Y’all know that I love answering your questions, right? So when I got this one on Twitter:
I was excited to jump in.
I should let you know that before I started researching, I was pro-category, anti-tag. I use categories for my own organization, but also to offer my readers quick access to some of the best content on my site.
See there? Across my navigation bars? Most of those are categories.
I’d heard that tags were essentially ignored by Google, and didn’t affect SEO. (For more on Search Engine Optimization, head to “Writing for SEO.”) And because I find tag clouds annoying, and I didn’t really need them for my own files, I didn’t use them (although I know that Julie from PB Fingers is a tag fan).
But because I’m the first to admit I know a little about a lot and not a LOT about much…I did some research.
First, I found this very interesting breakdown from WordPress.com:
Tags are similar to categories, but they are generally used to describe your post in more detail.
Categories can be arranged in a hierarchy (see the categories widget to learn more). Tags, however, exist in their own right and have no set relationship to anything else.
Your posts will appear in the global tag listings of any tags or categories you use. Therefore, assigning tags and categories to your post increases the chance that other WordPress.com users will see your content.
However, you don’t want irrelevant content showing up on the global tag listings or search, and neither do we. That’s why we limit the number of tags that can be used on a public tag listing. Five to 10 tags (or categories, or a combination of the two) is a good number to add to each of your posts. The more tags you use, the less likely it is that your post will be selected for inclusion in the global tag listings.
A good comparison, but it doesn’t really shed a lot of light on whether bloggers should use one or both.
Enter Lorelle, one of my favorite resources:
Categories are your site’s table of contents.
- Categories help identify what your blog is about.
- Categories represent your body of work on the subject.
- Categories are not for you, they are for your reader.
Tags are your site’s index words.
- Search engines do not recognize or reward the
rel="tag"which identifies a tag.- If you can’t write five blog post titles/ideas on a topic, then you don’t have a category.
- If enough posts have the same tag, and it represents your blog purpose and goals, it’s a category.
(That entire post, found here, is a must-read. So, so good.)
Famous Bloggers has another explanation:
People use the tagging and often mix it up with keywords. It is not so simple. The tags only make sure that if your visitor wants to read a specific thing, that tag will help them find what they need, especially if you use a tag cloud on your 404 page. Your keywords are naturally within your post’s title and content, so when you do write with SEO tactics in mind, that is where that comes into play.
And then there’s this nugget from WPMU.org, all about SEO:
For SEO purposes, let’s use the master of all things SEO, Google. Google spiders look at tags and categories on your page in the same exact way. It goes page/category or page/tag in determining how best to rank your content. But remember, it still all comes down to content. Simply tagging or categorizing to your heart’s content will not automatically increase your search results. Make sure your content is relevant and applicable before you go trying to use this as some sort of catch-all SEO secret weapon.
The biggest reason to use categories and tags is to give your users another way to sort through your content and most simply find what they’re looking for. Remember, SEO is only part of the battle. If you can provide a simple and effective way for your readers to sift through posts on your site to find exactly what they’re looking for, then you’ve won.
I’ll go one step further and say that no matter which you use — categories or tags — you do need to be proactive in deciding which are indexed with search engines, so you are not punished for having duplicate content. Go back to my SEO post for some advice (I hear also that premium themes and the All in One SEO Pack plugin have options, and the Google XML Sitemaps plugin is one I really like).
Also, I should note that many experts say that if you use categories, you should only include your post in ONE, where with tags you can select as many as you want. I break that rule and post things to multiple categories (something I may have to reconsider!)
My bottom line? I still plan on using categories to organize, archive and share my content, and probably won’t use tags. I just don’t see a major benefit.
But I’d love for others to jump in, and if you can convince me that there’s a reason, I’ll be happy to make a change!
About Katy
Great post! Thanks for sharing!
I was wondering about this!
Jenn recently posted..Breakfast Lunch Duo
I just need to say right now that the law librarian in me loves seeing a post speaking casually about indexing and categorizing the metadata about our content. Love it!
Tags v. Categories is something I’ve struggled with. I do like the specificity of tags, but it gets too busy and becomes WAY TOO many. So much so that I fear things get lost in the massive number of tags. So categories seem cleaner and more straightforward to me. I appreciate direct communication.
Something I’ve always wondered, Katy — I notice you follow thousands of people on Twitter. Do you really check in on your general timeline and feel like you keep up at all? Or do you just follow your lists and check in on others when they mention you? I’d love to hear more about how you handle this. I have two Twitter accounts, one for professional purposes and one dedicated to my blog. I follow less than 200 on both, but it still feels like my Tweetdeck columns fill so quickly that I’m not really catching much of anything during the day. It’s like a raging river of information, and I can only catch a few drops.
Michele @ Healthy Cultivations recently posted..Broadway Wisdom
Michele (and Karen!),
I think that topic probably deserves its own post, so I’ll get to work on that.
I have to admit that I don’t pay any attention to SEO stuff so never thought about that relative to tags and categories. I also don’t like tag clouds and am super organized so categories made more sense to me when I started my blog. And when I read other blogs, I have absolutely used categories to find content but never tried to use tags. So maybe it is just a personal bias on my part.
BTW – I happened to read Michele’s comment since it was right above mine. Good question! I tend to just see the latest tweets, scrolling down when I remember to visit, and know I don’t have a good handle on the best way to manage twitter.
Karen@WaistingTime recently posted..Y’all Come Track Now, Y’hear
As is usually the case with your blog, this post is so helpful and informative! I was definitely using tags like search terms. Thanks for clarifying!
Jessica @ Sushi and Sit-Ups recently posted..Bruised
Thanks for this. I hate categories and tags and struggle with them. Then when I go to find a specific post on my own site I can’t find it! I’m doing the tags and/or categories wrong!
Lisa recently posted..Starting Over
I find categories and tags useful not only for other blogs, but for my own as well. When I’m looking back for something I can usually find it through my tags. I think the most important thing to remember is don’t tag every single thing. Some people go a little overboard on the tags, but if you keep it under control I think it can be really helpful.
About the tag cloud- I have one and I’ve found that a lot of readers actually do click on the tags to find posts. I’m not the biggest fan of how the tag cloud actually looks, but I do believe it’s a popular way for people to find previous posts
Jackie @ That Deep Breath recently posted..Fit Talk: I Quit The Gym
I actually love the tag cloud, but my current theme doesn’t support them. I find that most of my search engine hits come in through tags, rather than categories…
Tara @ Sweat like a Pig recently posted..Deadlifts demystified
Thanks for including me in the discussion. There is so much confusion over tags and categories, thank you for taking time to help point out the differences and the usage.
For me, it all boils down to navigation and user experience. Both are for the user’s benefit, not yours necessarily. While you can play SEO games all you want, once someone arrives on a page, how do they navigate to find more information or the right information?
Categories and tags help create a form of breadcrumb navigation, helping people drill down into the content to find the information they want and need. Call them anything you want, categories group large bodies of work, and tags are the micro-categorization, the specifics words people may find to get to the information they want and need.
Thanks!
Lorelle,
You are a hero of mine, so thanks for stopping by. I so agree with you on user experience.
Thanks again for the kind words. Keep telling it like it is!