How To Correctly Use Tags on a Wordpress Website

Hello Guys, Thought I'd try something new today. Instead of writing a blog about me, and what Is going on with my business I thought I'd write about something everyone here can all relate to. How To Correctly Use Tags on a WordPress Website.

So, how many of us use tags? Who here is guilty of using tags just for the sake of it?

I actually, think my website needs a good sweep for all the tags that have been used on my website(s). In the space of 15 months I've used way too many tags I think.

But what does it say online? What is the view of the experts? Jay I know has said in his weekly Magistudios videos that he doesn't use tags. Kyle, I remember saying he doesn't think tags make much of a difference.

I would say maybe if you don't mind having your tags ranked it might be OK but the fact that every tag you use gets ranked I think you should be really careful.

What Does It Say On Google About Tags On WordPress?

One of the first results I came across was on a website called hostinger.co.uk. The writer here says;

When a visitor clicks a particular tag, WordPress will open an archive page (tag page) – indexing all the posts and custom post types that have the same tags.

Tags play a vital role in organizing your content. They have a direct impact on your user experience and SEO.

So, fair point you can use tags to easily link different types of posts together. For example weight loss if you had a lot of posts about maybe having an archive page wouldn't be such a bad thing, but if you are already using a category for weight loss - do you really need both?

Hostinger.co.uk suggests that the difference between categories and tags should be broad and specific terms. Weight loss would be obviously the broad term and the specific term could be the keto diet or fat loss recipes.

It is a very interesting thought but how about when your tags rank above your articles. Hostinger.co.uk states that tags like categories are an important part of your SEO and quickly shoot your posts and pages up the search rankings but is this true or isn't it.

In essence, the article says that using tags is a fine art and the best way to avoid SEO problems to use the WordPress NoIndex tag for when data is being crawled.

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Some Other Notes

1# - Tags can rank. You can do keyword research for tags and this can have a very positive effect on your SEO

2# - Do Not use categories and tags with the name. It can cause confusion for SEO

3# - Do Not use inappropriate tags and categories. Search Engines may penalize you for it. . Don't add tags just for the sake of it. Only use if important

4# - Do not use too many tags. Use them sparingly, make sure they're relevant and their inclusion makes sense.

This post is definitely worth a read if you're interested.
Tagging posts properly for users and SEO • Yoast

One good point it makes is when you use a tag make sure all the posts that you can relate to using the same tag. So if you wrote a Samsung X phone review and you recently did a Samsung y phone review make sure the other post has the Samsung tag as well.

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About Going Through All Your Tags At Once

This idea is new to me as well lol - I was actually going to ask the community for their advice on using tags but thought I would just research the topic and write this blog as I went along.

I am going to say just go through everything one by one. Get rid of any tags that could be categories like weight loss or books, DVDs, hats, shoes that sort of thing. Also, think about where your tag would fit within an archive page that links to other posts.

Once done maybe try resubmitting your sitemap. I'm not sure about the No Index thing but look into it maybe it will help.

Many thanks;

Alex

PS: If you have any tips for using tags that may benefit me and others in the community please do leave us a comment in the comments section below ⏬