HTML Head

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A list of everything that *could* go in the <head> of your document

Table of Contents

Below are the essential tags for basic, minimalist websites:

<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta http-equiv="x-ua-compatible" content="ie=edge"> <!-- † -->
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1, shrink-to-fit=no">
<!--
The above 3 meta tags *must* come first in the head; any other head content must come *after* these tags.

† Use the content="ie-edge" tag if your project must support Internet Explorer prior to version 11.

-->
<title>Page Title</title>

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Elements

Valid <head> elements include meta, link, title, style, script, noscript, and base.

<!-- Meta tags provide information for how a document should be perceived, and rendered, by other technologies. e.g. bots, search engines, browsers, etc. -->
<meta charset="utf-8">

<!-- Set the document's title -->
<title>Page Title</title>

<!-- Base URL to use for all relative URLs contained within the document -->
<base href="http://example.com/page.html">

<!-- Link to external CSS file -->
<link rel="stylesheet" href="styles.css">

<!-- Used for adding in-document CSS -->
<style>
/* ... */
</style>

<!-- JavaScript & No-JavaScript tags -->
<script src="script.js"></script>
<script>
// function(s) go here
</script>
<noscript>
<!-- No JS alternative -->
</noscript>

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Meta

<meta charset="utf-8"> <!-- Set character encoding for the document -->
<meta http-equiv="x-ua-compatible" content="ie=edge">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1, shrink-to-fit=no">
<!-- The above 3 meta tags *must* come first in the head; any other head content must come *after* these tags -->

<!-- Allows control over where resources are loaded from -->
<meta http-equiv="Content-Security-Policy" content="default-src 'self'">
<!-- Place as early in the document as possible -->
<!-- Only applies to resources below this tag -->

<!-- Name of web application (only should be used if the website is used as an app) -->
<meta name="application-name" content="Application Name">

<!-- Short description of the document (limit to 150 characters) -->
<!-- In *some* situations this description is used as a part of the snippet shown in the search results. -->
<meta name="description" content="A description of the page">

<!-- Control the behavior of search engine crawling and indexing -->
<meta name="robots" content="index,follow"><!-- All Search Engines -->
<meta name="googlebot" content="index,follow"><!-- Google Specific -->

<!-- Tells Google not to show the sitelinks search box -->
<meta name="google" content="nositelinkssearchbox">

<!-- Tells Google not to provide a translation for this document -->
<meta name="google" content="notranslate">

<!-- Verify website ownership -->
<meta name="google-site-verification" content="verification_token"><!-- Google Search Console -->
<meta name="yandex-verification" content="verification_token"><!-- Yandex Webmasters -->
<meta name="msvalidate.01" content="verification_token"><!-- Bing Webmaster Center -->
<meta name="alexaVerifyID" content="verification_token"><!-- Alexa Console -->
<meta name="p:domain_verify" content="code_from_pinterest"><!-- Pinterest Console-->
<meta name="norton-safeweb-site-verification" content="norton_code"><!-- Norton Safe Web -->

<!-- Identify the software used to build the document (i.e. - WordPress, Dreamweaver) -->
<meta name="generator" content="program">

<!-- Short description of your document's subject -->
<meta name="subject" content="your document's subject">

<!-- Gives a general age rating based on the document's content -->
<meta name="rating" content="General">

<!-- Allows control over how referrer information is passed -->
<meta name="referrer" content="no-referrer">

<!-- Disable automatic detection and formatting of possible phone numbers -->
<meta name="format-detection" content="telephone=no">

<!-- Completely opt out of DNS prefetching by setting to "off" -->
<meta http-equiv="x-dns-prefetch-control" content="off">

<!-- Stores a cookie on the client web browser for identification purposes -->
<meta http-equiv="set-cookie" content="name=value; expires=date; path=url">

<!-- Specifies the document to appear in a specific frame -->
<meta http-equiv="Window-Target" content="_value">

<!-- Geo tags -->
<meta name="ICBM" content="latitude, longitude">
<meta name="geo.position" content="latitude;longitude">
<meta name="geo.region" content="country[-state]"><!-- Country code (ISO 3166-1): mandatory, state code (ISO 3166-2): optional; eg. content="US" / content="US-NY" -->
<meta name="geo.placename" content="city/town"><!-- eg. content="New York City" -->

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<!-- Points to an external CSS style sheet -->
<link rel="stylesheet" href="http://example.com/styles.css">

<!-- Helps prevent duplicate content issues -->
<link rel="canonical" href="http://example.com/2010/06/9-things-to-do-before-entering-social-media.html">

<!-- Used to be included before the icon link, but it has been deprecated -->
<link rel="shortlink" href="http://example.com/?p=42">

<!-- Links to an AMP HTML version of the current document -->
<link rel="amphtml" href="http://example.com/path/to/amp-version.html">

<!-- Links to a JSON file that specifies "installation" credentials for the web applications -->
<link rel="manifest" href="manifest.json">

<!-- Links to information about the author(s) of the document -->
<link rel="author" href="humans.txt">

<!-- Refers to a copyright statement that applies to the link's context -->
<link rel="license" href="copyright.html">

<!-- Gives a reference to a location in your document that may be in another language -->
<link rel="alternate" href="https://es.example.com/" hreflang="es">

<!-- Provides information about an author or another person -->
<link rel="me" href="https://google.com/profiles/thenextweb" type="text/html">
<link rel="me" href="mailto:name@example.com">
<link rel="me" href="sms:+15035550125">

<!-- Links to a document that describes a collection of records, documents, or other materials of historical interest -->
<link rel="archives" href="http://example.com/archives/">

<!-- Links to top level resource in an hierarchical structure -->
<link rel="index" href="http://example.com/">

<!-- Provides a self reference - useful when the document has multiple possible references -->
<link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://example.com/atomFeed.php?page=3">

<!-- The first, next, previous, and last documents in a series of documents, respectively -->
<link rel="first" href="http://example.com/atomFeed.php">
<link rel="next" href="http://example.com/atomFeed.php?page=4">
<link rel="prev" href="http://example.com/atomFeed.php?page=2">
<link rel="last" href="http://example.com/atomFeed.php?page=147">

<!-- Used when a 3rd party service is utilized to maintain a blog -->
<link rel="EditURI" href="http://example.com/xmlrpc.php?rsd" type="application/rsd+xml" title="RSD">

<!-- Forms an automated comment when another WordPress blog links to your WordPress blog or post -->
<link rel="pingback" href="http://example.com/xmlrpc.php">

<!-- Notifies a URL when you link to it on your document -->
<link rel="webmention" href="http://example.com/webmention">

<!-- Enables posting to your own domain using a Micropub client -->
<link rel="micropub" href="http://example.com/micropub">

<!-- Loads in an external HTML file into the current document -->
<link rel="import" href="/path/to/component.html">

<!-- Open Search -->
<link rel="search" href="/open-search.xml" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" title="Search Title">

<!-- Feeds -->
<link rel="alternate" href="https://feeds.feedburner.com/example" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS">
<link rel="alternate" href="http://example.com/feed.atom" type="application/atom+xml" title="Atom 0.3">

<!-- Prefetching, preloading, prebrowsing -->
<link rel="dns-prefetch" href="//example.com/">
<link rel="preconnect" href="https://www.example.com/">
<link rel="prefetch" href="https://www.example.com/">
<link rel="prerender" href="http://example.com/">
<link rel="preload" href="image.png" as="image">
<!-- More info: https://css-tricks.com/prefetching-preloading-prebrowsing/ -->

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Favicons

<!-- For IE 10 and below -->
<!-- Place favicon.ico in the root directory - no tag necessary -->

<!-- For IE 11, Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera -->
<link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="16x16" href="/path/to/favicon-16x16.png">
<link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="32x32" href="/path/to/favicon-32x32.png">
<link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="96x96" href="/path/to/favicon-96x96.png">

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Social

Facebook Open Graph

<meta property="fb:app_id" content="123456789">
<meta property="og:url" content="http://example.com/page.html">
<meta property="og:type" content="website">
<meta property="og:title" content="Content Title">
<meta property="og:image" content="http://example.com/image.jpg">
<meta property="og:description" content="Description Here">
<meta property="og:site_name" content="Site Name">
<meta property="og:locale" content="en_US">
<meta property="article:author" content="">

Twitter Card

<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary">
<meta name="twitter:site" content="@site_account">
<meta name="twitter:creator" content="@individual_account">
<meta name="twitter:url" content="http://example.com/page.html">
<meta name="twitter:title" content="Content Title">
<meta name="twitter:description" content="Content description less than 200 characters">
<meta name="twitter:image" content="http://example.com/image.jpg">

Google+ / Schema.org

<link href="https://plus.google.com/+YourPage" rel="publisher">
<meta itemprop="name" content="Content Title">
<meta itemprop="description" content="Content description less than 200 characters">
<meta itemprop="image" content="http://example.com/image.jpg">

Pinterest

Pinterest lets you prevent people from saving things from your website, according to their help center. The description is optional.

<meta name="pinterest" content="nopin" description="Sorry, you can't save from my website!">

Facebook Instant Articles

<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta property="op:markup_version" content="v1.0">

<!-- The URL of the web version of your article -->
<link rel="canonical" href="http://example.com/article.html">

<!-- The style to be used for this article -->
<meta property="fb:article_style" content="myarticlestyle">

OEmbed

<link rel="alternate" type="application/json+oembed"
href="http://example.com/services/oembed?url=http%3A%2F%2Fexample.com%2Ffoo%2F&amp;format=json"
title="oEmbed Profile: JSON">
<link rel="alternate" type="text/xml+oembed"
href="http://example.com/services/oembed?url=http%3A%2F%2Fexample.com%2Ffoo%2F&amp;format=xml"
title="oEmbed Profile: XML">

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Browsers / Platforms

Apple iOS

<!-- Smart App Banner -->
<meta name="apple-itunes-app" content="app-id=APP_ID,affiliate-data=AFFILIATE_ID,app-argument=SOME_TEXT">

<!-- Disable automatic detection and formatting of possible phone numbers -->
<meta name="format-detection" content="telephone=no">

<!-- Add to Home Screen -->
<meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-capable" content="yes">
<meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-status-bar-style" content="black">
<meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-title" content="App Title">

<!-- Touch Icons -->
<!-- In most cases, one 180×180px touch icon in the head is enough -->
<link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="/path/to/apple-touch-icon.png">

<!-- Startup Image ( Deprecated ) -->
<link rel="apple-touch-startup-image" href="/path/to/startup.png">

<!-- iOS app deep linking -->
<meta name="apple-itunes-app" content="app-id=APP-ID, app-argument=http/url-sample.com">
<link rel="alternate" href="ios-app://APP-ID/http/url-sample.com">

Apple Safari

<!-- Pinned Site -->
<link rel="mask-icon" href="/path/to/icon.svg" color="red">

Google Android

<meta name="theme-color" content="#E64545">

<!-- Add to home screen -->
<meta name="mobile-web-app-capable" content="yes">
<!-- More info: https://developer.chrome.com/multidevice/android/installtohomescreen -->

<!-- Android app deep linking -->
<meta name="google-play-app" content="app-id=package-name">
<link rel="alternate" href="android-app://package-name/http/url-sample.com">

Google Chrome

<link rel="chrome-webstore-item" href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/APP_ID">

<!-- Disable translation prompt -->
<meta name="google" content="notranslate">

Google Chrome Mobile (Android Only)

Since Chrome 31, you can set up your web app to “app mode” like Safari.

<!-- Link to a manifest and define the manifest metadata -->
<!-- The example of manifest.json could be found in the link below -->
<link rel="manifest" href="manifest.json">

<!-- Define your web page as a web app -->
<meta name="mobile-web-app-capable" content="yes">

<!-- Homescreen Icon -->
<link rel="icon" sizes="192x192" href="/path/to/highres-icon.png">

Microsoft Internet Explorer

<meta http-equiv="x-ua-compatible" content="ie=edge">
<meta name="skype_toolbar" content="skype_toolbar_parser_compatible">

<!-- IE10: Disable link highlighting upon tap (https://blogs.windows.com/buildingapps/2012/11/15/adapting-your-webkit-optimized-site-for-internet-explorer-10/) -->
<meta name="msapplication-tap-highlight" content="no">

<!-- Pinned sites (https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn255024(v=vs.85).aspx) -->
<meta name="application-name" content="Sample Title">
<meta name="msapplication-tooltip" content="A description of what this site does.">
<meta name="msapplication-starturl" content="http://example.com/index.html?pinned=true">
<meta name="msapplication-navbutton-color" content="#FF3300">
<meta name="msapplication-window" content="width=800;height=600">
<meta name="msapplication-task" content="name=Task 1;action-uri=http://host/Page1.html;icon-uri=http://host/icon1.ico">
<meta name="msapplication-task" content="name=Task 2;action-uri=http://microsoft.com/Page2.html;icon-uri=http://host/icon2.ico">
<meta name="msapplication-badge" value="frequency=NUMBER_IN_MINUTES;polling-uri=http://example.com/path/to/file.xml">
<meta name="msapplication-TileColor" content="#FF3300">
<meta name="msapplication-TileImage" content="/path/to/tileimage.jpg">

<meta name="msapplication-config" content="http://example.com/browserconfig.xml">
<meta name="msapplication-notification" content="frequency=60;polling-uri=http://example.com/livetile;polling-uri2=http://example.com/livetile2">
<meta name="msapplication-task-separator" content="1">

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<!-- iOS -->
<meta property="al:ios:url" content="applinks://docs">
<meta property="al:ios:app_store_id" content="12345">
<meta property="al:ios:app_name" content="App Links">

<!-- Android -->
<meta property="al:android:url" content="applinks://docs">
<meta property="al:android:app_name" content="App Links">
<meta property="al:android:package" content="org.applinks">

<!-- Web Fallback -->
<meta property="al:web:url" content="http://applinks.org/documentation">

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Browsers (Chinese)

360 Browser

<!-- Select rendering engine order -->
<meta name="renderer" content="webkit|ie-comp|ie-stand">

QQ Mobile Browser

<!-- Locks the screen into the specified orientation -->
<meta name="x5-orientation" content="landscape/portrait">

<!-- Display this document in fullscreen -->
<meta name="x5-fullscreen" content="true">

<!-- Document will be displayed in "application mode" (full screen, etc.) -->
<meta name="x5-page-mode" content="app">

UC Mobile Browser

<!-- Locks the screen into the specified orientation -->
<meta name="screen-orientation" content="landscape/portrait">

<!-- Display this document in fullscreen -->
<meta name="full-screen" content="yes">

<!-- UC browser will display images even if in "text mode" -->
<meta name="imagemode" content="force">

<!-- Document will be displayed in "application mode"(full screen, forbidding gesture, etc.) -->
<meta name="browsermode" content="application">

<!-- Disabled the UC browser's "night mode" for this document -->
<meta name="nightmode" content="disable">

<!-- Simplify the document to reduce data transfer -->
<meta name="layoutmode" content="fitscreen">

<!-- Disable the UC browser's feature of "scaling font up when there are many words in this document" -->
<meta name="wap-font-scale" content="no">

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Notes

Performance

Moving the href attribute to the beginning of an element improves compression when GZIP is enabled, because the href attribute is used in a, base, and link tags.

Example:

<link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Open+Sans:400,700" rel="stylesheet">

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Other Resources

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Other Formats

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Translations

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Contributing

Open an issue or a pull request to suggest changes or additions.

Guide

The HEAD repository consists of two branches:

1. master

This branch consists of the README.md file that is automatically reflected on the gethead.info website. All changes to the content of the cheat sheet as such should be directed to this file.

Please follow these steps for pull requests:

  • Modify only one tag, or one related set of tags at a time
  • Use double quotes on attributes
  • Don’t include a trailing slash in self-closing elements — the HTML5 spec says they’re optional
  • Consider including a link to documentation that supports your change

2. gh-pages

This branch is responsible for the gethead.info website. We use Jekyll to deploy the README.md Markdown file through GitHub Pages. All website related modifications must be directed here.

You may want to go through the Jekyll Docs and understand how Jekyll works before working on this branch.

Contributors

Check out all the super awesome contributors.

Author

Josh Buchea

License

CC0

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