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The Dublin Core Metadata Initiative is an open-source movement that aims standardize data about digital objects. From an SEO perspective, use DC is an advantageous because search engines can use this data to understand better your content.
This makes your site more attractive to Search Engines. Also:
Press down arrow to know the basics.
The Dublin Core standard includes two levels: Simple and Qualified. Simple DC is comprised 15 elements. Qualified DC is more complex, include three additional elements and a group of qualifiers, so will not be covered here.
Some tags from Simple DC standard:
Let's see the meta tags that comprise Simple Dublin Core?
Before you start, take note of this few tips: if you click in any part of the code box, the text will automagically select for you - just need to copy, not to select. If you have some doubt about tag description, click in the title of the tag, you'll be redirected to a new page contain a detailed information about this tag.
We recommend read all tags and it's descriptions, but if you want you can jump to a specific tag:
Title:
The name of your website. Similar to <title> HTML tag.
<meta name="DC.Title" content="Dublin Core Basics: the beginners guide.">
Creator:
The person or organization responsible for the content.
<meta name="DC.Creator" content="Fernando Paladini" />
Subject:
The topic covered by the content.
<meta name="DC.Subject" content="Dublin Core Meta Tags" />
Description:
Textual outline of the content. Can be the same as the content of <meta name="descripion"> tag.
<meta name="DC.Description" content="Know and understand the basics of Dublin Core. Dublin Core Basics: The beginners guide." />
Publisher:
An entity (person, organization or service) responsible for making the content available.
<meta name="DC.Publisher" content="Fernando Paladini" />
Contributor:
Person, organization or service that contribute to the content.
<meta name="DC.Contributor" content="Fernando Paladini" />
Date:
A point or period of time associated with the lifecycle of content. Typically the date of when content become available. Available formats:
<meta name="DC.Date" content="2014-02" />
Type:
A category for the content. A full list of Types can be found here. Following is the most used types:
<meta name="DC.Type" content="Text" />
Format:
How the content or resource is presented. A full list of Formats can be found here. As we are developers, the most used format is text/html.
<meta name="DC.Format" content="text/html" />
Identifier:
An unique identifier to your content. Can be a string or number generate by a formal identification system - or just a URL.
<meta name="DC.Identifier" content="http://www.mypage.com/2014/02/dublin-core-basics.html"/>
Source:
Where the content originally delivered from or a resource that is related intelectually to the described content.
<meta name="DC.Source" content="http://www.mypage.com" />
Language:
In what language the content is written. You must the correct language code. You can find all language codes here.
<meta name="DC.Language" content="en" />
Relation:
How the content relates to other resources for instance. Think in a chapter of a book, for example: the chapter isPartOf book. A full list of possible relations can be found here.
<meta name="DC.Relation" content="http://www.mypage.com" scheme="IsPartOf" />
Coverage:
Where the content is physically located. Coverage will typically include spatial location (place name or geographic co-ordinates), temporal period (date, date range) or jurisdiction (named administrative entity).
<meta name="DC.Coverage" content="Florianópolis, Brazil" />
Rights:
Typically a Rights element will contain a rights management statement for the resource, or reference a service providing such information. Rights information often encompasses Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), Copyright, and various Property Rights.
<meta name="DC.Rights" content="Copyright 2014, Fernando Paladini, Ltd. All rights reserved." />
Wow! Glad you made it this far, you learned a lot today. But now it's time to apply what you've learned, else you'll forget soon. Take one project you made and let's go to the practical part:
To apply what yout learned you must:
P.S: If you're lazy and don't want create the tags by yourself, you can use this Dublin Core meta tag generator.
Also read the last section, Miscellaneous.
Keep leerning
You already know the basics of Dublin Core meta tags, but what about now? Here's some tips about what you can read and improve your knowledge:
About
This page was created by Fernando Paladini, a 18 years old brazilian student and developer. "Dublin Core Basics" is an open-source project distributed under MIT License terms. Feel free to contribute to our project in GitHub at any time. Translations are welcome too, see how contact me below.
Contact
If you want talk with me, found one issue is this site or want make me a proposal, feel free to send an e-mail right now. You can find me at fnpaladini@gmail.com.