However, not all search engines support meta tags. Even though some search engines ignore them, always include them for those that do. It will significantly increase your ranking. There are many, many different meta tags. The description tag provides a summary which appears when your page comes up on a search.
Meta tags are to be placed inside the head tags as shown below.
This is why it is not a good idea to have a banner at the top. The first paragraph should be heavy with keywords, but not so heavy as to make it difficult to read or understand. If your site is heavy on graphics and short on text, then meta tags are even more important. Otherwise, you have very little chance to come up on the search engines. Consider the meta tags as tools that make up for a lack of text on your site.