The meta tag items of the HTML code include the description, the keywords and the title. A Meta description tag is the HTML element used to provide structured meta data about a web page. This makes the Meta description tag relevant in SEO as it has the potential to drive traffic to the site.

The meta description tag is a block of text that goes inside the "head" section of the HTML code, and it is used to give a brief summary of a web page. The meta description tag does not appear on screen by the reader. However, and more importantly, the meta data will be read by search engine "crawlers." The meta description is one of many meta tags that can be used in the mark-up of a page. Only the meta description and meta keywords will have an impact on search engine’s page rankings.

The meta description tag is usually placed after the Title tag and before the meta keywords tag. It gives a description of the website to the search engine results page (SERP), which is displayed under the link to your website on the SERP for viewers to access information about the site and determine if it is relevant to their search.

The value of meta tags for search rankings was at its peak between the late 90s and 2005. The words found within the description and keywords tags were used by formative search engines to help judge the importance of a website in comparison to the search. Unfortunately, as is usually the case with most search engine SEO techniques, flaws were exposed and some SEOs exploited the tags by "keyword stuffing" or using terms with high traffic but no relevance to the subject. As a result, and in contrast of online myth, the importance of the words within in meta tags was nullified.

The meta description tag is a way to promote what it is the site offers on a search engine results page. A well written meta description tag could be the only reason someone visits your website, as opposed to another website listed on the same SERP. Taking this into consideration, it is easy to see that the meta data are very useful in driving traffic to the website.

Today, the search engines place more importance on page content and link popularity. For a time, Google didn't pay any attention to the keyword tag. But recently, many online SEO marketers have noticed that the meta description tag is being displayed in Google results. This holds strong implications for the search engine SEO internet marketers.