Header Text - WordPress Tags: Purpose & Effective Use

WordPress tags are small but powerful tools that help organize content on your website. Think of tags as labels you attach to each blog post. These labels help you and your readers quickly find similar topics and related information on your site. For example, if you’re writing a post about baking chocolate chip cookies, you might add tags like “cookies”, “chocolate”, and “baking”.

Using tags can make a big difference in how readers explore your content. Once a user clicks on a tag, they see all the other posts with that tag. This makes it easier for readers to find similar articles they’re interested in, keeping them on your site longer and improving their experience.

In this guide, we explore WordPress tags, discuss what they are, how they differ from categories, and how to add and manage them on your posts. You’ll also learn best practices for effective tagging and tips to make your tags SEO-friendly to help boost your site’s ranking. Let’s get started.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  1. WordPress tags are keywords you add to posts to organize content by specific topics.
  2. Tags make it more straightforward for visitors to find related content and explore your site.
  3. Unlike categories, tags are optional and used to highlight details within posts.
  4. Use 3–5 relevant tags per post to keep navigation clean and focused.
  5. Consistent, relevant tags improve site organization and help with SEO.
  6. Don’t use too many tags or overlap tags with categories; this prevents clutter.
  7. The Tag Cloud widget helps users quickly find content by topic.
  8. When you “noindex” tag pages, it reduces duplicate content and improves SEO.
  9. Thoughtful tag usage keeps your site organized, boosts user experience, and can enhance SEO.

WordPress Tags vs Categories

In WordPress, categories and tags help organize content, but they do so in different ways. Let’s look at how they work and why both are useful.

Broad vs Specific

Categories are meant to cover broad topics, grouping posts under main themes. For instance, if you run a food blog, you might have categories like “Recipes’, “Health Tips”, and “Restaurant Reviews”. Each category represents a big area that your posts can fall into.

In contrast, tags are more specific. They zoom in on the details of each post. For example, under a “Recipes” category, you might tag a post with “vegan”, “smoothies”, or “dessert”. Tags help describe the specific points in the post, while categories outline the big picture.

Necessary vs Optional

In WordPress, every post should have at least one category, but tags are optional. This is because categories create the main structure of your site, helping visitors see your main content areas. If there are no categories, WordPress will put the post under Uncategorized by default.

Tags, however, are optional. They give extra information about the post but aren’t required for the post’s structure. Using tags thoughtfully can enhance navigation, but skipping them won’t affect your site’s layout.

Hierarchical vs Non-Hierarchical

Categories can be hierarchical, meaning you can create subcategories under main categories. For example, you could have “Recipes” as a main category and then “Breakfast” and “Dinner” as subcategories. This setup is great for creating layers in your content organization, facilitating sorting posts into specific areas.

However, WordPress tags don’t have this hierarchy. They’re standalone labels that help link related posts but don’t fall under a structure like categories. Tags connect similar posts without creating levels.

So, categories and tags collaborate to organize content. Categories set up the main structure, while tags add details to help visitors find related posts. Use both to make your WordPress site easier to navigate and more enjoyable for your readers.

How to Add WordPress Tags

Adding tags to your WordPress posts is easy and can help organize your content better. However, tags can only be added to posts. There are 2 methods to add tags to WordPress posts:

  1. Add Tags to New Posts.
  2. Add Tags to Existing Posts.

Let’s go through these below.

Add Tags to New Posts

When you create a new post, add tags directly in the editor. To do that:

Navigate to the WordPress dashboard and click Posts Add New Post to start a new post.

How To Use WordPress Tags - Add New Post

After writing your post content, navigate to the Post attributes on the right side of the editor. Then, scroll down to Tags.

How To Use WordPress Tags - Locate Tags Box

Type in your tags, separating each with a comma or pressing the Enter key. For example, if your post is about baking a chocolate cake, you might add tags like “baking”, “chocolate”, and “desserts”. In our example, we used lorem ipsum dummy text to populate post content, so our tags are “lorem”, “dummy text”, and “ipsum”. Remember, you can’t add duplicate tags.

How To Use WordPress Tags - Add Tags

After populating tags and proofreading your post, click Publish to make these live or Save Draft to save your changes.

How To Use WordPress Tags - Publish or Save Draft

Add Tags to Existing Posts

You can also add WordPress tags to posts that are already published:

From your dashboard, click on Posts All Posts to see a list of all your posts.

How To Use WordPress Tags - See All Posts

Find the post you want to add tags to. Hover over it and click Edit.

How To Use WordPress Tags - Edit Post

Just as with a new post, look for the Tags box on the right side of the editor. Type in the tags you want to add and click Save to save your changes.

How To Use WordPress Tags - Add Tags and Save Post

Adding tags to older posts helps you connect them with newer content, making it easier for readers to explore related topics. It also improves internal linking, which boosts SEO by helping search engines understand the connections between your posts.

How to Manage WordPress Tags

WordPress has a dedicated Tags section to keep tags organized. To access that:

Go to WordPress DashboardPosts Tags. You’ll find a list of all the tags you’ve created there.

How To Use WordPress Tags - Access Tags Page

On the Tags page, you can do various things. For instance, you can fill in the Add New Tag form to create a new WordPress tag. If you need to change a tag name, click Edit under the tag. This will allow you to update the tag without affecting its connections to posts. So, if you rename a tag, it will automatically be renamed on all posts where it was used.

However, if a tag is no longer relevant, delete it. Just hover over the tag and click Delete. Deleting a tag removes it from all posts it was connected to.

How To Use WordPress Tags - Add, Edit, or Delete a WordPress Tag

Additionally, the Tags page shows how often each tag is used, helping you spot tags that might be similar or could be merged. This can keep your tags list clean and effective.

How To Use WordPress Tags - Tags Count

Now that you know what WordPress tags are and how to create and manage them, let’s find out how to display them on your website.

Display Tags on Your WordPress Site

After adding WordPress tags to your posts, it’s helpful to show them on your website so visitors can use them to find more content they like. One uses Tag Cloud to do this.

The Tag Cloud widget is a tool that shows all your tags in one place, often in your site’s sidebar or footer. The tags appear like a bunch of words, and the more you use a tag, the bigger it looks. This helps visitors see which topics you write about the most. However, you can manually change the font size for popular tags.

Here’s how you can add a Tag Cloud to your WordPress site:

Log in to your WordPress website. In the left-hand menu, hover over Appearance and click Widgets. You’ll see a list of available widgets. Find the Tag Cloud widget.

How To Use WordPress Tags - Locate Tag Widgets

Click on the dropdown menu. Choose a location where you want to place the Tag Cloud and then click Add Widget.

How To Use WordPress Tags - Add Tag Cloud Widget

Now, click on the widget to expand its settings. Specify your tag cloud’s Title, keep the Taxonomy set to Tags, and click Save to apply your changes. You can also check Show tag counts to show the count for each tag.

How To Use WordPress Tags - Customize Tag Cloud

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By implementing a strategic tagging system, you can improve navigation and the overall user experience on your site.

The Tag Cloud will now appear on your site. Visitors can click on any tag to see all posts with that tag.

How To Use WordPress Tags - View Tag Cloud on Front End

Remember, if you’re using WordPress 5.9 or higher, the process will be different, because this version uses a block editor for the entire website. In this case, go to Appearance Widgets and click the block inserter (+) button.

How To Use WordPress Tags - Use Block Inserter Button

Under the Blocks tab, search for “Tag Cloud”. Then, drag and drop Tag Cloud to your desired area. For this example, we added it to the Main Sidebar.

How To Use WordPress Tags - Add Tag Cloud to Main Sidebar

Next, select your Tag Cloud widget and click Tag Cloud at the top to customize this according to your requirements. Once done, click Update to save modifications.

How To Use WordPress Tags - Personalize Tag Cloud Widget

This is how the Tag Cloud widget will look on the front end:

How To Use WordPress Tags - Tag Cloud on Front End

You can also add Tag Cloud at the end of your post. To do this, go to Posts All Posts. Hover over your post and click Edit. Once the post opens in the editor, scroll down to the end of the post. Click on the + button. Now, search and add the Tag Cloud widget.

How To Use WordPress Tags - Add Tag Cloud Widget at End of Post

You may also select your tag cloud and use the Settings and Styles options to customize it.

How To Use WordPress Tags - Customize Tag Cloud

Regardless of where you add the Tag Cloud widget, each tag will automatically link to its particular archive page. You can access any tag’s archive page by visiting the following link:

yourwebsite.com/tag/tag-name/

Ensure you replace yourwebsite.com with your domain name and tag-name with the specific tag you want to view. For example,

You can add links to these tag archive pages in your menus or widgets. In this tutorial example, we add one tag’s archive page to the website’s main menu. To do that:

Go to Appearance Menus in the WordPress admin dashboard. Choose the menu where you want to add the tag archive page (this is usually the main menu). On the left, look for the Tags section (you may need to click Screen Options at the top and check Tags if it’s not visible).

Here, select the tag(s) you want to add to the menu, then click Add to Menu. Once added, drag and arrange the tag archive link in your menu to the desired location. Finally, click Save Menu.

How To Use WordPress Tags - Add Tags to Main Menu

Now, the tag archive page will appear in your main menu, making it easy for visitors to access posts related to that tag.

How To Use WordPress Tags - Show All Posts for dummy text Tag

Best Practices for Using WordPress Tags

Tags can be useful tools that help organize your WordPress website, but you must use them carefully. Here are some best practices to keep your tags helpful, organized, and user-friendly.

Consistency

Using consistent tag names across your posts is important to organize your site. If you use multiple versions of the same word, like “Recipe”, “Recipes”, and “Recipe Ideas”, this can make your tags messy and harder for readers to follow.

Instead, stick with one version—such as “Recipes”—and use it every time you tag a post about cooking. This also helps with SEO, as search engines can better understand what topics you cover when your tags are clean and clear.

Relevance

Ensure each tag you add is directly related to the content of your post. If you’re writing about travel tips, tags like “travel”, “vacation”, and “adventure” make sense. However, adding tags that aren’t closely related—like “recipe” or “fashion”—can confuse readers and search engines. Relevant WordPress tags make it easier for readers to find what they’re interested in and keep your site focused.

Avoiding Overuse

While you want to add tags to cover every angle, too many can clutter your site. It’s best to limit tags to around 3–5 per post. This keeps things clean and easy for readers to navigate. Overusing tags can also create unnecessary tag pages, which slow down your site and make it hard for search engines to index your content effectively.

Impact of WordPress Tags on SEO

As we already said, tags can improve your WordPress website’s SEO when used correctly, helping search engines understand your content and making it easier for visitors to find what they’re looking for. However, improper use of tags can lead to SEO issues. Let’s look at the pros and cons of using WordPress tags.

When you use tags carefully, they can enhance site navigation and keep users engaged longer. Tags group similar posts together, which means when a visitor clicks on a tag, they’re taken to a page with all related posts. This helps users explore more of your content, keeps them on your site longer, and signals to search engines that people find your site valuable. Good tag usage also helps search engines understand the main topics you cover, which can boost your SEO.

However, tags can hurt SEO if misused. One risk is duplicate content, which happens if your tag pages look too much like each other or your category pages. Search engines don’t like duplicate content because it can confuse them about which page is most relevant. To avoid this, ensure tags don’t overlap too much with categories or other tags.

Another common issue is keyword stuffing—using too many tags or stuffing tags with keywords to rank better. This can harm SEO, as search engines may see this as spammy behavior. Rather use a few relevant tags for each post.

Strategies to Minimize Negative SEO Impacts

To avoid SEO issues with tags, try these strategies:

  • Stick to 3-5 relevant tags. This keeps your tags meaningful and avoids clutter.
  • Ensure tags are specific and don’t duplicate the purpose of your categories.
  • If tag pages aren’t adding value, consider setting them to “noindex”. This tells search engines not to include these pages in search results, reducing the chance of duplicate content.

To set tag pages to “noindex”, YoastSEO is the best choice. Here’s how to use it:

  1. Install and activate the YoastSEO plugin.
  2. Go to YoastSEO Settings Tags.
  3. Disable the Show tags in search results option.
  4. Click Save changes.

Now, search engines will skip these pages in search results.

How To Use WordPress Tags - Disable Show Tags in Search Results

This way, you can improve both navigation and SEO without any downsides. Thoughtful tagging helps your site rank better, keeps visitors engaged, and creates a more organized experience for everyone.

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FAQs

Can I use tags & categories together?

Absolutely! Tags and categories complement each other. Categories give structure to your site, while tags add specific details about the content. Using both helps readers and search engines understand your content better, improving organization and SEO.

How do I remove or edit tags on WordPress?

To manage tags, go to your WordPress DashboardPosts Tags, where you can edit or delete tags. Editing lets you update tag names for consistency, and deleting removes unused tags, helping keep your tag list clean and organized.

Which of the following is the best use case for tags in WordPress?

The best use case for tags is grouping posts sharing specific topics or details. For instance, if you run a travel blog, adding tags like “beaches”, “road trips”, and “city guides” can connect posts across various categories (like “Destinations” or “Travel Tips”). This setup makes it easier for readers to find similar content based on their interests.

How should you use tags in WordPress to improve the navigation of your website?

To enhance user navigation, let tags highlight specific topics in each post that might interest readers. Keep your tags relevant and consistent; choose 3–5 keywords for each post. Adding a Tag Cloud widget or linking tags on each post helps readers find content that matches their interests. This improves user experience and site exploration.

What are WordPress tags? Can I add tags to pages? Why or why not?

Tags are labels or keywords you add to posts to emphasize the central topics discussed. By default, WordPress does not support tags on pages; tags are mainly intended for posts. Posts are usually part of a blog or regularly updated content, so tags help group similar topics and improve navigation. Pages are more static, so they don’t usually need tags to organize content. If you want to use tags on pages, you can add this functionality with certain plugins, but it’s generally best to reserve tags for blog posts.

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