WordPress Categories vs. Tags

I’m so excited to be sharing some tips and tricks about WordPress here on the SNAP blog! In the spirit of Spring Cleaning I thought for my first post we would talk a little about cleaning up those categories and tags on your WordPress blog.

If you moved over to WordPress from Blogger you may have been a little confused when suddenly you had two options for labeling/categorizing/tagging (whatever you want to call it!) your posts. On Blogger they just have “labels” but WordPress gives you a two tiered system which is really nice. So whats the difference?

Lets break it down and talk about each one at a time shall we?

Mosy on over to the Posts section on the left side of your dashboard and choose “Categories” from the submenu that pops out. You’ll see something like this:

Categories are meant to be very broad and general descriptions of your content. You really should only have a handful of these like in the good example below. Examples of appropriate categories would be: “Tutorials”, “Blogging”, “Family”, “Crafts”, “Recipes”, “Parties”. So if you have a ton of categories like the bad example below take the time and spring clean those babies. It’ll take some time if you’ve been blogging for a long time but trust me, it’ll feel so good to have them all organized and pretty!

Now onto Tags which are right there under Categories.

The Tags screen looks similar to the Categories one except you should have A LOT more of them. Tags are meant to be more detailed, descriptive words of the Category(ies) you assigned to a post.

So if your Category for a post is “Recipes”, some good Tags would be: “Vegetarian”, “Main Dish”, “Chocolate”, “Brownies”.  Be creative and descriptive.  If you have a ton of Categories right now my guess is most of those would be better suited for Tags.

When you are writing a post on the right hand side of your screen you’ll see an area from Categories and Tags. You can select ones you’ve already created from the screens we’ve already seen or you can add new ones right there. You really shouldn’t be adding new Categories all the time though since we want the number to be limited remember? But you may be adding new tags more often.

So now you know the difference between Categories and Tags. Its really important to keep these organized…it helps your readers find content especially if you have A LOT of posts. It also helps a ton in using related content plugins effectively and is huge in good SEO (search engines finding your content).

Happy Spring Cleaning those Categories and Tags! You’ll be glad you did!

I’d love to know what YOU want to know about WordPress. Leave your suggestions in the comments!

(As a side note, I am happy to answer any questions about the transition from Blogger to WordPress and can even help you with the move. Learn more on my site LexiLyn Studio.) 

You might also like...

Blogger or WordPress?

When I wrote about how blogging is like a home, it sparked a firestorm of questions and a bit of a debate behind the scenes about whether Blogger or WordPress ...

READ MORE

Blogger or WordPress?

• Bio
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Latest Posts

Amy @ LexiLyn Studio

Web Designer at Lexilyn Studio

Amy is a wife and mother to three girls. She runs a busy WordPress design business, called Lexilyn Studio, out of her home in Utah. She has designed sites for some of the most well known blogs online.

@lexilynstudio

Follow @lexilynstudio

Latest posts by Amy @ LexiLyn Studio (see all)

• How to Change Fonts in WordPress - February 28, 2013
• How to Install a WordPress Pinterest Plugin - January 22, 2013
• How to Create a Navigation Bar in WordPress - November 27, 2012