What is Meta Refresh?
Meta refresh is HTML code that instructs a browser to refresh a webpage after a specified time interval. During the refresh, the visitor may remain on the page or be directed to another page or site.
You can set a meta refresh by adding the below meta tag to the webpage’s <head> element. Here, 60 indicates the webpage will refresh after 60 seconds. You can change it to any duration of your choice. The visitor will remain on the page after the refresh.
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="60">
If you want to redirect the visitor to a new page during the refresh, you will add the code below to the page’s<head> element. In this case, such a meta refresh is called a meta redirect (or meta refresh redirect).
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="60; URL='https://www.yourdomain.com/new-page/'">
Because of its ability to redirect visitors to other pages, some site owners use meta refresh to create redirects. This could lead to poor user experience and may cause indexing issues on search engines. Hence, it is a good practice to create 301 redirects or 302 redirects instead of using the meta refresh redirect for redirects.
Importance of the Meta Refresh
The meta refresh is valuable for bloggers who want to keep their content up-to-date and in real time. It is particularly useful for blogs that feature dynamic content, such as live events, breaking news, stock prices, and sports scores.
Information in these fields can change within seconds. So, they implement the meta refresh to ensure visitors get the most updated information. Without the meta refresh, visitors have to manually refresh the page every few seconds to receive the latest information.
The meta refresh ensures your visitors can access the latest information without having to manually refresh the page. This will enhance their experience and keep them engaged with your content and site.
Common Issues Affecting the Meta Refresh
The meta refresh can disrupt the visitor’s user experience. Most visitors would be confused when they notice their web browser automatically refreshes.
The refresh would also take visitors away from their current location and back to the top of the page. This can be disruptive, especially when the visitor is in the middle of reading an article or interacting with the page.
From a technical SEO perspective, meta refresh can impact your blog’s performance if overused. Frequent page reloads can increase server load and slow down your site, particularly during high-traffic periods. Search engines may also interpret excessive refreshes as a negative signal, which may affect your rankings.
Bloggers can mitigate the issues with meta refreshes by setting a reasonable time interval for refreshes and notifying visitors that the page will automatically update at some point. This transparency helps maintain trust and ensures sudden changes don’t catch visitors off guard.
A better method is to use alternative methods to update the page. For example, many bloggers use JavaScript to automatically reload pages instead of relying on the meta refresh. However, many sites continue to use the meta refresh when they do not want to use or rely on JavaScript.