Need help with effective use of tags on my blog…

  • Unknown's avatar
    eviebelin · Member ·

    I just started this blog a bit more than a week ago, and getting views is slow going because I’m not publicly linking it to my real life identity. Since I made that choice, knowing it would make growing the blog more difficult, I want to make sure I’m giving it every other advantage I can.

    I would like a bit of critique on my use of tags, and any suggestions on using them better for my blog in particular. Usually I tend towards the “everything and the kitchen sink” approach to tags, as that’s what we did on other blogs I’ve worked on. But I’ve read some guides around here suggesting that using fewer tags is better.

    But I have another dilemma with fewer tags.. there isn’t really a common tag that fits most of my posts just right. My blog is a combination of nerdiness and fashion – I have trouble picking tags for a combination of topics that most people don’t think of together.

    Any feedback would be appreciated!

    The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

  • Unknown's avatar
    auxclass · Member ·

    Here is some help on traffic building: https://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/how-do-i-increase-traffic-to-my-blog-without-involving-my-friends?replies=18

    The rule I have seen for Tags and Categories by those that know much more than I is to have no more than 10 to 12 Max total for any single Post. (Tags + Categories)

  • Unknown's avatar
    timethief · Member ·

    Please see here first as you are using too many tags. This is a classic mistake made by beginners who receive the poor advice that the more tags and categories one uses the more search engine attention they get. When you overuse tags and/or categories and/or when you use irrelevant tags for attention seeking purposes the search engine spiders are on the job and if you persist then you are labeled as a spamdwxwer and your indexed posts are dumped into the supplementary search engine results.

    The combined number of Categories and Tags which are treated the same way by WordPress.com and the search engines on any post should not be more than 5 – 10 in number. The rule of thumb is to use the least number of categories and tags that are relevant and accurately describe the content in any post. http://en.support.wordpress.com/global-tags/#missing-posts
    See also > http://en.support.wordpress.com/posts/categories-vs-tags/

  • Unknown's avatar
    timethief · Member ·

    edit: spelling error above “spamdwxwer ” was meant to be “spamdexer”

  • Unknown's avatar
    eviebelin · Member ·

    Thanks, I started using less, we shall see how it goes.

    The only thing with using less tags and categories.. it means I don’t have a sort of organizational system within the blog that’s really thorough. Like if someone is trying to find a photo that they saw, and they remember it had a blue tshirt… I generally like putting tags that have specific descriptions, so you could find it by tag on the blog. Is there a way to do something like this w out interfereing w search engine standards?

  • Unknown's avatar
    raincoaster · Member ·

    The search box is REALLY good at finding that sort of thing. Don’t worry about it too much.

    And I say that as a person with over 300 categories. Remember, they can only click on one of them, they can’t say, click on Pumpkins, Cookies, Dragons, and Cryptography to find only posts with all four tags.

  • Unknown's avatar
    necrotichijinks · Member ·

    I also started my blog about a week ago and have two suggestions to make.

    Pay attention to how people are finding the posts you already have. (In your dashboard, click on “View All” under stats and look for the “Referrers” box.) You may find that your style or headlines tend to attract people browsing one particular tag. In my case, most of my posts have the tags “humor” and “education,” but I get significantly more traffic from “humor.” So when I put tags on my posts, I keep the education tags but I try to expand on the humor end with tags like “satire” and “comedy,” when relevant. When browsing by tags, humor is popular and the posts move off the front page very quickly. Over at satire, there are fewer posts (but fewer readers, I assume) and my post sticks around on the front page longer.

    Also, if you use a message board anonymously anywhere else, can you link to your blog from there? I’ve gotten some traffic from people who have read my comments on that other site.

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