes which are not recommended for use:
<!-- Used to declare the document language, but not well supported. Better to use <html lang=""> -->
<meta name="language" content="en">
<!-- Google disregards & Bing considers it an indicator of spam -->
<meta name="keywords" content="your,keywords,here,comma,separated,no,spaces">
<!-- No evidence of current use in any search engines -->
<meta name="revised" content="Sunday, July 18th, 2010, 5:15 pm">
<!-- Provides an easy way for spam bots to harvest email addresses -->
<meta name="reply-to" content="email@example.com">
<!-- Better to use <link rel="author"> or humans.txt file -->
<meta name="author" content="name, email@example.com">
<meta name="designer" content="">
<meta name="owner" content="">
<!-- Tells search bots to revisit the page after a period. This is not supported because most Search Engines now use random intervals for re-crawling a webpage -->
<meta name="revisit-after" content="7 days">
<!-- Sends user to a new URL after a certain amount of time -->
<!-- The W3C recommends that this tag not be used. Google recommends using a server-side 301 redirect instead. -->
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="300; url=https://example.com/">
<!-- Cache Control -->
<!-- Better to configure cache control server side -->
<meta http-equiv="Expires" content="0">
<meta http-equiv="Pragma" content="no-cache">
<meta http-equiv="Cache-Control" content="no-cache">
Link
<!-- Helps prevent duplicate content issues -->
<link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/2010/06/9-things-to-do-before-entering-social-media.html">
<!-- Used to be included before the icon link, but is deprecated and no longer is used -->
<link rel="shortlink" href="https://example.com/?p=42">
<!-- Links to an AMP HTML version of the current document -->
<link rel="amphtml" href="https://example.com/path/to/amp-version.html">
<!-- Points to a CSS stylesheet -->
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://example.com/styles.css">
<!-- Links to a JSON file that specifies "installation" credentials for web applications -->
<link rel="manifest" href="manifest.json">
<!-- Links to the author of the document -->
<link rel="author" href="humans.txt">
<!-- Refers to a copyright statement that applies to the links context -->
<link rel="copyright" href="copyright.html">
<!-- Gives a reference to a location in your document that may be in another language -->
<link rel="alternate" href="https://es.example.com/" hreflang="es">
<!-- Gives information about an author or another person -->
<link rel="me" href="https://google.com/profiles/thenextweb" type="text/html">
<link rel="me" href="mailto:name@example.com">
<link rel="me" href="sms:+15035550125">
<!-- Links to a document that contains an archive link to the current document -->
<link rel="archives" href="https://example.com/2003/05/" title="May 2003">
<!-- Links to top level resource in an hierarchical structure -->
<link rel="index" href="https://example.com/" title="DeWitt Clinton">
<!-- Gives the starting point of the document -->
<link rel="start" href="https://example.com/photos/pattern_recognition_1_about/" title="Pattern Recognition 1">
<!-- Leads to the preceding resource of the sequence the current document is in -->
<link rel="prev" href="https://example.com/opensearch/opensearch-and-openid-a-sure-way-to-get-my-attention/" title="OpenSearch and OpenID? A sure way to get my attention.">
<!-- Gives a self reference - useful when the document has multiple possible references -->
<link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://example.com/atomFeed.php?page=3">
<!-- The first, next, previous, and last documents in a series of documents, respectively -->
<link rel="first" href="https://example.com/atomFeed.php">
<link rel="next" href="https://example.com/atomFeed.php?page=4">
<link rel="previous" href="https://example.com/atomFeed.php?page=2">
<link rel="last" href="https://example.com/atomFeed.php?page=147">
<!-- Used when using a 3rd party service to maintain a blog -->
<link rel="EditURI" href="https://example.com/xmlrpc.php?rsd" type="application/rsd+xml" title="RSD">
<!-- Forms an automated comment when another wordpress blog links to your wordpress blog or post -->
<link rel="pingback" href="https://example.com/xmlrpc.php">
<!-- Notifies a url when you link to it on your site -->
<link rel="webmention" href="https://example.com/webmention">
<!-- Loads in an external HTML file into the current HTML file -->
<link rel="import" href="component.html">
<!-- Open Search -->
<link rel="search" href="/open-search.xml" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" title="Search Title">
<!-- Feeds -->
<link rel="alternate" href="https://feeds.feedburner.com/example" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS">
<link rel="alternate" href="https://example.com/feed.atom" type="application/atom+xml" title="Atom 0.3">
<!-- Prefetching, preloading, prebrowsing -->
<link rel="dns-prefetch" href="//example.com/">
<link rel="preconnect" href="https://www.example.com/">
<link rel="prefetch" href="https://www.example.com/">
<link rel="prerender" href="https://example.com/">
<link rel="subresource" href="styles.css">
<link rel="preload" href="image.png">
<!-- More info: https://css-tricks.com/prefetching-preloading-prebrowsing/ -->
Link: Not Recommended
Below are the link relations which are not recommended for use:
<link rel="shortcut icon" href="path/to/favicon.ico">
Favicons
<!-- For IE 10 and below -->
<!-- No link, just place a file called favicon.ico in the root directory -->
<!-- For IE 11, Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera -->
<link rel="icon" href="path/to/favicon-16.png" sizes="16x16" type="image/png">
<link rel="icon" href="path/to/favicon-32.png" sizes="32x32" type="image/png">
<link rel="icon" href="path/to/favicon-48.png" sizes="48x48" type="image/png">
<link rel="icon" href="path/to/favicon-62.png" sizes="62x62" type="image/png">
<link rel="icon" href="path/to/favicon-192.png" sizes="192x192" type="image/png">
<!-- More info: https://bitsofco.de/all-about-favicons-and-touch-icons/ -->
Social
Facebook / Open Graph
<meta property="fb:app_id" content="123456789">
<meta property="og:url" content="https://example.com/page.html">
<meta property="og:type" content="website">
<meta property="og:title" content="Content Title">
<meta property="og:image" content="https://example.com/image.jpg">
<meta property="og:description" content="Description Here">
<meta property="og:site_name" content="Site Name">
<meta property="og:locale" content="en_US">
<meta property="article:author" content="">
<!-- Facebook: https://developers.facebook.com/docs/sharing/webmasters#markup -->
<!-- Open Graph: http://ogp.me/ -->
Facebook / Instant Articles
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta property="op:markup_version" content="v1.0">
<!-- The URL of the web version of your article -->
<link rel="canonical" href="http://example.com/article.html">
<!-- The style to be used for this article -->
<meta property="fb:article_style" content="myarticlestyle">
<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary">
<meta name="twitter:site" content="@site_account">
<meta name="twitter:creator" content="@individual_account">
<meta name="twitter:url" content="https://example.com/page.html">
<meta name="twitter:title" content="Content Title">
<meta name="twitter:description" content="Content description less than 200 characters">
<meta name="twitter:image" content="https://example.com/image.jpg">
<!-- More info: https://dev.twitter.com/cards/getting-started -->
<!-- Validate: https://dev.twitter.com/docs/cards/validation/validator -->
Google+ / Schema.org
<link href="https://plus.google.com/+YourPage" rel="publisher">
<meta itemprop="name" content="Content Title">
<meta itemprop="description" content="Content description less than 200 characters">
<meta itemprop="image" content="https://example.com/image.jpg">
OEmbed
<link rel="alternate" type="application/json+oembed"
href="http://example.com/services/oembed?url=http%3A%2F%2Fexample.com%2Ffoo%2F&format=json"
title="oEmbed Profile: JSON">
<link rel="alternate" type="text/xml+oembed"
href="http://example.com/services/oembed?url=http%3A%2F%2Fexample.com%2Ffoo%2F&format=xml"
title="oEmbed Profile: XML">
Browsers / Platforms
Apple iOS
<!-- Smart App Banner -->
<meta name="apple-itunes-app" content="app-id=APP_ID,affiliate-data=AFFILIATE_ID,app-argument=SOME_TEXT">
<!-- Disable automatic detection and formatting of possible phone numbers -->
<meta name="format-detection" content="telephone=no">
<!-- Add to Home Screen -->
<meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-capable" content="yes">
<meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-status-bar-style" content="black">
<meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-title" content="App Title">
<!-- Touch Icons -->
<link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="path/to/apple-touch-icon.png">
<link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" href="path/to/apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png">
<!-- In most cases, one 180×180px touch icon in the head is enough -->
<!-- If you use art-direction and/or want to have different content for each device, you can add more touch icons -->
<!-- Startup Image -->
<link rel="apple-touch-startup-image" href="path/to/startup.png">
<!-- More info: https://developer.apple.com/safari/library/documentation/appleapplications/reference/safarihtmlref/articles/metatags.html -->
Apple Safari
<!-- Pinned Site -->
<link rel="mask-icon" href="path/to/icon.svg" color="red">
Google Android
<meta name="theme-color" content="#E64545">
<!-- Add to homescreen -->
<meta name="mobile-web-app-capable" content="yes">
<!-- More info: https://developer.chrome.com/multidevice/android/installtohomescreen -->
Google Chrome
<link rel="chrome-webstore-item" href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/APP_ID">
<!-- Disable translation prompt -->
<meta name="google" value="notranslate">
Microsoft Internet Explorer
<meta http-equiv="x-ua-compatible" content="ie=edge">
<meta http-equiv="cleartype" content="on">
<meta name="skype_toolbar" content="skype_toolbar_parser_compatible">
<!-- Disable link highlighting on IE 10 on Windows Phone (https://blogs.windows.com/buildingapps/2012/11/15/adapting-your-webkit-optimized-site-for-internet-explorer-10/) -->
<meta name="msapplication-tap-highlight" content="no">
<!-- Pinned sites (https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn255024(v=vs.85).aspx) -->
<meta name="application-name" content="Contoso Pinned Site Caption">
<meta name="msapplication-tooltip" content="Example Tooltip Text">
<meta name="msapplication-starturl" content="/">
<meta name="msapplication-config" content="http://example.com/browserconfig.xml">
<meta name="msapplication-allowDomainApiCalls" content="true">
<meta name="msapplication-allowDomainMetaTags" content="true">
<meta name="msapplication-badge" content="frequency=30; polling-uri=http://example.com/id45453245/polling.xml">
<meta name="msapplication-navbutton-color" content="#FF3300">
<meta name="msapplication-notification" content="frequency=60;polling-uri=http://example.com/livetile">
<meta name="msapplication-square150x150logo" content="path/to/logo.png">
<meta name="msapplication-square310x310logo" content="path/to/largelogo.png">
<meta name="msapplication-square70x70logo" content="path/to/tinylogo.png">
<meta name="msapplication-wide310x150logo" content="path/to/widelogo.png">
<meta name="msapplication-task" content="name=Check Order Status;action-uri=./orderStatus.aspx?src=IE9;icon-uri=./favicon.ico">
<meta name="msapplication-task-seperator" content="1">
<meta name="msapplication-TileColor" content="#FF3300">
<meta name="msapplication-TileImage" content="path/to/tileimage.jpg">
<meta name="msapplication-window" content="width=1024;height=768">
Microsoft Internet Explorer: Legacy, Do Not Use!
<!-- Disable the image toolbar when you mouse over images in IE 6 (https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms532986(v=vs.85).aspx) -->
<meta http-equiv="imagetoolbar" content="no">
<!-- Disable Windows theming to form inputs/buttons (https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/322240) -->
<meta name="MSThemeCompatible" content="no">
<!-- Disable a feature that only appeared on IE 6 beta (https://stackoverflow.com/q/2167301) -->
<meta name="MSSmartTagsPreventParsing" content="true">
<!-- Interpage Transitions (https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms532847(v=vs.85).aspx) -->
<meta http-equiv="Page-Enter" content="revealtrans(duration=2,transition=2)">
<meta http-equiv="Page-Exit" content="revealtrans(duration=3,transition=12)">
<meta http-equiv="Site-Enter" content="revealtrans(duration=2,transition=2)">
<meta http-equiv="Site-Exit" content="revealtrans(duration=3,transition=12)">
App Links
<!-- iOS -->
<meta property="al:ios:url" content="applinks://docs">
<meta property="al:ios:app_store_id" content="12345">
<meta property="al:ios:app_name" content="App Links">
<!-- Android -->
<meta property="al:android:url" content="applinks://docs">
<meta property="al:android:app_name" content="App Links">
<meta property="al:android:package" content="org.applinks">
<!-- Web Fallback -->
<meta property="al:web:url" content="http://applinks.org/documentation">
<!-- More info: http://applinks.org/documentation/ -->
Browsers (Chinese)
360 Browser
<!-- select rendering engine in order -->
<meta name="renderer" content="webkit|ie-comp|ie-stand">
QQ Mobile Browser
<!-- Locks the screen into the specified orientation -->
<meta name="x5-orientation" content="landscape/portrait">
<!-- Display this page in fullscreen -->
<meta name="x5-fullscreen" content="true">
<!-- Page will be displayed in "application mode"(fullscreen,etc.) -->
<meta name="x5-page-mode" content="app">
UC Mobile Browser
<!-- Locks the screen into the specified orientation -->
<meta name="screen-orientation" content="landscape/portrait">
<!-- Display this page in fullscreen -->
<meta name="full-screen" content="yes">
<!-- UC browser will display images even if in "text mode" -->
<meta name="imagemode" content="force">
<!-- Page will be displayed in "application mode"(fullscreen,forbiding gesture, etc.) -->
<meta name="browsermode" content="application">
<!-- Disabled the UC browser's "night mode" in this page -->
<meta name="nightmode" content="disable">
<!-- Simplify the page to reduce data transfer -->
<meta name="layoutmode" content="fitscreen">
<!-- Disable the UC browser's feature of "scaling font up when there are many words in this page" -->
<meta name="wap-font-scale" content="no">
Notes
Performance
Moving the href
attribute to the beginning of an element improves compression when GZIP is enabled, because the href
attribute is used in a
, base
and link
tags.
Example:
<link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Open+Sans:400,700" rel="stylesheet">
Other Resources
Related Projects
- Atom HTML Head Snippets - Atom package for
HEAD
snippets - Sublime Text HTML Head Snippets - Sublime Text package for
HEAD
snippets - head-it - CLI interface for
HEAD
snippets - vue-head - Manipulating the meta information of the
HEAD
tag for Vue.js
Other Formats
Translations
Contributing
Open an issue or a pull request to suggest changes or additions.
Please follow these steps for pull requests:
- Modify only one tag, or one related set of tags at a time
- Use double quotes on attributes
- Don't include a trailing slash in self-closing elements — the HTML5 spec says they're optional
- Consider including a link to documentation that supports your change
Contributors
Check out all the super awesome contributors.