Understanding how to use tags for SEO is critical. Because these CMS taxonomies, especially WordPress, allow you to organize archives parallel to those of categories. Categories, which, as many people know, are critical to creating a consistently effective tree structure.
People and search engine crawlers like websites organized clearly through a clear hierarchy. Tags are not critical in this path and, in many cases, it is better to ignore them than to use them incorrectly. But if you use them well, you can get great results. That’s why it’s only fair to delve into the topic of SEO by tag on a blog or e-commerce built with WordPress (and beyond).
What are tags in a CMS?
They are taxonomies for organizing content across categories. They represent, staying within an organizational metaphor, tags that you can put on items that are also but not necessarily in different categories. Let’s take a clear example:
- Categories
- Email Marketing.
- Social Media Marketing.
- Web copywriting
- Tag
- Facebook.
- Mailchimp.
- Twitter.
This is just one example to understand what tags are: archive pages to define an additional level of filtering that is useful for browsing and creating pages that can also be a plus for Google ranking. Of course, first it is only fair to clarify a few points in the FAQ.
What do we need to know about tags?
HOW MANY TAGS SHOULD AN ARTICLE HAVE?
There is no minimum or maximum set a priori. However, it is a good rule not to overdo it, so it is advisable not to go beyond two tags. On the other hand, it is possible to publish articles without tags.
SHOULD TAGS BE DE-INDEXED?
Not necessarily, on the contrary: good rule of thumb suggests not creating tags at all if they have no real use. Or generate the pages you need, without publishing half-empty archives that can easily become poor content (thin content) and useless for Google and users.
DOES AN ARTICLE HAVE TO HAVE TAGS?
No, while the structure of a WordPress blog is designed to have categories (even one), tags are not essential. So if you don’t have an SEO or UX strategy for managing these resources, you may as well avoid them. It will be easier to avoid problems of overlapping topics.
Risk of cannibalization of tags
To create tags on a blog you just need to add a word/tag in the specific field of the CMS. On WordPress, for example, you can generate tags conveniently from the backend you use to create your posts. Or you can go to the specific page located in the main sidebar.
The simplicity with which tags are created is an illusion. That is why they are often misused, confusing them with Instagram hashtags or the title tag. So we find blogs throwing in random tags like it’s raining. They also throw in 30 tags per article and this often creates a problem.
Especially in terms of SEO cannibalization of keywords. Especially when the obviously indexed tags have the same search intent as other archives, categories, posts or pages. An example?
- Webwriter.
- Web writer.
- Webcopy.
- Web copywriter.
Assume a blog article with these tags. They are different, with different URLs and title tags. But they match the same search intent. Plus they have the main body-the main content-practically the same since all the content stored in Webwriter will be in the other tags.
If we then also have an article dedicated to this topic, we have a perfect example of how not to create SEO friendly tags. Better run for cover and avoid structure problems.
For more: how Google search works
How to create tags for SEO
Some will tell you that for SEO optimization of tags just use WordPress SEO by Yoast to edit title tags and meta descriptions, perhaps using the basic editor offered by WordPress to add some extra text. All this is true, you can also enhance it by including:
- Photos with alt tags.
- Seo friendly URLs.
- Internal and outbound links.
- H1, H2 and H3 optimized.
But at the base there is a different argument, you have to define a keyword research that can understand if and how to create tags that can intercept certain needs expressed by the audience.
Meanwhile, you create a better navigation structure. So, the first point to address is reflection in keyword research that allows you to identify within the various keywords a topic that you can use as an archive. And that you can fill with content that you publish.
Because this is one of the key points: the SEO optimization of tags (as is the case with categories) goes through a refined selection of the content you post. Shall I give you an example?
A concrete case of tag SEO optimization
In my tag dedicated to web tools, you don’t find random articles but only those that address specific topics. i.e., monographs aimed at a single tool. The results in the SERP are clear, here they are.
SEO tags must also have proper visibility and be part of the internal link structure to let Google know they exist and are part of the navigation structure. You can add the tags to the main menu or still in the sidebar of the blog. In any case they must be present but avoiding excesses such as the well-known tag cloud, considered by many to be a meaningless collection of links.
Good use of tags for UX
The SEO approach to tag management should not mislead: there is also the user experience to evaluate. These taxonomies should not just be created to intercept a search intent.
They must also make sense to the user. On the other hand, search engine optimization is increasingly about meeting human needs, and good navigability is at the heart of the SEO optimization process for an ecommerce, portal, or any website.
“Ensure that all pages on the site are reachable via links and do not require an internal search functionality to be found. Link related pages where appropriate to allow users to discover similar content.”
DEVELOPERS.GOOGLE.COM/SEO-STARTER-GUIDE
This is what Google’s SEO guide suggests. All pages should be as organized as possible and easy to find. Tags and categories are critical in this balance, but there is clearly an underlying problem: how to organize these taxonomies? Simple, just get organized.
You need to define this balance through in-depth work. While categories are generic containers, tags can be configured as specific labels that help users delve into particular aspects of a macro topic. But how do you manage this?