The Difference Between Tags And Categories
Some new bloggers are confused about the difference between tags and categories so I’m going to try to clarify that for you now.
Categories are broad groups for blog posts within a niche. For instance, if you are writing a blog about real estate then you might have the following categories:
- Buyer Tips
- Seller Tips
- Mortgage Tips
- Open House
Generally speaking, you don’t want too many categories - 10 to 15 ought to do it. I don’t think I’d want more than 20, tops. But the purpose of the categories is to group all of your related blog posts so that readers can find them easily.
Now, what are tags?
Tags are a bit more specific than categories. While we recommend that you use categories as keywords, they don’t necessarily need to be keywords. But tags should be keywords that you mention in your blog posts. And keep this in mind: You can have individual blog posts in different categories use the same tags.
When you create tags, you want to use important words that are used in your blog posts. For instance, you might have two posts categorized in your Buyer Tips and Seller Tips categories that each mention negotiating and contracts. You could tag both blog posts with ‘negotiation’ and ‘contract’ tags and any other tags that are appropriate for the post. I wouldn’t use more than 5 or 6 tags per post, but they are meant to be specific keyword counters for specific individual blog posts without consideration for the category those posts are in. There is no limit to the number of tags you might have for your blog, but you should try to be consistent in your use of them.
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