HTML code head

The HTML head: The invisible backbone of every website

The “HEAD” section of an HTML document is the invisible but crucial foundation of any website. While the “BODY” area contains the content that visitors see and interact with directly, the “HEAD” area plays an essential role behind the scenes by providing meta information that is important for both search engines and the browser. This invisible information ensures the structure, functionality and optimization of a website and contributes significantly to visibility, speed and user-friendliness.

What is the HTML head?

The HTML “HEAD” area is located at the top of an HTML document, immediately after opening the <html> tag and before the <body> tag. Everything in the “HEAD” is not displayed directly on the web page. Instead, this area serves as a storage location for instructions and meta information that provide the browser, search engines and other services with important information on the correct display and processing of the website.

Here is a typical structure of the “HEAD” area in an HTML document:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="de">
<head>
  <meta charset="UTF-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
  <title>Beispielseite</title>
  <meta name="description" content="Dies ist eine Beispiel-Webseite, die den HTML-HEAD-Bereich beschreibt.">
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="styles.css">
</head>
<body>
  <!-- Hier beginnt der sichtbare Teil der Webseite -->
</body>
</html>

In this example, the “HEAD” area contains various meta information such as the character set, the title of the page, a description and a link to a stylesheet.

Important elements in the HTML head

The “HEAD” area contains a large number of important elements that are essential for the correct functioning and optimization of a website. These elements control how the website is perceived by search engines, rendered by browsers and displayed by social networks.

  1. Der Titel (<title>):
    • Importance for the user experience: The title, which is defined in the <title> tag, is the first thing the user sees in the browser tab. A clear, concise title helps the user to quickly identify the page, especially if several tabs are open.
    • Influence on SEO: The title also has a major influence on search engine optimization (SEO). Search engines such as Google use the title as the main heading in the search results. A well-chosen, keyword-rich title can therefore significantly improve the visibility and ranking of a page.
  2. Meta tags:
    • Meta description: The <meta name="description"> tag contains a short description of the content of the website. This description is often displayed in search engine results and can determine whether a user clicks on the link or not. A well-formulated meta description can therefore increase the click-through rate (CTR).
    • Meta keywords: Keywords used to be an important factor for search engine rankings. Today, the <meta name="keywords"> tag is ignored by most search engines as it has often been misused. Nevertheless, it can still be useful to use this tag in some niches.
    • Viewport meta tag: The <meta name="viewport"> tag is particularly important for the display of websites on mobile devices. It ensures that the page is scaled correctly on different screen sizes, which is essential for responsive design.
  3. Charset declaration:
    • Set character set: The <meta charset="UTF-8"> tag defines the character set of the website. UTF-8 is the most commonly used character set as it supports a variety of special characters, emojis and characters from different languages. Specifying the character set ensures that the text on the page is displayed correctly, regardless of which language or special characters are used.
  4. Links to external resources:
    • Stylesheets (<link>): The <link> tag is used to link external resources such as CSS files (Cascading Style Sheets). These are responsible for the design and layout of the website. The browser loads the linked style sheet and applies the style rules it contains to the HTML code.
    • Favicon (<link rel="icon">): The favicon is the small symbol that is displayed in the browser tab next to the title. It can be defined via a <link> tag in the “HEAD” area and contributes to brand identity and recognition.
  5. Scripts and APIs:
    • JavaScript: While it is common to place JavaScript at the end of the “BODY” tag to optimize load time, important scripts that affect the entire page (such as Google Analytics) can also be placed in the “HEAD” area.
    • APIs and external services: Many websites use external services such as fonts from Google Fonts or tracking tools. These are often integrated via script or link tags in the “HEAD” area.
  6. Social Media Tags:
    • Open Graph Tags: These are used to define how a page looks when it is shared on platforms such as Facebook or Twitter. Open Graph tags define elements such as the title, description and image that is displayed when a link is previewed.
    • Twitter Cards: Similar to Open Graph Tags, Twitter Cards make it possible to determine specific information for shared links on Twitter.

Importance of the HTML head for SEO and web performance

The “HEAD” section plays a crucial role in search engine optimization and can have a significant impact on the performance of a website. By optimizing the meta information contained in the “HEAD”, a website can be indexed better, found more easily by users and loaded faster.

  1. SEO optimization:
    • Title and meta description: The title and meta description are two of the most important SEO elements, as they are displayed directly in the search engine results. A well-structured and keyword-optimized title can significantly improve the ranking chances of a website, while an appealing meta description can increase the click-through rate (CTR).
    • Indexing instructions for search engines: The <meta name="robots"> tag can be used to give instructions to search engine crawlers as to whether they should index a page and follow the links on the page. For example, <meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow"> means that the page should not be indexed and no links from this page should be followed.
  2. Optimization of the loading time:
    • Asynchronous loading of scripts: By using attributes such as async or defer when integrating JavaScript in the “HEAD” area, it can be ensured that the scripts are executed asynchronously or only after the HTML document has been loaded. This improves the loading time and user-friendliness.
    • Preload and prefetch: Resources such as fonts or images can be preloaded using <link rel="preload"> or <link rel="prefetch"> tags. This allows the browser to load certain resources in advance before they are actually needed, which further optimizes the performance of the page.

The invisible power of the HTML head

Although the “HEAD” area may seem inconspicuous at first glance, it holds immense power and importance for the functioning and success of a website. It not only provides important instructions to browsers and search engines, but also plays an essential role in SEO strategy, loading speed and the overall user experience.

  1. User-friendliness and visibility:
    • The elements in the “HEAD” section, especially the title and meta description, have a direct influence on what users see in the search results. Well thought-out and appealing meta information can improve the click-through rate and drive more traffic to the website.
  2. Technical efficiency:
    • The “HEAD” area is also the place where the technical structure of the website is defined. By using efficient techniques such as asynchronous loading, preloading of resources and optimized meta tags, websites can be loaded faster and indexed better.

Conclusion

The “HEAD” section of an HTML document is a central component of every website, although it operates in the background. It ensures that the page is optimized for search engines, displayed attractively for users and rendered correctly for the browser. In the world of modern web design and web development, the “HEAD” is not only a technical aid, but also a powerful tool for optimizing the visibility, usability and performance of websites.