# Viewport meta tag

> The viewport meta tag tells mobile browsers how wide to lay out a page and how to scale it. Without it, a phone shows a shrunken desktop page.

- **Check ID:** S6
- **Area:** [SEO](https://be1st.ai/glossary/seo)
- **Tool:** [SEO + Security + Performance](https://be1st.ai/tools/ssp-audit)
- **Page:** https://be1st.ai/glossary/seo/viewport-meta-tag

## Why it matters

Google uses mobile-first indexing, which means the mobile version of the page is primary for ranking. Without a viewport tag, the page displays on mobile as a desktop version scaled down to a small screen.

## In practice

All modern web frameworks (Next.js, Nuxt, Angular) add the viewport tag automatically. Older websites without this tag are flagged by Google as 'not mobile-friendly' and lose positions in search results.

## How be1st checks it

Checks for the presence of a meta viewport tag that ensures proper page rendering on mobile devices. The tag `<meta name='viewport' content='width=device-width, initial-scale=1'>` is the standard.

[SEO + Security + Performance](https://be1st.ai/tools/ssp-audit), SEO tab.

Every check ends as: Pass, Warning, Fail.

## Sources

- [HTML `<meta>` Element](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Reference/Elements/meta) (MDN Web Docs)
- [Lighthouse SEO Audits](https://web.dev/articles/pass-lighthouse-seo-audit) (web.dev)

## Related terms

- [Mobile-friendly indicators](https://be1st.ai/glossary/seo/mobile-friendly-indicators): Mobile-friendly indicators are the signs that a page adapts to small screens: a viewport tag, responsive CSS and content that fits without zooming.
- [Robots meta tag](https://be1st.ai/glossary/seo/robots-meta-tag): The robots meta tag gives search engines instructions for one page, such as noindex (keep it out of results) or nofollow (do not follow its links).
- [Open Graph tags](https://be1st.ai/glossary/seo/open-graph-tags): Open Graph tags are meta tags with the og: prefix that set the title, description and image a page shows when it is shared on Facebook, LinkedIn, Slack and other apps.
- [Twitter Card tags](https://be1st.ai/glossary/seo/twitter-card-tags): Twitter Card tags are meta tags with the twitter: prefix that control how a link preview looks when a page is shared on X, formerly Twitter.
- [Structured data](https://be1st.ai/glossary/seo/structured-data): Structured data is machine-readable markup, usually JSON-LD with the Schema.org vocabulary, that says what a page contains: a product, an article, a company or an event.
- [Image ALT texts](https://be1st.ai/glossary/seo/image-alt-texts): ALT text is the alt attribute of an image: a short written description that screen readers read aloud and search engines use to understand the picture.