Arthis’ Classroom: How To Get More Google Hits | I FORGOT ABOUT THE TAGS!

Hello everyone and welcome to our place!

So, on Wednesday I posted the third class regarding Google Hits, and it was supposed to be the last one! However, after tweeting about it, awesome Nesha remembered me that I had to talk about the tags (and I’m going to also add categories) which I had completely forgot! So, thank you so much Nesha for that! If you are still not following him, do so because he is just a great Anime reviewer and blog designer!

For the ones who are coming accross this class for the first time, here are the other parts:

• Class 1
• Class 2
• Class 3

Now, to end this (I really hope I’m not forgetting anything) I need to talk to you about tags and categories. Now, I’m sure you know where to find them and how to create them, but do you really know the difference between them? Let me explain you a little more about the differences between them!

– Categories vs. Tags –

Now, both are used to bundle your posts.

There are some Blogs out there who have a place in their website with the main tags they have. If you click on them they will send you to a “page” in your blog which has all the posts related to that tag.

Other bloggers, like me, prefer to use categories to do the sorting. For example, in my blog you can’t just click in the tag or the category to read all my posts inside them. You can go to my pages (which I created) and there you will have the posts regarding what you are looking for.

Why I prefer categories to sort my website?

It’s easier to use them! specially because I talk about so different topics. For you to understand I have 7 top categories which then developed in different sub-categories – because of my different series in all the topics.

Now, in tags you always need to write the tag, that would mean that I had to remember everytime the exact tag I used for that series. If we think in categories, they are always there and you just need to check the boxes!

So, for me, categories is more for tyding my place up, while tags are used to put the main keywords. Is this the universal way to do things? Probably, not! But I can only share my own thoughts and experiences.

Why Are Both of Them Important?

Both categories and Tags are important for SEO. See it like this, when the google bot is crawling your category called “Anime” it will pick all the posts you have under Anime and say -> well these posts are under the keyword (remember that from some classes ago?) Anime.

However, “Anime” is way too broad of a keyword! If your blog has a lot of Anime Reviews, probably you will want to do a subcategory called Anime Reviews where you put all of your Reviews. Google Bot sees this as “Ok, so this group of posts are under “Anime”, but also “Anime Reviews”.

Nonetheless, tags do the same thing! If you put both tags “Anime” and “Anime Reviews”, Google Bot will address that post to both of those keywords. Moreover, tags are what makes your posts showing in the WordPress Reader, where most of your views will come in the beginning. So, when should you use one, or another?

When to Use One or Another?

So, you have a keyword you want to use, but you don’t know if you should be putting it under tags or categories. Well, there is no straight answer. So, I’m going with my own judgment from everything I’ve read so far and my own common sense.

I use categories for my blog arrangement, while tags for the SEO and WordPress Reader. So it ends up basically having categories for broader keywords, while tags for more detailed keywords.

Here’s an example. Let’s take my Dynamic Chord Post for example. That post is a review, BUT it is also part of the Horrible Anime Quest.

This way, this post is under 1 main category – Anime – and 2 subcategories – Reviews + Horrible Quest -.

When it comes to tags I inserted 4 of them (I always use at max 4, but I’ll explain that in a bit). These tags are “Anime”, “Dynamic Chord”, “Dynamic Chord Review” and “Worst Anime Ever” (Of course! :D)

My idea here is simple. The category is for the post appear in the pages that make sense, I don’t even think about the SEO in this part. Tags are my way to go a little further and give keywords more detailed about what the post is about. However, I don’t think only in Google Bot, I also think in WordPress Bot! Why? Because I also want my post to appear if someone types “Dynamic Chord” in the WP Reader.

How Many Tags Should I Use?

Also, another question which people have different thinking. However, since WordPress itself advises to use less than many, I prefer to use around 4 tags per post.

Why use less? If they are keywords then I should just use all of them so it appears in most places right? True, if we were in the beginning of the Internet. In the past people would just put all the keywords that they could think of in their Meta Keywords all over the Internet. Google Bot would see them and the more you had, the more probability you would have to appear in the first page somewhere. Well, Google noticed that and they came out some years ago saying that Google Bot doesn’t give a crap about Meta Keywords anymore.

However, WordPress Bot still cares about the tags you put on them, but with some restrictions. The less tags you put there the stronger that tag will be, which means that if you write few keywords your post will be more likely to be up there. Here’s what is in the WP site:

However, you don’t want irrelevant content showing up on the topic listings or search, and neither do we. That’s why we limit the number of tags and categories that can be used on a public tag listing. Five to 15 tags (or categories, or a combination of the two) is a good number to add to each of your posts. The more categories you use, the less likely it is that your post will be selected for inclusion in the topic listings.

Basically, if you use a lot of tags, yeah your post will be in all those tags, but maybe so further down below that no-one will see the post.

This way, for me the best is to use 4 tags at maximum. What I do is use a broad keyword such as “Anime” and then I go to the detail and write 3 tags way more detailed. This is also good for the people who are visiting your site and you want to show them your tags. If you had a tons of tags for every each post you have you will end up with thousands of tags in no time.

Nevertheless, as I said, there is not really a disclosure about this and you should decide what works best for you!

Duplicate Tags | Categories

One thing that people seem to have some fear is that by using a tag that is equal to your category will make Google Bot as a duplicate and therefore ranking your blog lower.

I also looked this up and WordPress says that there is no problem at all. More or less, you can say that Google is aware of this. Don’t forget that WordPress hosts 30% of all Internet, so it’s normal there are some talks between these two big ones!

So, there is not really a problem if you have the category “Anime” and a Tag also “Anime”. In fact as you can see, I do that! So, if you feel the need to have both category and tag with the same name, it seems there are no problem! 🙂

– Conclusion –

Nesha, it seems I was able to write a post only about tags and categories! Didn’t thought that would be possible! XD

If you want to understand even more about this, here is WordPress talking about it!

I just want to add a last thing! Remember, you are writing for people, not robots! It’s more important that the people who get to your blog have a good time rather than the Google Bot putting your posts everywhere!

If you think in your readers and how to make their life easier and more entertaining while browsing your blog I’m sure the SEO will just end up happening. This because SEO is just that! A list of things that are nice to do for your readers if you are building a website/blog.

Again, sorry for the extra post, but I hope that this was interesting and helpful! 😀 If there’s anything you want to ask or add don’t forget to tell me in the comments! ^^

See You Soon! 😀