Meta Tags, Description Text and Other HTML Tags

In a recent lecture the words 'meta tags' and 'metadata' were mentioned. I wasn't entirely sure what this was, so I decided to research about it, and here is what I found out.
Meta tags, or meta elements, are used to give metadata for a specific web page.
They are written in the form <meta ... > and are always placed in the <head> tag
This metadata can be read by browsers, to determine how to display or reload a webpage, search engines to find keywords and by other services.
You will mainly use meta tags to make sure your website is search engine ready when it goes online.
In order to do this, you need to use the following tag:

<meta name="description" content="insert description here" />

Where I have written 'insert description here' is obviously where you write a description of the website. Meta tags generally go in between the head tags (Between <head> and </head>. This is done so that people who find a link to your website on google results they can instantly see whether they have found what they are looking for.

Another way to insert meta tags if you are unsure where meta tags go in the code is to, in the design view of Dreamweaver, go to insert > HTML > Head Tags > descriptionA little text box field pops up and here is where you write a description for your website. This creates a meta tag for you and places it where it needs to go in the code. To create a title meta tag you can just type it in the 'title' box at the top of the design view. In this description tag you can put a lot more detail, from a couple of sentences to a short paragraph, to describe your website better. Below are two pictures that show what the title and description do to a website.

The first bit in the blue writing is the pages title. Which is why this part should be short but descriptive.


Underneath in the black writing we have the meta tag description. This describes the website in more detail, but still without being too long.