Pay attention to the <title>, <description> and <keywords> metatags. The first two are important elements in Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Keywords are proven to have little value in SEO, but keywords should still be provided.
A Google search on “cal state northridge” yields the following listing first in the rankings:
California State University, Northridge
California State University, Northridge, one of the nation's largest public universities, is the intellectual, economic and cultural heart of Los Angeles' ...
www.csun.edu/ - 15k - Cached - Similar pages
Portal - https://www.csun.edu/portal/
Academic Programs - www.csun.edu/academic/index.html
Admissions & Records - www.csun.edu/a&r/
Prospective Students - www.csun.edu/outreach/prospective/
More results from www.csun.edu »
Title
Every HTML document must have a TITLE element in the HEAD section. The title will show up in the top of the window and in the search engine listing of the page.
For the <title> tag:
Use a descriptive title of the page, not “home.” In the example, the title element of the mainpage of csun.edu is “California State University, Northridge” so that’s what appears in the Google listing.
Description
The description tag will give most search engines the descriptive text about the site.
For the <description> tag:
In the example above, the description in the mainpage of the csun.edu site is: <meta name="description" content="California State University, Northridge, one of the nation's largest public universities, is the intellectual, economic and cultural heart of Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley and beyond."/> Notice how the beginning of that description appears in the listing. It is important to note that there is a limit to the length of the description. Too long a description, and much will be left out in the search engine listing. About 200 characters of text is the limit.
Keywords
Though keywords are not as important as title and description they do add something to the overall searchability of a page. Ultimately, though, it is the number of links leading from the site and the number of links from other sites leading back that provide the biggest justification for search engine ranking (see Links).
For the <keywords> tag:
In the example of the csun.edu mainpage, here are the keywords: <meta name="keywords" content="northridge, csun, matadors, csu northridge, public university, cal state, los angeles, san fernando valley, csun.edu, best, excellent"/>
It is important to note that there is a limit to the number of keywords. An overabundance of keywords can actually get a site blacklisted by search engines. Keep it simple.
Meta-Refresh
When a URL has changed, use a server-side redirect instead of automagically forwarding the user with a meta-refresh. If a server-side redirect is not possible then create an interstitial page with a static link to give the user total control of the environment. On the interstitial page use the university wordmark in the upper left hand corner. Give it an alt="CSUN wordmark" and a link to the CSUN mainpage. Here is an example: http://www.csun.edu/test/gway_hp_ps.html
Do not use meta-refresh as it breaks the back button. The use of meta-refresh presents a behavior that is outside the control of the user. This can be confusing to new users, users of assistive technology, and users with cognitive issues. The user arrives at the new page with a non-functional back button and can’t retrace their steps.
Character Encoding
For the character encoding metatag, use:
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />