What Does 'Meta' Mean?

Meta is an HTML tag placed in the head section of a web page. It provides Web site keywords for search engines. This tag also provides information that describes the document in various ways. It also offers additional information that is not displayed on the page itself. This tag encloses valuable information for search engines to use in adding your web pages to their search indexes. A number of search engines use the information within tags as part of their algorithms.

Meta is also a common English prefix. It originates from the Greek word that means 'after' or 'beyond'. Metaphysics, Meta language, Meta directory etc are some of the words using Meta as a prefix. It is derived from an Ancient Greek preposition and is seen in Aristotle's works where he uses the word metaphysics which meant after physics. Some other popular words beginning with Meta are Meta character, Meta philosophy, Meta logic, Meta fiction etc.