Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Metatags definition

What does Metatags mean? In legal practice, metatags are hidden keywords and descriptions embedded in a website’s HTML source code to influence search engine optimisation and search advertising. They are not defined in UK or Irish legislation; courts and regulators use the term descriptively when assessing online trade mark use, passing off and misleading advertising. Key legal issues include whether using a competitor’s trade mark in metatags or other hidden text amounts to use in the course of trade, creates a likelihood of confusion, impairs a trade mark’s origin or advertising function, or takes unfair advantage. Such use can found claims for trade mark...

Metatags and Keyword Advertising: UK Trade Mark Infringement, Advertiser and Platform Liability, Targeting/Jurisdiction, Google Ads Policy and Practical Guidance (post‑Brexit)

Published by a LexisNexis IP expert

Practice notes

Using metatags and keyword advertising is lawful, yet it has prompted disputes where site operators select competitors’ trade marks as keywords to channel traffic to their own pages. The competitor’s trade mark is usually not visible in the advert or on the advertiser’s site, but the advert or the web link appears when an internet user enters the competitor’s mark as a search term. The central issue is whether employing third-party trade marks in metatags or keyword advertising amounts to infringement.

Terminology

‘Metatags’ are keywords and descriptions inserted in the invisible hypertext mark-up language (html) of websites. They indicate a site’s content. When an internet user types a keyword or description into a search engine, it searches the metatags as well as the visible text on websites to present a list of the most relevant sites (the ‘natural’ results). Website owners use metatags to improve the chances of search engines listing and ranking their site higher, leading to more users visiting the site...

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Holly Strube

Penningtons Manches Cooper

Holly Strube is a Senior Associate in Penningtons Manches Cooper’s IP, IT and Commercial department. She graduated with an LLB from Warwick University, United Kingdom. She deals with soft IP contentious matters and branding strategy cases in the United Kingdom. Her areas of particular experience include trade mark infringement, design right infringement and copyright infringement matters before the High Court and Intellectual Property and Enterprise Court, as well as opposition, cancellation and revocation matters before the UKIPO and EUIPO. Her practice includes both litigation and commercial advice in these areas....

Ollie Simpson

Penningtons Manches Cooper

Ollie is an Associate in the IP, IT & Commercial department, based in London. He assists a broad range of clients on a variety of matters, including commercial agreements, data protection, intellectual property, and advertising and marketing law. In particular, Ollie assists with drafting and advising on non-disclosure agreements, master services agreements, statements of works, and terms and conditions for the supply of goods and services. He also has experience in advising on privacy policies, cookie policies, and data protection impact assessments, as well as assisting with the protection, management and enforcement of trade marks and other intellectual property rights, both in the UK and internationally. Ollie has a particular interest in advising clients on their compliance with the advertising regulations in the UK....

Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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