The Use of Tags and Categories
A big topic of conversation between bloggers is the difference between using tags and categories on your blog.
And since WordPress released an update with a new area to include tags with your post, the topic has grown even hotter on the debate of not only if you should use tags but how to use them as well.
For me, the difference between categories and tags is fairly simple but on my blog, I treat them the same.
Categories
General topics, they should be broad, not focused. Categories need to be created to include only general headlines from your posts.
Tags
Specific topics, used as sub-headings for your categories to narrow down topics within a single post.
This topic is really one that boils down to a matter of personal preference for each blogger. And there are pros and cons for everyone and what they should display, where, and when.
These are simply my thoughts… you may decide to do something completely different than me once you have weighed out the options and how they can work to be applied to your blog.
For a lot of new bloggers, the use of categories and tags are often confused. And categories are created for more topics than they should be. This pushes the blogger to reach an unheard of amount of categories because they’ve made them so specific.
My categories are very general: Blog Promotion, Networking, Family, Personal Opinion, WordPress Tutorials, just to name a few. It’s been quite some time since I’ve had to create a new category because I have made each category general enough to my specific blogging niche. Everything I discuss can be placed into at least one or more of my categories.
However, every single post I make also includes specific tags that go with the post. These may not be related to my niche exactly but they are specific topics within a post.
By including tags with my posts, I’m giving readers the option to check out what I have written on similar topics. Tags, in essence are then used as way to “quick search” the site to find similar keywords used.
Take my post, How to Use All in One SEO Pack for example. One of the tags used on this post is SERPs. If after reading the post you wanted to see more of what I have written about on SERPs you could simply click on that tag at the bottom of the post. Something you could not do with just the use of categories (because I don’t have a SERPs category).
It’s faster and more convenient than locating a search bar, typing in the words, and digging though what could be hundreds of posts.
A lot of bloggers can be found using a plug-in that displays “related posts” at the bottom of every post they make. Instead, I display tags to help my readers narrow down their interest on my blog. It’s also more accurate because I have hand picked the tags.
Now, at the beginning of my post I said that I treated categories and tags the same. Let me show you how…
At the end of every post, you may notice this box:
This box while it reads tags displays both the categories and tags I have used on this post.
The first 3 tags that are displayed: Race for Rank, Site Tools & SEO, and WordPress Tutorials are all categories on my blog. The rest are tags.
Tags are also helpful for your blogs posts on Technorati. Having started the Race for Rank series, I’ve watched how my blog posts turn up in search results on Technorati. And wanting to create the most visibility, those who search for posts on Technorati using a tag I have used, will find my post. Because of this, chances are this is better targeted traffic from Technorati because I have been very specific about the words I’ve used for tags and the searcher knows exactly what they’re looking for.
Choosing How to Display Tags & Categories
Every blog uses a different method to display their tags and categories. There’s no right or wrong way to display them but there is certainly personal preferences.
Categories can get long and unsightly on a sidebar. And there’s really no need to display these things over and over again. If your visitor is looking for something on your site, they’ll find it without it being in the sidebar. For me, my Archives page serves as my categories page displaying archives by both date and subject (categories).
A popular display method for tags is a tag cloud.
As displayed above, a tag cloud is nothing more than a series of words (tags) clustered together. As more tags are used on a blog, the font size of the tag in the tag cloud increase in size. So the more you talk about one subject, the larger that subject tag becomes. I think it’s messy, hard to follow, and difficult to use to search the blog. This is especially true when more than just a few tags are shown.
For me, tags are displayed at the bottom of my post using a line of code displayed in my theme template:
< ?php if(function_exists("the_tags")) the_tags(', ', ', ', ''); ?>
This code is placed just after the call for the categories on my single page, displaying my tags only when a full post is viewed.
It’s my opinion that this method is clean, organized, easier to understand, and more effective for use by visitors.
In the end, I would say that best practice is to use both tags and categories on your blog providing that you have the means and space to display them in a way that works best for you. And truthfully, you should do what also works best for your visitors.
By understanding what your visitors are looking for when they visit your blog, you’ll understand where you should place anything on your blog…including tags and categories.
So now it’s your turn. Do you use tags? What method are you using to display your tags and categories and do you feel that the use of tags is worthwhile for your visitors?
March 7th, 2008 at 10:46 am
After my blog party today, I’ll have to come back and reread this! If you wanna come do the electric slide with me, check out my personal blog:)
March 7th, 2008 at 11:15 am
Lori » You are one brave girl to shake your ass on a YouTube video for your blog! ::applaud::
March 7th, 2008 at 11:29 am
I blog with my sisters and have yet to properly instruct/train them on categories vs. tags. We have about 80 categories! I’m slowly working on removing all un-necessary categories to better organize things and have been converting many to tags in the process.
March 7th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
While on my TM2TS blog I’ll admit to using tags and categories as one, I’ve gotten better on my RA blog :)
I do need to clean up my cats on TM2TS. I’m just too lazy to do it, XD.
And tag clouds *gag*
I hate tag clouds. Then again, I hate seeing huge long lists of tags too, but tag clouds look icky on sites, XD
March 7th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Erica » Yikes, 80 categories! Sounds like exactly what I mentioned in this post…
It’s a common mistake and for some bloggers, even done on purpose. I suppose in the long run categories could be used as tags but it wouldn’t quite have the same usability that tags provide.
Sarah » I recently cleaned up categories and it was very worthwhile. Of course now I have some child categories but I’m quite happy with that as well.
Agreed with tag clouds. They’re still highly used though…
March 7th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
gotta disagree w/ Sarah — I really like tag clouds! I think they are funky, unlike boring lists.
March 7th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
I don’t care for the tag clouds either. But I do see the categories versus tags the same way you go. Categories are more of a general hint as to what the post is about while the tags are very specific. Good post as always Katy! =0)
March 7th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
James » I think it really depends on how many tags the site contains. My site, for example, has 575 tags. Could you image what that would look like in a tag cloud?
You do bring up a good point though that lists are boring. But they are easier on the eyes, clean, and easy for first time visitors to navigate.
Manda » Thanks… happy to see you around here, it’s rare these days.
March 7th, 2008 at 11:00 pm
I made the mistake of making everything a category. I think I was close to the number that Erica had on her blog. I now have 14 categories. I do tag things but I don’t choose to display my tags. I have 812 at last count. Maybe I should cut those down a bit as well. I am still learning. Oh and I don’t look at tag clouds on other sites. They are just too much at once. I prefer search bars to tag clouds.
March 8th, 2008 at 10:15 am
Beeker » I think using categories as tags is common for a lot of bloggers. There are actually cases that I have seen where it’s really useful (like a celebrity blog that has their categories set as celeb names).
Interesting that you choose not to display your tags. Is there a theory for you behind not displaying or just something you randomly decided to do? LOL I’m notorious for the randomly decide thing…
March 8th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Tags are always useful! I don’t have tags, because when I first started blogging, there weren’t tags, and if I add tags now, the posts which I’ve written before the tags won’t have tags, and it would mess everything up unless I add tags to the posts without tags, which would take very long. Thanks for sharing! I have categories though.
March 8th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
No I also confused tags with keywords. I believe I have made ever mistake possible. I haven’t had time to fix this, so I choose not to display tags. I just use my categories as tags for the moment. So I guess you could say it is the theory of another oopsie.
March 8th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
I’m applying this same principle to my forum. Each category is fairly general, with the topic of each board just slightly more specific. I’ve allowed my users to tag threads, but am still looking for a good way to display the tag cloud / cluster.
As the forum admin, I can remove tags, standardize spelling, etc.
March 8th, 2008 at 7:31 pm
Hi! Thanks for responding to my PPP thread.
Quick question for you – exactly where would I put that tag code you shared? Is that all I would need then, no plug in is involved at all?
TIA!
March 8th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
Oh! I just went through this on my blog. I had a tag cloud and it looked okay, but it needed more styling. But I also had to type in each tag. I would have duplicate tags, because one time I would pluralize and the next time I wouldn’t. I had to keep opening my site in another tab to see what my tags were.
This blog is also a group blog and each person had a hard time with the tags. So I switched back to categories. I cleaned up my categories and limited them to about 20. Its great. Now all four of us can easily check off which categories apply, instead of typing in tags.
I also made a big graphic pointing to look at my categories at the bottom of the page. Then I also highlighted five categories and a few articles in each category. I am hoping this will make it easier for my readers and make my blog sticky.
March 9th, 2008 at 11:50 am
Excellent post. While I already know the difference, I’ll definitely bookmark this article for those looking for help with it.
March 9th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
I must say I’m very new to tags. I think they can indeed be very powerful. Thanks for info!
March 10th, 2008 at 10:06 am
Grace » Not all of my posts have tags either, especially some of the more personal posts that are here. But, that didn’t stop me from using them once they were included with the main features in WordPress. I think the SEO benefits to the new posts out weights not using them because other posts may not have them. :o)
Beeker » Ah, gotcha. Thing with blogging is that there are so many catches that you just don’t know from the get-go unless you do heavy heavy research. And who wants to do that? I didn’t! LOL
Laie Techie » Sounds interesting to use tags on forums and I’m sure it could become quite complicated. Good luck with keeping a handle on those and with your forum! :o)
Kathy » You’re very welcome. The string of PHP code in this post goes wherever you wish tags to display. For me, I have it placed at the end of the call for a post on the single page in my WordPress theme.
Amanda » I hadn’t thought of the affects of using plural words on your tag cloud. Oh, that could be a hassle. Good idea also to use an image to visually get your visitors to check out the categories. Helpful I’m sure!
Krissy » Thank you for the compliment and bookmark! :o)
SEO » I find it interesting that you’d link to an SEO site (link removed) and give yourself the name SEO yet comment that tags are new to you.
March 11th, 2008 at 4:59 am
Yep, i have never used them on my blog. This is why i commented. I figured you have top commentators plugin installed to reward your top commentators. So why not use my blog in a link? It’s not like I’m spamming. I was genuinely commenting. This is why i came back to see if you have any more blogs. I guess you don’t want me here. Take care.
March 11th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
SEO » It’s not at all that I thought you were spamming. Only that I wondered when you’d come back for another comment now that you were on my top commentators list. And, I’m always initially put off when commentators use keywords to comment and not a name. For a blogger that responds to all comments, including yours, how shall I address you? As a keyword? Huge turn off.
Since installing the plugin, moderating comments has been one interesting thing I’ve had to do. Additionally, I tend to attempt to at least visit a site before having it sit on my list.
March 14th, 2008 at 4:51 am
I see what you mean. No worries. It just since i blog about seo i thought id have it as my name. Or shall i rename myself to tuna sandwidge or something? :)
March 14th, 2008 at 9:57 am
SEO » I shall call you tuna sandwich if you so prefer. :D LOL
March 26th, 2008 at 7:16 am
Oh I couldn’t agree more here. i had 30-40 categories, child categories, etc etc. I wan to be so super easy for readers to find something that there was a separate category for just about anything :-)
I recently spent at least a half day doing some serious “tightening” and I think it’s much better.
I don’t use tags yet as for some reason I can’;t get them to show up…..dunno why.
March 26th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
Dennis » You’re certainly not the first to say that you used a ton of categories. Part of me is beginning to wonder if this is a trend across the board or something that we just start off doing?
As far as tags are concerned, you’ll have to set them to display with something along the lines of a tag cloud. Additionally, if you use tags without displaying them you can always link to individual tags within a post if it’s relevant. For example: yourdomain.com/tag/tagname to reach a specific area of your site. This use, like categories, will give your visitors for specific searches on your blog according to how you have tagged posts.
March 27th, 2008 at 9:36 am
I must agree, clouds annoy the **** outta me lol. I ant the tag box thingy under each post as you show above.
I have it in my admin, I insert the keywords (tags, sorry), but it doesn’t show up.
I thought it might be conflicting with the all in one seo plugin but I cant figure it out.
If you can help me, I might buy you something shiny :-)
March 28th, 2008 at 11:24 am
Dennis » Tag clouds are horrible but they’re a trend right now so people are still riding that bandwagon hard! :\
Your tags shouldn’t be conflicting with All in One SEO Pack. I use both together.
What kind of help do you need to have them show up? I’ve got the PHP code shown in this post where you can copy and paste that into your theme’s index or single page to have your tags display. And as mentioned in my comment above you can always link to tag categories within a post.
How else can I be helpful to get those tags display?
March 28th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
No clue lol. The place for the tags is right there when I go to right a post, so I shouldn’t have to add extra code to make it appear.
April 1st, 2008 at 9:43 am
Dennis » Just as a theme template must have the correct PHP code to place your blog posts, it must also have PHP code to place your tags. That code that I use to display my tags is shown in this post.
Just because something is available for use in your WordPress dashboard doesn’t mean that it’ll work with your template or theme. That’s where a great design comes into place. Most newer themes are coming with the inclusion of tags, seems yours is not.
June 9th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
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June 9th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
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