The information about the web page is included in the HTML tags called meta-tags. These meta-tags are placed between the HTML tags of the page. Optimization by the use of these meta tags is called as Meta tag optimization. Some search engine while displaying the query of an individual uses Meta tags. Hence improving the ranking and number of links of your website.
Always have a <TITLE> that gives information about the pages of website, and relevant content in the body of the page. This will improve your rankings more than just meta tags alone. Inspite of a number of meta tags, description tag and keyword tag are the important one.Meta tags are written like:
<meta name="description" content="Description here.">
<meta name="keyword " content="keywords here.">

Meta Tag Description:
Although all the search engines did not use meta tag description for optimization but still some search engines takes the information included in this tag in search engine result. So an effective description using keywords will make your site to stand different from other listings.

Three things should be kept in mind while optimizing description:

1. Description should be relevant and effective as some search engines displays description with their search result.
2. Description should encourage visitors to click on that link. It will not only increase the number of links but also helps in improving rank of page.
3. The phrase starting the description should be important as the search engine could display it and include some but the most effective keywords in the description.

Meta Tag Keywords:
Meta tag keywords include target keywords that are according to the content of your sites. The keywords should also appear in the body text. The keyword included should be relevant as they are the basic criteria of searching.

Some points should be kept in mind while optimizing keywords:

1. Always use best keywords and they should appear in the body text.
2. Avoid repetition and unnecessary stuffing of keywords in the tag.
3. Use synonyms of keywords that reflect your services.

Although these techniques are not that much influence the ranking but without the proper meta tag optimization good search engine optimization is not possible.