Would you like to know how to use WordPress tags correctly? Follow us in this article
WordPress tags or tags are one of the tools you can use to group your posts, based on similar details.
Usually tags are located under an article or in the sidebar. When a visitor clicks on a particular tag, WordPress opens an archive page (tag page) – indexing all posts and custom post types that have the same tags.
Beacons play a vital role inOrganisation of your content. They have a direct impact on your User experience and your SEO.
But before we start, if you have never installed WordPress, find out How to Install a WordPress Blog in 7 Steps et How to search, install and activate a WordPress theme on your blog
Then back to why we are here.
WordPress Categories vs Tags
Technically, categories and tags are the taxonomy of WordPress. Simply put, they rank your articles.
However, we use tags and categories in a different way. Here are the main differences:
1. Broad vs specific
The main distinction between categories and tags is the size of the topic they cover. Categories group the broad topics of your articles while tags describe a specific detail of your content.
To make this clear, let's say you have a food blog. The categories you may have are: Culinary Journey, Recipes, Tips and Culinary News.
If you have an article called “The most delicious beef recipe”, this article will be included in the Recipes category. And you can use: beef, pastry, etc… as tags.
Pro tip
It is not advisable to use something like “beef” for your category as it does not cover a broad topic of your blog posts. Unless you plan to create a lot of content discussing him, his name should remain a tag, not a category.
2. Required vs. Optional
Another difference between these two taxonomies is how mandatory they are for your article. Categories are necessary while tags are optional.
If you don't assign a category to a post, WordPress will automatically set it to the default category which is Uncategorized.
Pro tip
The default category name can be changed by accessing Settings -> Writing from your dashboard.
3. Parent-child relationship vs autonomous entity
Finally, categories and tags have a different hierarchical relationship. Categories are hierarchical. This means you can put child categories or subcategories to the parent.
For example: in the Recipes category, you can add other subcategories such as Appetizer, Main course, Desserts and Diet.
Under Diet, you can include other subcategories such as Low Carb Foods, Low Sugar Foods, and Low Fat Foods.
Unlike categories, tags do not have a parent-child relationship. Each tag you add is a standalone item that has no level.
Besides the above three differences, categories and tags also produce a permalink different. You have to use a custom permalink structure to see the difference. Once the custom permalink structure is enabled, your base prefix will look like:
http://exemplesiteweb.com/categories/recettes/
ou
http://exemplesiteweb.com/balises/recettes/
Although these two taxonomies are different in their practical uses, you can use both of them in your articles. A post can have one or two categories and many tags.
How to Add Tags in WordPress
Adding tags to your article is quite easy. However, remember that only articles can have tags.
There are two ways to add tags in WordPress. First, you can add tags for new blog posts. To do so, follow the steps below.
- In your admin dashboard, navigate to Items -> Add
- On the right side of your visual editor, find beacon area.
- Type the tags you want to add. Each different tag must be separated by a comma.
Second, you can add tags for already existing articles. It also helps you increase your SEO.
- In your admin dashboard, navigate to Items-> Labels
- Add a new Label in the online form
- Add your tag slug
How to View Tag Cloud in WordPress
Using tags in WordPress not only organizes your posts but also improves the usability and accessibility of your website. Therefore, beacons create a better user experience.
Moreover, creating a tag cloud widget will further improve your user experience.
The Tag Cloud widget helps you display all the tags you have defined. With a 1-click action, visitors can browse your tags and find their favorite topic.
Your website may be very common in your niche. But, with a tag cloud, visitors can find interesting topics that they can't quickly find on your competitors' websites.
Additionally, you can also set a larger font size for more popular tags.
Follow these simple steps to add the tag cloud widget:
- In your admin dashboard, navigate to Appearance -> Widgets
- Find the Tag Cloud widget and drag it to the area of the widget where you want to display it. Usually it is located on the sidebar.
- Give it a title and the number of tags you want to include in the cloud. The maximum number is 99.
The above method derives from older versions of WordPress.
Adding a tag cloud in WordPress 5.9 and above involves different steps because this version of WordPress uses a block editor across the entire website:
- Access to Appearence -> Publisher to open the website editor.
- Hover over the area where you want to add the tag cloud, then click the icon More (+) to add a new block.
- Search the beacon cloud and click on the block to add it to the page.
- The tag cloud will appear on the page.
- To change it, open the block settings by clicking on the tag cloud block and clicking on the icon Settings in the upper right corner of the screen.
Switch the Show item count option to show the number of tags on the page and adjust the slider Number of labels to set the maximum number of tags to display.
WordPress and SEO tags
WordPress tags are also important for your SEO. When you do it right, a well-managed taxonomy like tags will increase your SEO rank.
But you have to keep in mind that tags could be harmful for your SEO as well.
When it comes to SEO, WordPress is the best CMS so far. Once installed, WordPress comes with built-in SEO features to deal with search engines.
These predetermined features guide all search engines to index your website's posts, pages, categories and tags and store the information in its database.
However, some flaws in the use of tags will interfere with this indexing process.
First, sometimes people create a similar name for a category and a tag. This will make two identical category and tag pages. If you have "Recipes" as both a tag and a category, search engines may not know which one should rank first.
The similar duplication issue can occur for simple or plural nouns that you use as tags. "Recipes" or "Recipe" is similar. You must choose one and use it consistently as a tag.
Also, tag pages do not have unique content per se. They only have the article snippets while the unique content is written in the individual article pages. This is why search engines prefer to crawl different article pages rather than markup the pages.
Keep in mind that WordPress automatically creates a tag page once you set a new tag. In the next section, you'll learn how to use tag pages to make it easier for users to navigate, without damaging your SEO.
WordPress Noindex Tag Archive Pages
The best method to overcome page tagging and SEO issues is to use the WordPress noindex tag. By doing this, you are telling search engines to ignore your tag pages when crawling the data.
the plugin Yoast SEO is an excellent choice to achieve this.
Ultimately, WordPress tags are a great way to manage your content. They can help your readers find their favorite topics in a quick and hassle-free way. It also increases your overall user experience.
However, a few small flaws in the use of tags will hurt your SEO. Use the tips provided to maximize tag usability without having a negative effect on SEO.
Other recommended resources
We also invite you to consult the resources below to go further in the grip and control of your website and blog.
- How to set your homepage in WordPress
- How to Understand the WordPress Dashboard
- How to Create a Simple WordPress Plugin
- How to Create a Simple Gutenberg Block WordPress Plugin
Conclusion
That's it for this guide that shows you how to properly use WordPress tags. If you have any concerns or suggestions, please let us know within Comments.
However, you will also be able to consult our resources, if you need more elements to carry out your projects of creation of Internet sites, by consulting our guide on the WordPress blog creation or the one on Divi: the best WordPress theme of all time.
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