Meta tag Syntax

[McCaldin]

Hi,

This might seem silly.

What is the correct syntax for the meta tag used when noindexing webpages?

I have "".  I have seen it both with and without the forward slash before the greater than sign.  Does it make any difference if the forward slash is present or not?

Cheers

[McCaldin]

That makes sense.  Thanks

[netzkern_AG]

It should not make any difference and is a question of style/syntax. The forward slash at the end is XHTML-Standard-Syntax. Sometimes, some validators may complain about one way of writing it or the other. Compare other Elements:

works if you write it just once at the start of a new parapgraph. Properly, a paragraph should be encased by

TextOfTheParagraph

, a DIV goesDivContentetc. Some elements ("void elements") do not have a beginning and end as such, for example a line break (
) or an image () or meta tags. Those can be written just like before or in XHTML-Syntax
indicating that the element is opened and then closed/finished by itself - there will not be a closing tag for it later on.

Main point speaking for XHTML (HTML+XML) is that it is really well structured. Cf. http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_xhtml.asp

Regards

Nico

[GastonRiera]

Hi,

I've seen the forward slash too. 
But google does not use it in the search console help.

Check it out here: 
Block search indexing with meta tags - Google SC Help

Hope it helps.
GR