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Meta tags

author

Names one author of the page. Add another author meta tag for each additional author.

Code examples

Good example
<meta name="author" content="Jane Doe">
Names the author exactly as credited on the page.
Good example
<meta name="author" content="River Song">
A pen name is fine when it matches the published byline.
Avoid this example
<meta name="author" content="Admin">
A generic account label does not identify the author.
Avoid this example
<meta name="author" content="Jane Doe, John Smith">
This combines two authors in one value. Use a separate author tag for each person.

Recommendations

  • 01
    Credit One Author per Tag
    The HTML standard defines each author value as the name of one author. Repeat the tag when a page has multiple authors.
  • 02
    Match the Published Byline
    Use the name readers see on the page, including a pen name when that is how the author publishes.
  • 03
    Keep Roles Out of the Name
    Put job titles and contributor roles in the visible byline or structured data. This value is for the author name.

Related documentation

Related meta tags

author

name

Names one author of the page. Add another author meta tag for each additional author.

<meta name="author" content="Jane Doe">
Names the author exactly as credited on the page.

charset

charset

Declares the character encoding used by the HTML document. In modern HTML, the value must be UTF-8.

<meta charset="utf-8">
The required character encoding for modern HTML.

description

name

Summarizes the page for directories and search engines. Google may use it as a search result snippet when it describes the page better than the visible content does.

<meta name="description" content="Bake 12 vanilla cupcakes in 35 minutes. Includes metric measurements, storage notes, and fixes for cakes that sink.">
Specific details tell the reader what the recipe covers.

google

name

Carries Google-specific page controls. Google currently documents nopagereadaloud for this metadata name.

<meta name="google" content="nopagereadaloud">
The documented Google-specific opt-out for page read-aloud services.

google-site-verification

name

Verifies ownership of a site in Google Search Console. Google provides the exact token to place on the site’s top-level page.

<meta name="google-site-verification" content="your_verification_code">
Replace this placeholder with the exact token issued by Search Console.