WordPress Categories Vs Tags

WordPress Categories vs Tags: Guide For Beginners!

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WordPress categories vs tags is a common thing for SEO purposes that you should know before starting the WordPress journey. If you are willing to start a website or blog of your own, WordPress can simply be the best of choices. It is a very popular open-source blogging tool. Are you a beginner? No worries! It is very easy, yet powerful.

The first thing you need to know is Search Engine Optimization or SEO. SEO is simply to engage more traffic on your website. You don’t need to be a pro technologist. A few SEO basics will be fine to begin with.

WordPress Categories Vs Tags

You will find some built-in-tools in WordPress settings for various purposes. From SEO-friendly URLs and plugins to XML sitemaps, you can use many options to reach a higher ranking. Then again, optimization of your blog title and body will ensure maximum traffic on the website.

Keywords are very important for your blog. Instead of throwing random guesses in the air, rely on some real data to find the trending topics. Here is where we talk about WordPress Categories vs Tags.

What are WordPress Categories and Tags?

WordPress categories and tags are commonly called WordPress taxonomies. Go for a default taxonomy or feel free to customize them as per your preferences. Taxonomy is more likely a hierarchy tree where you can find your relatable contents in groups. This enables an easy reach to the topics and the website looks well-organized.

WordPress Categories vs Tags

Categories are groups that comprise of common topics. You can also create sub-categories if suitable.
Think of a library. You are looking for a book on the history of Egyptian pyramids. You will look for the shelves that have geographic books, right? Then you might search for the rack that has historical contents on Egypt.

These shelves and racks are representations of categories and sub-categories. You can categorize your content creations by following a relatable hierarchy.

So, if you are writing a blog on the Egyptian pyramids, add categories having similar contents. As a result, people will be able to find their desired topics in broad and more generalized groups. They can further approach different segments of that group as per their interest in the topic. A limited number of categories helps to maintain the focus on a website.

However, Tags are not to divide posts into generalized groups. Instead, they will point to any specific details of your post for easy research. Let’s get back to our previous example. Instead of looking for the whole common shelf, you go look for an index that can guide you for your book of interest.
So, when you write about this topic on your blog, you can add tags to point out some words that will address your content.

Tips for WordPress Tags

WordPress tags do not enrich your blog content, but they can indirectly improve SEO. The best use of tags and categories can even show an impactful improvement to manage the maximum reach for your website. So, here goes some tips on how to choose tags in WordPress.

Create WordPress tags

• It’s good to use specific tags for your blog to find them easily and you will get a higher ranking. But try to mix it up with less specific tags too, so that people who are just roaming around, will still see them.
• Do not worry about capitalization in your tags.
• Use both short tail and long tail tags for the best result.
• Do not go for the same keywords for both tags and categories.

Tips for WordPress Categories

For beginners, choosing the right WordPress categories may be harder than choosing tags. Just follow these now and you will get used to it within a few days.

Create WordPress Categories

• Go for small at first. Try using general categories. You can always edit them afterward.
• Use keyword researcher tools for better suggestions.
• Again, mix up with specific and general categories.

How Many to Add?

There is no specific limitation for WordPress categories and tags. You are free to add no tags or even add hundreds of tags if you want. However, that is not appreciated. The tags you will use are like indirect hyperlinks to your blog.

So, keep them practical and relevant. WordPress offers multiple Parent (main) categories but try to avoid and choose others as subcategories.

Finally, learn the best use of WordPress Categories vs Tags through practice. You can also convert categories and tags into one another. It is not a competition and we recommend using both.

Author

  • Palash Talukder

    Palash Talukdar is a digital marketer & the founder of WP Basic Pro. He has been building and managing WordPress websites for 5+ years. He loves to write about WordPress, SEO, marketing, productivity, and web performance.

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