How and Why to Use Categories and Tags to Keep Your Blog Organized
Categories and tags organize your site and help visitors find content that interests them. You can add categories and tags to most collection items.
Whether you’re in the beginning stages or backtracking, this blog post will help you organize those oh-so-precious blog posts to improve SEO by grouping them with the user in mind.
When to start using categories and tags.
The short answer is NOW.
If you’re just getting started, then you’re lucky to be reading this post now. It’s much easier to get organized right from the start than it is to backtrack.
If you’re backtracking, I suggest you put aside a chunk of time to do this. You’ll put the effort in upfront, but organizing your blog posts will become much easier going forward.
Over time, your blog posts really add up, and if you’ve put the proper measures in place from the start, it will be MUCH easier for you AND your readers to find what they are looking for.
What is the difference between a category and a tag?
In simple terms, a category defines a group of items (tags), or subcategories.
Here are some examples:
Category > Jewelry
Tags > Rings, necklaces, earrings, bracelets
Category > Movies
Tags > Drama, action-adventure, documentary, comedy, romance
Category > Fruit
Tags > Bananas, apples, oranges, grapes, strawberries
Get it?
How many tags and categories should I have?
There’s no hard and fast rule. My advice: use your judgment. Few enough that your website isn’t cluttered, but enough that your visitors will see that you have a broad knowledge of your topic and area of expertise.
Also, not so many that YOU start to get confused and lose track.
Can a blog post have more than one category and tag?
Although you do have the ability to select more than one category, as a general rule, I don’t recommend this. It could get confusing to your readers, and blogging is all about the reader experience.
However, it often makes sense to attach more than one tag, but don’t go crazy with this.
The purpose of tagging your blog posts is to essentially group similar blog posts together.
For example, let’s say you write about a variety of products on your website. One of the categories of products is Apparel. A pair of women’s jeans would be tagged Jeans and Women’s fashion.
Make sense?
You can even take tags and categories a step further and display them on your website as a summary block. You can learn more about summary blocks here.
How do categories and tags help with SEO?
The job of a search engine is to help users find the content that aligns best with their search.
Categories and tags organize your content for optimal usability. Search engines recognize this and move you up the list for a better ranking.
And since a major purpose of having a blog is to improve SEO, adding categories and tags is a necessary step.
Don’t skip it!
How do I add categories and tags to my Squarespace website?
For Squarespace 7.0
In your blog list select “Edit.”
Add your categories and tags here.
For Squarespace 7.1
In your blog list select these three dots. Then choose “Settings.”
Select “Options” and this is where you’ll add your tags and categories.
What stage are you at in your blogging experience?
Have you been blogging for a while? Have you found tags and categories helpful? Confusing? Have you ever used them?
Share your comments below! 👇
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