Metadata ( or meta data) is essentially data about other data. For example an image file on your computer would have attached metadata telling the system and the user what size and format the file is as well as when the file was created and what program created it.

As far as a website is concerned ... Websites are full of metadata. This data tells the search engines and the browser a lot of information about your website. This metadata is essentially invisible to you as a viewer but is extremely useful for search engines to learn about your site and understand the sites content and purpose. 

Most of your metadata can be altered to increase your sites attractiveness to search engines. Here we will just briefly touch on the few major ones.

KEYWORDS

This is a string of data that tells google and other search engines what words are important to your website content. If the words used here are repeated within the actual content of your site, you will have achieved effective keywording. Basically.

Ex. web design, design, website, web designer, graphic designer

DESCRIPTION

The is an interesting meta data tag because it is highly visible to users. The is the description of your website that shows up in search engine results. Make sure to add an appropriate and complete description here. Without this data being specified, the search engines will not display this info or will display the first sentence of content from your web page instead.

Ex. Guimedia is a web development and web design company in Vancouver