What's the difference between meta name and meta property?
<meta name> is the go-to for general web metadata such as page descriptions or keywords, making it the darling of search engines and SEO. On the other hand, <meta property> is the star player in the Open Graph protocol, molding shared content for social networks. In other words, one is the Google's best friend, and the other is the life of the Facebook party. Here is a simple example:
Dive deep: Unraveling meta name and meta property
The <meta> tag is essentially a toolbox for metadata that the other HTML elements like <p> or <h1> shy away from handling. The name attribute is the bread and butter of the HTML5 specification, doing the grunt work for search engines and web services to understand and organize content.
But then enters the property attribute from the RDFa spec, extending our plain old HTML, to bind data with web semantics. This binding makes our content shareable and displayable on social media platforms like it was born to be there!
Side-by-side: Coexistence of meta name and meta property
Surprisingly, these two, meta name and meta property, from two different specs, can share the same table - they can be used in the same <meta> element. This allows you to define metadata in a way that caters to different consumers, from search engines to social media, at the same time.
The plot twist: Enter itemprop
Just when we were comfortable with meta name and meta property, we have a wildcard entry - the itemprop attribute related to Microdata. This can be employed with meta elements to feed even more details to the hungry web crawlers, especially those munching on data using the Schema.org vocabulary.
Understanding where they spawn from
meta name stems from the HTML5 standard, which is like the mother dough of web functionalities. In contrast, meta property hails from RDFa 1.1, an extension that equips HTML to carry more meaningful data. So while meta name gives you SEO pats on the back, meta property ensures your shared content looks as cool as the other side of the pillow.
The reach of meta property
Even though meta property is often collared for social networks, its reach extends far beyond. With RDFa, it can enrich your data semantically, improving its visibility and interoperability across various online platforms.
Beware of conflicting signals
One problem you might face is the name and property attributes throwing tantrums when together. Carefully crafting the content for each ensures that both search engines and social networks are given clear, consistent signals.
The key to consistency
Be meticulous in your name and property attribute usage to ensure services that consume it, can read and understand your site exactly how you intended for them.
Was this article helpful?