Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Tags vs. Categories? What should I use?
-
I'm starting with a blog (self-hosted wordpress) and I'm thinking of the following content structure so that the readers are easily able to locate relevant content:
Background:
It's a blog which gives people relevant info about government jobs. To start with we will just be publishing information about these jobs but over a period of time also intend to post content that helps readers prepare for these jobs. In other words, right now it's just about detailed job notifications but in the coming months, we shall also post about preparation-related information.
Typically, each of the job notifications can be bifurcated like:
-
Jobs basis industry
-
Banking
-
Railways
-
Clinical, etc.
-
Jobs basis company
-
ABC co.
-
DEF co.
-
XYZ co. etc.
-
Jobs basis State / City
-
City 1
-
City 2, etc.
-
Jobs basis educational qualification
-
Graduation
-
Post-Graduation, etc.
Now, I'm seriously confused how should I structure this data from the perspective of Categories & Tags such that it's reader as well as SEO-friendly. Do note that each of the government jobs post ideally falls in a couple of above mentioned categories.
Thanks..
-
-
Hi Shalin,
Good news: you can do both! Assuming that it would allow you to segment content in a meaningful way for users. If tags won't make things better for users, I'd just go with categories for the sake of simplicity. But if it is useful for users, I'd do the following:
Use categories as the primary method of organizing content, then leverage tags to provide further definition. But, here's the catch: as others have correctly noted, tag pages have the potential to produce thin content, so I'd recommend applying a noindex meta tag to all tag pages, as well as excluding it in the robots.txt file. If you're using one of the popular CMS platforms, like Wordpress, this should be fairly easy to do.
This method provides the best of both worlds. You provide more ways for users to filter down to content they'd like to see and it's SEO-friendly because the tag pages--which may produce thin, duplicative content--are excluded from the index and crawl, and, therefore, should not present any SEO issues.
-
Hi there, you've received some solid advice. I'd also check out this class post by Dan Shure, which explains the difference between different types of WordPress pages, and spells out best-practices for WordPress SEO - http://moz.com/blog/setup-wordpress-for-seo-success.
Christy
-
While the tagging system is nice, it can be a killer for seo. Tag pages generally have thin content, and a lot of links i.e. bad for Googel guidelines. If you want to help your users, and still use the tagging system, set the tagging pages to "no-index"
As to the categories URL's I would add them. Think of your site like a book, and your categories like the chapters. Setting your site up with categories also allows you to potentially have another focus keyword in your URL, and helps users navigate your site easier
-
Thanks for the reply..
I get it what you are trying to put across. In fact, prior to posting the question above, I did read a lot about categories and tags as taxonomies and how they ought to be used. But the question is still the same? In the scenario I mentioned above, what's the ideal way to categorise content?
-
I would refrain from using tag pages. Google does not like thin content pages and tag pages are typically just a set of links to other posts. Also, I have seen too many sites with too many unintended tags. Category pages give you a lot more flexibility in terms of adding unique content and making them into pages worthy of ranking. Plus, category pages are in a controlled environment and there will not be any categories being accidentally formed.
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
-
Schema Markup for eCommerce Category Pages?
My research indicates that applying an ItemList schema markup to our category pages is likely the best way to go. However, I've also ready that Google discourages schema markup on category pages. I'm just wondering if any of you have applied schema markup to your category pages and, if so, how did you do it? John,
On-Page Optimization | | JohnBrown75
Essay Writer1 -
I have a site with jokes. What schema markup could I use?
My site is about jokes. I wonder what schema markup could I use to be more visible in the search results.
On-Page Optimization | | MichaelJanik0 -
Canonical tags in the body?
Hi there, Does anyone know if placing canonical tags in the body instead of the header of a page will still "take"? The system we are on means that making an editable header is no easy business and I was just wondering how big of a difference it makes to have it in a different area. Thank you in advance.
On-Page Optimization | | Whittie0 -
Using a dash or underscores in file names.
Is it better to use a dash or an underscore in file names to improve SEO? EX memory_flash.jpg or memory-flash.jpg Or does it make no difference?
On-Page Optimization | | Robotnik0 -
Colons in title tag?
Does Google view the colon as a keyword separator like it does with the pipe (|) character? Currently, our site automatically constructs the title tag based on the page name given by the user. Long ago, we started using the colon character to visually separate the brand & model of the product from the size, and as a result, all of our title tags have been constructed this way. This was done more to make it easier to read for humans than for search engines. My question is - should I consider getting rid of the colon from our title tags? To give more info, our website sells tires. So, for any given model of tire, there might be 25-100 different individual sizes. The tags are constructed as follows: (brand)(model) : (size). Here's an example from our site: GENERAL ALTIMAX ARCTIC : 225/45R17 91Q The brand is General Tire, the model is the Altimax Arctic and the size is 225/45R17 91Q Since this entire string really constitutes the full product name, should I remove the colon so that Google views it that way? Or, since I have used a colon instead of a pipe, will Google simply ignore it and treat the entire string as one keyword phrase?
On-Page Optimization | | kcourtem0 -
Title tag length
Hi, I am fairly new to SEO and have just noticed the end of my title text has been cut off by Google in the serps results. Everything i have read tells me titles should be maximum of 70 characters, however, Google is only displaying 54. See below Security systems | wireless | battery powered | Police... Nobody else on the page is showing more than 54 characters. Am i missing something obvious? Any and all help gratefully appreciated. Thanks Si
On-Page Optimization | | DaddySmurf0 -
Hey guys! I was looking at adding the H1 tag lower on the page than the H2 tag because I want the top bit to be a call to action. Is this proper practice?
Hey guys! I was looking at adding the H1 tag lower on the page than the H2 tag because I want the top bit to be a call to action. Is this proper practice?
On-Page Optimization | | Web3Marketing870 -
Wordpress category links not working
Hi All of sudden, my category links are not working. Any tips on figuring out what's causing this? Looks like permalink problem with newer wordpress version. I turned off all the plugins see if this cause any problems. Still not being able to find any option. Here's my site http://www.hibebefetaldoppler.com/fetal-doppler-questions-and-answers/ Thanks in advance
On-Page Optimization | | BistosAmerica0