META tags, whilst often overlooked, are an important tool in any web page. The META tag sits in between the <head> and </head> tags. One of the most important features they provide is increasing the chances of your web page being listed in a search engine search. Below are some of the more important META tags and what they mean.

This forces the current page to refresh (reload) every X seconds.

This will cause the file called file.htm to be loaded after X seconds. This is most often used for redirection, ie "This page has moved to this location" and you're automatically taken there.

This will force the document to be reloaded on or after the date specified. This tag is useful for web pages that are constantly updated and if you want your viewers not to miss out.

Search engines use this tag when someone enters criteria for a search. If the criteria matches something in your keywords, you site is usually listed.

This is also used by search engines and is used for displaying search results.