Should I include a <meta generator> tag?

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Suppose I have some sort of proprietary web framework. Should I include a <meta generator="My framework"> tag in the generated files?

I noticed that StackExchange 0.9 applications do that, and wondered what are the pros/cons of doing it. Does it have any effect, or is it just useful for people looking at the source to see?

3 Answers

A benefit (or a con?) is that you can show up in searches done for generator.

Automatically generated (also called "auto-generated"—content) is content that's been generated programmatically. In cases where it's intended to manipulate search rankings and not help users, Google may take actions on such content. Some example cases include, but are not limited to:

Text that makes no sense to the reader but which may contain search keywords. Text translated by an automated tool without human review or curation before publishing. Text generated through automated processes, such as Markov chains. Text generated using automated synonymizing or obfuscation techniques. Text generated from scraping Atom/RSS feeds or search results. Stitching or combining content from different web pages without adding sufficient value. form google...

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