Learn The Secret Of Using Blog Tags Correctly
There has been much discussion on how to use blog tags or post tags correctly. At WordCamp Utah 2010, it was confirmed that “Post Tags or Blog Tags” are used for the soul purpose of searching for a topic, rather than an invitation for the search engines to find locate your site, index the information and rank your page.
Purpose Of Post Tags Or Blog Tags
1. Tags link readers to related content
2. Post tags group your content by subject in more detail than a category
3. Tags are viewed by search engines but don’t give you page rank, nor add you to their databases. Blog tags only define your content for searchability.
How Can Post Tags or Blog Tag Benefit Your Reader?
Use tags to help your readers find related information. For instance, if my reader wants to find out all that I have to say about using “Keywords,” all they have to do is type in “keywords” in the search box of my site. Every post where I have discussed “Keywords” will come up for them to read. That is if…. I have put the word “Keywords” or “Keyword” as a tag when I wrote posts discussing keywords.
In other words, Tags are ultimately for the “reader” not the “search engines.” When you are deciding on tags, look at your post and determine which words would help your reader find the post or a related post, if they searched for it.
What Post Tags Are Not
Post Tags Are Not Categories. A category is a broad grouping of posts. Post Tags are similar, but they are used to describe your post in more detail within the category. A category is superior to a Post Tag in the hierarchy of organization and they are independent of each other. (Search engines look at Category tags.)
You don’t have to include Post Tags… but every post must be listed under a Category.
Keep Tags Simple
Often, I see a list of post tags a mile long that show up at the bottom of a post. It’s not necessary. Only use 4 or 5 tags, at the most, to help your readers locate information on the same topic or similar topic in a variety of posts you’ve written.
Notice the tags I use when I posted on video equipment. If my reader searched for any of these words… this particular post and related posts will come up. I used these terms for the convenience of my readers… not keyword searches.
Happy posting,
Kathy Griffiths
Note – You will be seeing more and more posts from Kathy, she is my business partner.
Note from Sheila: Provide a Search Box - As part of my series on landing pages best practices we have been talking about the importance site navigation. A big part of that navigation comes with providing a search box. Then thinking ahead of what your readers will be looking for. Make it easy for them to navigate deeper into your site.
Do you have a search box? Do you make it easy for your visitors to navigate your landing page?
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I can’t even begin to tell you how many blogs I DON’T visit any longer because the pages are cluttered or I can’t find the things I’m looking for. With soooo many blogs out there there’s no need to try to work through the poor nav anymore, just move to the next blog.
Extreme John recently posted..One Year Later… Your Customer Service Still Sucks
John,
Clutter makes a blog confusing. I agree, there are too many good easy to navigate sites to be wasting your time on ones that are confusing.
Good to see you here again.
You and me both, John,… I don’t stay on blogs that are cluttered and have poor navigation. The first navigation I look at is the top bar to see if they is anything that interests me. The category side bar is next. If there are too many categories I often loose interest. I’ve seen blogs with over 50 categories… which tells me the site is too broad.
I think a lot of WordPress users out there don’t know how to use tags properly, or even know what that are for. So this is a great article instructing how its done.
I like what John said about poor navigation and cluttered designs. I usually don’t waste my time visiting these kind of sites.
Phil recently posted..7 Reasons For Small Business Failure
Phil,
It doesn’t take long to spot a site that has not used tags right. WordPress makes it so easy to do.
Your site is a great example of a clean and easy to navigate site. Your new theme and look—very nice!
Phil… thanks for your comment. Tags have been long misunderstood. I have heard mentors teach the wrong information and tell their students that tags are important to Google. My information comes from a SEO genius who works for an SEO company who spend their time getting people’s web sites SEO friendly.
OK, I learned something new today! All this time, I thought those tags were for the search engines, not for people searching my particular blog. Thanks and double thanks for that fab info!
MarthaGiffen recently posted..Want To Be A Motivated Blogger
Martha,
You are welcome. I like it when people learn something new. I was confused on this for a while and have to spend some time going back a fixing some older tags. I have some great content back there.
Hi Martha
Yes.. a lot of folks have a misunderstanding about using their tags. Where you get SEO punch is to use the plug-in “All In One SEO Pack” that will show up at the bottom of each of your posts and pages. Fill in the title and description using your keywords. That’s where you want to spend your SEO time.
I’m glad tags don’t affect the search engines any longer. Honestly, they’re just one more thing people can change and manipulate to affect big “G”. Not that tags don’t have their purpose, I just like the shift we now have towards better, user friendly content.
Marcus
Marcus Sheridan-The Sales Lion recently posted..Google Search Results- the Death of Niche Sites- and Why Inbound Marketing is the Future of SEO
Hello Marcus.. I like the shift too. When I put in my tags, I really focus on the needs of my readers. When I fill in the “All In One SEO Pack” I focus on Google. I use different words to reach both.
Marcus,
I like the shift too. The search engines have gotten better at crawling sites and don’t need to be told or gamed into what the site is about.
The title of your blog looks interesting…on my way over for a visit. (Don’t you just love Comment Luv?)
Hi Kathy:
Nice post you have here. I know what tags are for. But today I realize that I was not keeping that in mind when I was selecting my tags. Now I have been reminded again by your post and I will remember it while implementing it. Thank you
Fran A
Fran Aslam From Onlinewriter recently posted..Most Blog Comments Take A Lot More Than Content Writing
Hi Fran
When I think about which tags I use, I consider the words my readers will need to locate certain subjects. When I fill in my seo pack, I make sure it’s pack with keywords that will help Google locate me.
Thanks for commenting.
Kathryn Griffiths recently posted..The Power Of Three In Online Marketing and Promotion
Hi Sheila,
Using tags in the blog’s pages is a great way to optimise your website. You must put the right tags in order to obtain the highest and best results. Sincerely, my website’s tags are indexed and they are ranking 3rd and 4th positions on a search on a very important keyword, the principal keyword of the website. Thanks for sharing this, it’s great!
Best wishes,
Cristian
Cristian recently posted..Jocuri 3d
Christian
Google use to pay a lot of attention to tags but they don’t value them as much anymore. The most important position for your keywords are in your permallink, content and your All In One SEO Pack. Good for you in ranking so high for certain keywords.
Kathryn Griffiths recently posted..The Power Of Three In Online Marketing and Promotion
Hi Kathryn,
Nice and well thought out explanation of the use of Tags. I know this to be confusing for many people and they tend to get Categories and Tags mixed up and their relative importance.
All the best.
Hi Michele
Yes… some times categories and tags can be confusing. If at all possible, keyword your categories. Google does pay attention to them.
Kathryn Griffiths recently posted..The Power Of Three In Online Marketing and Promotion
Hi Kathy, Hi Sheila,
Thanks for making it clear to me the difference between category and a tag.
I was used to make long and many tags in posts due to my misconception that these have any worth for Search Engines. Now I will make only few tags.
nazimwarriach recently posted..Roxio Coupon Code
Hi Kathy, I really thought those tags were like keywords and that they were targeted by search engines. What a foolish belief. I don’t even know where I got that idea. Anyway, I do use categories and tags but I don’t think a tag cloud is needed like I see in some people’s blog. However, you mentioned search box where people can find your posts by typing any or the tags you use. So do you think a tag cloud is necessary?
Anne Sales | Coupon Codes recently posted..Coolhandle
Anne,
Personally I would rather find a better use the space used for tag clouds. Although they do provide a quick look at what a blog is about.
You will find this video helpful:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYPX_ZmhLqg
Interesting video. Thank you so much for sharing it. I have never really thought tags were actually link, silly me!
But anyway, I’ve learned a lot from it.
Anne Sales | Coupon Codes recently posted..GoDaddy Coupon Code
Hi Kathy and Sheila,
Really great post with clear and concise descriptions of tags and categories. A lot of people are confused on this subject and I’m sure they will love having this to help them understand.
Well done. You both are awesome.
Thanks Deb,
I remember when I first started blogging I was confused between the two. We have been really fortunate to be connected with a local group in Salt Lake that is made up of some people that work right in WordPress and SEO. They have been great go to resources.
Great idea even I have never tried landing pages as I don’t have anything to sell. However, it is very good to learn from this for future projects to come soon
Tinh recently posted..Top 5 Low Cost Internet Marketing Tools That Work!
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