Are tags important for SEO?
-
I just installed a plugin called SEO content control and it is telling me I need to write descriptions for my tags. I haven't been using tags although I did create a list of them. I don't have an endless amount of time on my hands so is this a worthwhile task?
-
Hey there - I'm going to weigh in and just concur basically with Paul. Also just like to add a link to the wordpress resource post I did on Moz which breaks down a lot of the distinctions between tags and categories. Hope that helps too.
-
Ok I did click noindex tag pages in my metarobots tags. I have to figure out how to use my robots.txt file. Thanks again!
-
Short answer - absolutely yes. If you can't make them provide a clear benefit to your visitors, don't use 'em.
Longer answer - still yes, but if you have enabled them but haven't used them at all up until now, you can also block crawling them in your robots.txt file (You'd also want to have the tag pages include a no-index metarobots tag in their headers, just in case)
Doing this would tell the search engines not to even waste their time trying to find the tag pages in the first place.
Paul
-
Wow - thanks for all that info. I appreciate it. One quick question - can I forget tags altogether - and noindex them? I don't feel any need to use them on my site.
-
I'm going to have to offer a different opinion than Chad, njam. There's nothing about tags that is intrinsically beneficial for SEO, and in fact misusing them can cause considerable SEO problems.
Bottom line, the primary purpose of tags is as an additional navigation tool for your visitors, and must be carefully implemented so not to damage your site's SEO. There's nothing magic about a tag - it's a link to your content organized in different ways
Tags are part of what's called your site's taxonomy - i.e. how it organizes its information. Tags allow the visitor to get listings of your existing content grouped by different topics - much like categories do, but on a more granular scale. And there's the kicker - tag listings are just your regular content, but grouped differently.
Because they're the same content as exists elsewhere on the site, they can easily be seen as duplicate content by the search engines, leading to a dilution of the ranking power of the actual posts. (This issue can also occur with category listings if they're not handled correctly, which is why you're already no-indexing them).
Most WordPress SEO specialists actually recommend that tag pages be no-indexed - a command that tells the search engines to not even include them in search results as they can so easily confuse the search engines about which version of your site's content is most important.
So... use tags on a website if you think they will significantly add to the visitors' ability to understand and navigate your site. Then, make sure you've taken steps to ensure they don't confuse the search engines.
Do NOT use tags just because they're available. If you don't have a clear strategy for using them, don't clutter your site with them.
If you want an idea of how tags fit into a taxonomy, here's a real-work analogy:
Think of your blog as a book on raising kids, for example. The book would have a bunch of separate chapters on things like childbirth, schooling and education, care and feeding, discipline, family finances - you get the drift.
These are the equivalent to your blog's categories - broad topics that would allow someone to pick up your book and leaf through it, immediately understanding what the book's about, and enabling them to read just the sections that apply to them.
In the back of the book is the index. It's full of words and phrases that you have used a couple times in the book, but aren't topics that deserve a whole chapter (category). These are the equivalent of your tags. For example, perhaps you mention peanut butter in the care & feeding chapter. Later, you also mention in the schooling chapter that parents shouldn't send peanut butter sandwiches in kids' lunches because of the allergy risk to others. In addition, you mention PB in passing in the finance chapter as a cheap source of protein for kids meals.
Obviously there'd be no point in having a whole chapter (category) on peanut butter, but a reader might find it useful to have the index (tags) at the back of the book show them all the places in your book you've mentioned peanut butter.
That's a bit of a facetious example, but hopefully it gives you an idea of the different uses? If not, lemme know and I'll try to clarify further. Just remember, there's nothing magic about tags for SEO and they in fact carry some risk. They are for human visitors. If the visitors don't find them useful, they shouldn't be there.
Paul
-
Ah. I had no idea tags helped with search engines. Thanks!
-
Categories help your posts get found within a website while the tags help your post get found on the search engines. My assumption is that you are using WordPress. ( For example: I run a blog on real estate investing. There are several categories to choose from inside of the WordPress website.I want people who are highly interested in reading about the niche subject of real estate investing to read my post so, I type in the categories, " investing" " real estate." This helps the visitors who are apart of the WordPress community and are interested in real estate investing find my blog. What the tags do is help people who go to Google and type in " real estate investing blogs" find my blog. This is the difference as I understand it. The good thing is that you will only have to type your tags once. Once they are in the system, it just a matter typing a few letters before it pops up.
-
Interesting. So how are tags different than categories? I already categorize all my posts and they're usually in several categories. I have category pages noindexed which was advised here on this forum.
-
No, the descriptive tags helped my blog posts get noticed and it better optimized my post for the search engines. I know that it is a pain starting out but I can say that I could tell a difference in the posts that had tags and the posts that did not.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Title tag
Hello, To rank on China bike tour. Is it ok to write in the title "Explore china on a bike tour - My company name bike tours" Or do I need to absolutely "China bike tour" in the title tag ? Thank you,
On-Page Optimization | | seoanalytics1 -
H Tags Query
Hi, A client I'm dealing with has the following H tags on their homepage: H1: Online POP & POS Printing for Businesses & Events H2: Design & Advertising Agencies? Use Your Own Custom Artwork!
On-Page Optimization | | PeaSoupDigital
H2: Small Businesses & Events? Create Marketing Products Online!
H2: Quicker, Easier & up to 80% Cheaper than Traditional Printing
H2: Customise one of our free themes
H2: Upload your own custom artwork
H2: Commission a bespoke design
H2: Featured Products
H2: Display Printing
H2: Dump Bins
H2: Flyer Display
H2: FSDUs
H2: Hanging Signs
H2: Posters
H2: Shelf Edge
H2: Show Cards
H2: Tent Cards
H2: Window Clings H3: Look How Easy It Is
H3: Look How Easy It Is
H3: Big brand printing for every budget
H3: Newsletter Sign Up
H3: Available payment methods H4: Thank You, You have been added to our mailing list
H4: Follow Us As you can see, there are a lot. I feel the H3 and H4 tags do not really add any value or explain what the site is about, so I'll probably remove these. In relation to the H2s, do you think I should demote some of these to H3 or even H4 tags? Also, terms like 'Posters' is very vague, would this be better as 'Poster Printing'? Thanks, Lewis0 -
Directories and Search Engine Site Submissions and Technorati Tags Important?
I use a wordpress for out website 50campfires.com and we have a site map set up along with google analytics and web master tools. I believe wordpress automatically sends information to the search engines with changes in the site map. Do I need to submit to search engines manually once a month? Is directories like DMOZ still relevant with SEO today? And what are your opinions on Technorati Tags? I never heard of them before reading this article. I m new to SEO and any insights are helpful. 2Sqv5C2.png EEQFpIx.png 2Sqv5C2.png
On-Page Optimization | | revonick1 -
Changing my title tags
My title tags always get changed, i label them correctly, no too long or short and they always get changed, any ideas?
On-Page Optimization | | benjaminmarcinc1 -
Should I add canonical tag on these pages?
Hi folks I have some pages that used to rank pretty well..but I believe it is affected due to the content similarities. Here is one the sub category pages http://www.ilovebodykits.com/category/98/2/Full-Body-Kits_Duraflex.html the main category page http://www.ilovebodykits.com/category/98/Exterior_Body-Styling_Full-Body-Kits.html These 2 links have very similar contents. The content are dynamic generated by template and I don't think I am able to change content for each individual pages since there are over 2000-3000 of them or more. Should I use canonical tag on the Duraflex.html page to give the main category page all the link juices and credits? There are about 20 other pages like this under this main category. Is it right to canonical all of them? Please let me know if anyone has any suggestion.. thanks
On-Page Optimization | | ilovebodykits0 -
Anyone done SEO with on-page ONLY?
I read this blog post: http://www.seomoz.org/ugc/let-onpage-optimization-change-your-life The author claims they have increased the visitors 50 fold doing on-page seo ONLY. So they just added content, and optimized the site structure. Anyone have seen similar results? Not outreach whatsoever, just adding content to site. Technically, this should be true, article directories has tons of visitors and they were giving out links.
On-Page Optimization | | inhouseseo0 -
Title Tag To Long
In the initial review of my site, I have 38 warnings of title tags to long. It also says these warnings are often penalized by search engines. In Google webmaster tools, It says I have no problems with long title tags. So am I getting penalized and do I need to shorten them? I would already have shortened them but in the past, everytime I have changed my title tag I have been penalized by the search engines. I usually get my rankings back but it can take up to a month and a half to get back to where I was.
On-Page Optimization | | tkobrien0 -
Title Tag Length
Is there a search engine that reads a title tag longer than 70 characters? What is the harm in writing a title tag longer than 70 characters?
On-Page Optimization | | rarbel0