How do tags work

Posted on by Eric Klingenberg
Man working at office desk, looking at computer and scratching head
Man working at office desk, looking at computer and scratching head

One of the many things I have tried to get to grips with since blogging is tags. At first I just tagged one or two key words from my post. I noticed other bloggers use quite a lot of tags per post so I slowly increased the ones I use. I now tag on average 10 per post. I also read you need to change tags every so often it’s not good to just using the same ones all the time. As well as tagging the main themes I now throw in one or two random ones. For example I mentioned Thailand in passing in one post and tagged it. I got several views from Thailand in the post, I don’t know if it was connected to the tags or not.

So has any one got any top tips for using tags?

 

31 thoughts on “How do tags work”

  1. No tips really but thank you for posting this. I’m a fairly new blogger and use a lot of tags not knowing if I should or not so maybe I’m doing something right? lol

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  2. Have you read the post by Jason (OM)? Mentions tagging your blog name as helps ownership. Also, I wasn’t aware until I read something a few days ago that the limit of 15 tags per post also includes the category tag – sure I must have gone over on some I’ve published. Other than that, I stay pretty generic, but I do throw in a few randoms now and again and it is surprising what traffic it brings – not sure they actually then stick around to read it however!

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  3. Tags are useful in searches. Many readers search for their favourite topics instead of following certain blogs.
    There is a limitation as of 12 or 15 tags, if there are more, they become invisible for searches.
    It is important to tag, tags should indicate what your blog post is about.

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  4. I didn’t know about the limits and I use keywords in various posts as tags. For the food elements of my blog, this really works because people search by ingredient. I know that because I have other online identities, people do search for me and find the blog. I will be interested to read other people’s comments, too. Thanks for posting the question it’s making me think about this a bit more deeply.

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  5. Don’t use anymore than 15 tags on any one post, Eric. If you do then it is claimed that your post does not show up on the WordPress reader. Also, don’t put any tags on posts that have nothing to do with the post. I’ve heard that it can annoy readers who get there by false pretences which can lead to readers unfollowing you.

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  7. I think you the answers are pretty much summed up from the comments. I personally stuck to 15 tags or less with words around the content of my post. Not sure if this is what makes it work, but I remember reading up an advice somewhere about tagging.

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  8. Pingback: My Article Read (10-28-2015) | My Daily Musing

  9. I try to include at least one tag that matches a word in my post’s title as well as a keyword found the blog post itself as supposedly these three reference points help with SEO, but some posts are easier to tag than others.

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  11. You can use up to 15 tags and categories in total – any more and your post won’t show in the WP reader. I tend to use less tags these days, but I make sure they are relevant. And like you say, keep changing and mixing them up rather than using the same ones.

    Thanks for the advice!

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  12. I usually use two categories and up to 12 tags ( usually less). Try using the tags that reflect your content. Google likes when a part of an actual sentence is made a tag, so if you take it seriously, you might place such tags strategically in your text. If I write “beautiful Irish landscapes” in my text, i can make the tag – “irish landscapes”. Just think of the keywords people might look up in Google.
    http://aopinionatedman.com/ – follow Jason, he has some cool advice for bloggers in his archives.

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  13. I never knew there was a limit and have used over 15 tag words quite often. I’ll have to look to see if any have been deleted. Whenever I reblog I don’t add tags, but maybe I should. I’ve had only one that reblogged without including the article title. I added that, but never gave a thought to tags.

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  15. Hi Eric, are you talking about hashtags or the topic tags you leave at the bottom of blog posts? To be effective, you need both. I have never heard of the 15 rule (though I’ve been doing this for five years now.) The more accurate the tags are, the better chance someone has of finding you. Categorising your posts also helps readers find what they are looking for. If you need hashtags, I put together a master list which I published last week to help other writers. ( https://octopusreinked.wordpress.com/2016/06/03/hashtags-for-writers/) They are generally well tolerated by readers, as long as you don’t add a hashtag to every word in your post title.

    Good luck!

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    1. To be perfectly honest I wrote this a while ago and can’t remember. I think this was before I discovered hashtags, I now use both. Thanks for the link I’ll read it I’m sure it’s great advice.

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I'm a special needs teacher living in Devon England. I'm currently writing my first fantasy novel. When not writing I enjoy chess, reading, sailing and computer games. I'm married with 2 step sons and one grown up foster son.