As a blogger, you’ve likely come across the terms “categories” and “tags” while organizing your content in WordPress. However, there’s often a lot of confusion about what exactly these terms mean and how they should be used.
Categories and tags are both essential for organizing your posts and improving your site’s SEO, but they serve different purposes and function in distinct ways. So if you don’t get it right, you will confuse the search engines, which can have an impact on your ranking.
In this post, I’ll focus on the key difference between categories and tags in WordPress. Understanding how to use them properly will help you organize your content better and make it easier for your readers to find what they’re looking for.
Ready? Let’s go 🙂
Table of Contents
What are Categories in WordPress?
Categories are a big deal in WordPress. They help you organize your content and make it easier for your readers to find what they’re looking for.
You can say that categories are broad groupings for your posts. Think of them as the main topics your blog covers. They help you organize your posts and make your site easier to navigate.
Let’s try a little exercise: Let’s say that you would print out every blog post or article you have on your website. All of them. Then you would be asked to separate them into different folders (I love different colorful ring binders for my home organization 📒 ).
How would you name those binders so you can easily find each post?
And there you have it – those are your categories ☺️
Now, categories can have a hierarchical structure. This means you can have parent categories and subcategories. The important word here is “can” – you CAN have subcategories, but you DON’T HAVE TO have them.
You can use subcategories to help break down big topics into smaller ones, making it easier for readers to find exactly what they’re interested in.
Here are a few examples:
I have a pet health blog. My main categories are Cats and Dogs. They are included in my main menu and in my sidebar. I don’t have a lot of posts, so I don’t use subcategories yet. But once I have enough content, my subcategories would be Cats → Kittens, Mature cats and Senior cats.
For dogs I would go with the main category Dogs and subcategories Puppies, Adult dogs and Senior dogs.
If you have a recipe blog, your main categories might be Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, and Deserts. You can go a step further and have different subcategories for each (for example Non-baking dessert or Chocolate desserts)
If you have a travel blog, your main categories could be different destinations (Europe, Amerikas, Caribbean…) and your subcategories could include Hikes, Beaches or Monuments.
You see where I’m getting with this? Categories are your binders and subcategories are those colorful folder dividers you put inside, so you can quickly find what you’re looking for 🗂 ☺️
Why are Categories important?
Categories play a crucial role in your blog. They organize your posts by grouping similar content together, making it easier for readers to find related posts.
They can be used to improve navigation since they show up in menus and sidebars, helping visitors find their way around your site.
Search engines love well-organized content. Categories help them understand and index your site better. Which can boost your ranking.
In a nutshell, categories in WordPress are your go-to for organizing and structuring your content. They group your posts, help with navigation, and boost your SEO.
Using a hierarchical structure can make your site even more organized and user-friendly.
Now, let’s move on to tags…
What are Tags in WordPress?
Tags are another great tool in WordPress for organizing your content. They help you highlight specific details and make it easier for readers to find related posts.
Tags are keywords that describe specific details of your posts. Unlike categories, which are broad, tags are more specific.
They help you add more context to your posts and allow readers to find content that matches their interests.
Why are Tags important?
Tags enhance user experience by connecting posts with similar details, even if they fall under different categories. This makes it easier for readers to discover related content.
They also improve your SEO by adding more keywords to your site, helping search engines understand and index your posts better.
Tags are non-hierarchical, meaning they don’t have parent and child relationships like categories do.
How to use Tags
You should use tags to highlight specific topics or details within your posts. While you can use as many tags as you want, don’t overuse them. Aim to use specific and relevant tags that genuinely describe your post’s content.
For example, on my blog, I have the Dog category and I would add Puppies as a subcategory. When I write a blog post for this subcategory, I can tag it as Puppy diseases or Puppy training.
Since I have my tags in the sidebar, people interested in puppy training could click on that tag and it would pull up all articles that have this tag.
Another tag I could use is Dog nutrition. Since I have a handful of articles on that topic, people interested in Dog nutrition could find all of them in one place.
Tags in WordPress are a fantastic way to further organize and connect your content. They help readers find related posts and improve your SEO by adding more keywords to your site.
Use tags to highlight specific details within your posts and make it easier for readers to discover the content they’re interested in.
How Categories and Tags affect search engine rankings
Categories and tags both play a role in SEO, but they impact your search engine rankings in different ways. The key difference between categories and tags in terms of SEO is their scope.
Categories are broad and create a site structure that search engines understand as the main topics of your blog. This hierarchical structure helps boost your rankings for these main topics. Tags are specific keywords that help highlight the details within your posts.
Categories and SEO
Categories help structure your site, making it easier for search engines to crawl and understand your content. By organizing posts into broad topics, categories create a clear site hierarchy. This helps search engines identify the main themes of your site, which can improve your rankings for those topics.
When you use categories effectively, you enhance your site’s navigation. Good navigation encourages visitors to spend more time on your site, reducing bounce rates and signaling to search engines that your content is valuable.
Categories also help with internal linking. By linking related posts within the same category, you spread link equity and boost the authority of your pages.
Tips: You should use only one category for each blog post. Pick the most relevant one and add a subcategory or a tag to specify it further. Posts that have several (and different) categories can confuse search engines.
Tags and SEO
Tags, on the other hand, are used to describe specific details within a post. They add additional keywords to your content, helping search engines understand the finer points of what your post is about. When you use relevant tags, you increase the chances of your posts appearing in search results for those keywords.
However, it’s important not to overuse tags. Too many tags can create thin content pages, which are pages with little unique content. These pages can hurt your SEO rather than help it. Aim to use specific and relevant tags for each blog post.
Tags also help with internal linking, similar to categories. When readers click on a tag, they’re taken to a tag archive page that lists all posts with that tag. This improves the user experience and keeps visitors on your site longer, which can positively impact your SEO.
Best practices for Categories and Tags
Using categories and tags effectively can make a big difference in how well-organized and SEO-friendly your blog is.
Here are some best practices to keep in mind when using categories and tags in WordPress:
Keep Categories broad and limited
Categories should cover broad topics that encompass a range of posts. Keep the number of categories limited to avoid overwhelming your readers and cluttering your site.
Try to create categories that represent the core topics of your blog. This makes it easier for readers to navigate and for search engines to understand your site’s structure.
Use Tags to highlight specifics
Tags should be used to highlight specific details or themes within your posts. While categories are broad, tags are meant to be specific.
For example, if you write a post about a vegan chocolate cake, the category might be Desserts, while tags could include Vegan and Chocolate.
Use tags to provide more context and make your content more discoverable.
Avoid redundancy
Avoid using the same words for both categories and tags. This redundancy doesn’t add value and can confuse readers and search engines.
If Europe is a category, don’t use it as a tag. Instead, use tags that add specific details, like Beach, Mountains or City guide.
Be consistent
Consistency is key in using categories and tags effectively. Decide on a clear strategy and stick to it.
This means using the same tags for similar posts and not creating new tags that duplicate existing ones.
This consistency helps keep your site organized and improves user experience.
Regularly review and clean up
It’s important to regularly review your categories and tags to ensure they still make sense and are being used effectively.
Delete or merge tags that are rarely used or have become redundant.
Limit the number of tags per post
While it’s tempting to add many tags to cover all possible keywords, it’s better to limit the number. This keeps your tags focused and avoids creating too many thin content pages, which can hurt your SEO.
Use descriptive and relevant terms
Choose tags that are descriptive and relevant to the content of your posts. Avoid using vague or generic tags that don’t add much value.
The more specific and relevant your tags, the more useful they will be for readers and search engines.
Leverage Categories and Tags for internal linking
Categories and tags can be powerful tools for internal linking. You can link to category and tag archive pages within your posts to help readers find related content.
This not only improves navigation but also spreads link equity throughout your site, boosting your SEO.
Understanding the difference between categories and tags in WordPress is essential for keeping your blog organized and SEO-friendly. Categories help you group your posts into broad topics, while tags highlight specific details within those posts.
By using both effectively, you can improve navigation, boost your SEO, and make your content more accessible to your readers.
Just find a strategy that works for you and stick with it 🙂
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