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Tags are like signal flares
I love using tags on posts. Too many tags and they become fireworks in the sky. They won’t benefit you or point the way for people searching for information on the web.
But good keyword rich tags used specifically and sparingly are great signal flares bringing readers to your content.
My rule of thumb for tags: At least 2 tags and no more than 4 total.
I break it sometimes but not often.
Tags are not a nuisance
I think a lot of blogger think taking the time to assign tags is a waste of time.
Actually, the time to assign a couple of tags is the most productive time you can take.
If you are using the All-In-One-SEO plugin (and everyone should be using it) be sure to check the option to have tags indexed. You do this in the negative, be sure to uncheck: Use noindex for Tag Archives: This will get your tags indexed in Google. DON’T WORRY ABOUT DUPLICATE CONTENT. Your tags should index as excerpts and Google knows it is a tag and not a page or post with duplicate content.
Put in too many tags and it diminishes the effect. It turns your signal flare attracting attention into fireworks that are ignored. Post tags used wisely are a powerful tool.
An Example of how Tags work for you
I wrote a post yesterday after the Presidents speech in Mesa, AZ. It wasn’t much of a post; a copy of the text of the speech, a link to the White House website and a link to the White House Blog. I wrote a short introductory paragraph.
I didn’t really expect to rank for this post. I published it for the readers so they could find the text of the speech and some of the implications of what President Obama was planning.
By late afternoon I was seeing in my Hittail results hit on the phrase “Obama Mesa Speech” AND THEY WERE COMING FROM PAGE 1 OF GOOGLE!
Better yet. Those results were on the tag not the post title tag, but the included post tag.
Post Tags for the Obama Mesa speech
In the graphic above is a screen shot of the title and post tags for the original post. You can see there are two post tags beside the title tag.
The first search result is from Google for the search term Obama’s Mesa Speech The second is the results from a Cnn.com search for the same phrase.
You can see the yellow box indicates in the url this is a Tag and not the post. You can also see the search result is the tag “Obama Mesa Speech On Home Mortgage Crisis” and not the title of the post “Text – President Obama Speech on Mortage Crisis”
I don’t know how long it will continue to be indexed. I’ve found that in some situations the tags are not indexed for very long, sometimes a few days sometimes a few weeks. But they rank quickly. This is why I call them a “Signal Flare”.
They grab attention quickly and bring readers to your post.
There would not have been the search results or the traffic if I hadn’t included this tag. The title tag is buried in the search results from other media sources.
Here is the point. Imagine this:
A local real estate blog from Tucson, Arizona is on page 1 of Google for Obama’s Mesa Speech and it got there in less than 2 hours after the speech was delivered and is still there a day later.
This is the power of post tags.
Dave,
You really got me thinking about the All-in-One SEO plug-in, which by the way I agree is another MUST HAVE plug-in for WP.
Besides your advice on the “Use no-index for Tag Archives” can you give us a quick run-down on what you think should be checked (or un-checked) in that plug-in’s settings? I think most users (myself included) just leave the setting as-is when it’s installed because we don’t know what they mean. Consequently, we may be missing out on all of the power of this great plug-in.
Thanks in advance for your help!
Chuck
Chuck Gillooley ´s last blog post..Lookiloos.com gives you a peek inside…
@Chuck Gillooley – WOW that’s a tall order. One I’ll have to address in a post of its own.
Some of those settings are personal preference and how you want your blog to function. Some of them I’m not sure of myself. I’ve made some changes over the past year again based on my personal preferences.
For example I used to have my archive pages indexed but one day decided to keep them from being indexed.
Okay, I’ll write that post hopefully tomorrow and go through my reasoning for each setting. Holy Cow Pastures that’s going to be a long post.
Dave
@Dave Smith – Dave,
That’s why you’re the king of WP in my book! Don’t kill yourself explaining every detail — but the advice you gave in just one sentence today was HUGE.
Thanks again for all of your help!
CG
Chuck Gillooley ´s last blog post..Lookiloos.com gives you a peek inside…
Chuck Gillooley ´s last blog post..Lookiloos.com gives you a peek inside…
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Tags are a great way of helping your readers sort through your posts.
Brandon ´s last blog post..What the new Stimulus Package really means to DC Metro area homebuyers and sellers
I would like to see a post about the best practices for tagging articles in a real estate blog. Is it best to tag with geographic locations, pick your 10 best keywords and make those your tags or go free form and make it up per post? Would love to read your thoughts and maybe some examples as to what you think works best.
Brad Nix ´s last blog post..3 Questions Atlanta Real Estate Buyers Should Ask
Great Post. I like others you mentioned, have not taken the time to tag my blog post. After I read this post I started tagging and it dose look like it make a difference. Tags are a lot like building links as overkill hurts the effect. I used to build 4-7 links in a blog and 5-8 tags. After reading that Google recognizes manipulation, a light bulb came on. Google cannot be fooled. Do accurate blog, links and tags, and everything else takes care of itself. Once people learn that there is no way to truly manipulate soe, they figure out what most of us have learned… Hard, smart work is the only way to win the seo war.
@Brad Nix – Brad, I use a Web or Net approach. Not as in the internet or world wide web, but as a spider or a fisherman.
I’ve covered most of this scattered all around the Lab. I’ll pull it together and create a post tomorrow or the next day.
Here is a teaser for you. I do all of the ones you mentioned as a complete strategy for tagging my RE blogs.