A method for hot dip coating metal strip includes guiding the strip obliquely or vertically through a molten coating metal. The coating thickness is controlled after the strip has emerged from the coating bath, and thin metal strip, which has a tendency to vibrate, is sealed towards the bottom by an electromagnetic traveling field that acts as a sealing field while the coating is laterally guided to compensate for ferromagnetic attraction. The electromagnetic field of one or more main coils in each inductor generates the electromagnetic traveling field as a blocking field or as a pump field, and several correction fields are arranged within the magnet yoke surface. The correction fields are individually determined according to width levels of the metal strip and are distributed according to a production program, and the correction fields are activated by separate pieces of power supply equipment.