Tags, in the deutschen WordPress-Oberfläche häufig als Keywords referred to as, help connect posts based on specific topics or characteristics. They complement the categories and can enable visitors to find additional posts on a specific subtopic.
However, tags are among the WordPress features that are frequently misused. Creating new keywords for every post or simply adopting individual terms from the text as tags quickly leads to dozens of rarely used tag archives and a cluttered website structure.
In this guide, you will learn what tags are in WordPress, how they differ from categories, how to create new keywords, and how to use them effectively for the structure of your website.
Briefly explained: Categories organize posts into broader subject areas. Tags describe more specific topics or attributes that can connect multiple posts together. You do not necessarily have to use tags—a WordPress website will work completely fine without keywords.
What is a tag in WordPress? #
A day is a so-called Taxonomy, with which WordPress posts can be grouped according to certain characteristics.
Assuming you run a WordPress blog. For example, your posts are in categories such as:
- WordPress
- Web hosting
- SEO
- Website security
Certain topics may recur within various posts. Tags can be used for this purpose, for example:
- WooCommerce
- Elementor
- cPanel
- SSL
- Performance
A tag can thus connect posts that belong to different categories but deal with a common topic.
What is the difference between categories and tags? #
Categories and tags both belong to WordPress taxonomies, but they serve different purposes.
Categories usually form the basic thematic structure of a blog. They answer the simplified question:
„To which broader topic does this contribution belong?“
Tags on the other hand, describe more specific topics or features of a post. They are more likely to answer the question:
„What specific topics are covered in this post?“
An example:
- Post: Speed up WordPress with Redis
- Category: WordPress
- Possible tags: Redis, Performance, Caching
The category assigns the post to a broad subject area. The tags describe individual aspects of the content.
We explain in detail how to structure categories and subcategories sensibly in the article Creating and structuring categories and subcategories in WordPress effectively.
The most important difference: Tags have no hierarchy #
WordPress categories can be organized hierarchically. A category can therefore be a parent category or a subcategory.
For example:
- WordPress
- Plugins
- Themes
- Safety
Standard WordPress tags do not have this parent-child relationship. A tag is fundamentally on an equal footing with the other tags.
You should therefore not try to use buzzwords to build a second complicated navigation hierarchy.
Do I have to use tags in WordPress? #
No. Tags are optional.
You can run a WordPress blog exclusively with logically structured categories and completely dispense with tags.
Especially for smaller websites, this is often the better solution. For example, if you only have 20 or 30 blog posts and they are already neatly organized into a few categories, additional tags may not provide any real added value.
Important: Do not use tags just because the field is there in the WordPress editor. Only use them if they actually help visitors discover more relevant content.
Where do I manage tags in WordPress? #
First, log in to your WordPress admin area. For a standard installation, you can usually reach it via:
Replace your-domain.ch through your actual domain.
Then open in the left navigation:
Posts → Tags
Depending on the WordPress language or translation used, the label may vary slightly.
On this page you can create new tags and manage existing keywords.
Create a new tag in WordPress #
In the tag management you will find the fields for creating a new tag.
Create new keyword #
- Log in to the WordPress admin area.
- Open Posts → Tags.
- Enter under Name Enter the desired name.
- Create your own if necessary Slug celebration.
- Optionally add a description.
- Click on Create new keyword.
The new keyword will then be available and can be assigned to your posts.
What goes in the „Name“ field? #
The name denotes the topic that is intended to connect several posts with one another.
A good day is short and unambiguous. Examples could be:
- Elementor
- WooCommerce
- Redis
- SSL
- cPanel
Unnecessarily long keywords such as:
Everything you need to know about WordPress plugins
are not useful. A tag is not a heading and not a search term that you need to cover as completely as possible.
What is the tag slug? #
Like categories, tags also have a Slug. WordPress uses this for the URL of the corresponding tag archive.
A day named:
Website Security
could, for example, the slug:
website security
received.
Depending on the permalink and WordPress configuration, this could result in the following address, for example:
WordPress can generate the slug automatically. You can also set it yourself if needed.
Recommendation: Use short and understandable slugs for tags as well. Do not change the slugs of an established website without a reason, as this can alter existing archive URLs.
What is the description of a tag used for? #
WordPress allows a description for each tag. Whether this is visible on the public website depends on the theme used or the template of the tag archive.
If your tag archives play an important role for visitors, a short description can be helpful. It explains which content is grouped under the respective tag.
In one day WooCommerce could a description be, for example:
Guides and tips about WooCommerce, online stores, configuration, performance, and security.
If your theme does not use the description, it may remain invisible on the public website.
Add a tag directly in the WordPress editor #
You don't have to first for every new catchphrase Posts → Tags Open.
When editing a post, you can add tags directly via the post settings or select existing keywords. The exact appearance depends on your WordPress version and the editor you are using.
Assign a tag to a post #
- Open the desired post in the WordPress editor.
- Open the section in the post settings Keywords.
- Enter the desired term or select an existing keyword.
- Add more matching tags if necessary.
- Save or update the post.
The post will then be assigned to the corresponding tag.
How many tags should a post have? #
There is no technically prescribed or generally optimal number for SEO.
A post can be without tags, have a single tag, or be assigned multiple meaningful keywords.
What matters is not the number, but whether every tag used serves a comprehensible purpose.
Five meaningful tags can be completely fine for a lengthy specialist article. Fifteen tags that merely repeat individual words from the headline and the text, on the other hand, are usually useless.
Practice rule: Ask yourself every day whether you expect to link further posts with this exact tag. If the tag permanently exists for only a single article, it is often redundant.
Why a tag should not be used only once #
WordPress normally creates its own archive page for a tag. All posts assigned to this tag are displayed there.
If you create a new tag for a single post, the corresponding tag archive might also contain only that single post.
If you do this regularly, numerous archive pages with hardly any independent value are quickly created.
An example:
You have 30 blog posts and create five individual tags for each post. In the worst case, this creates well over 100 keywords, many of which are only used once.
This is not a sensible content structure.
Tags are not SEO keywords #
One of the most common mistakes is treating tags like a list of SEO keywords.
Assuming you publish a post about WordPress hosting, you don't automatically have to create tags like these:
- WordPress Hosting
- WordPress Hosting Switzerland
- best WordPress hosting
- fast WordPress hosting
- WordPress Web Hosting
- WordPress Hosting
This does not create effective SEO optimization. Instead, it creates multiple nearly identical taxonomy archives.
Tags serve to Organization and linking of content. You are not an input field where you have to enter your desired Google search terms.
SEO Note: A day does not become valuable simply because its name contains an interesting keyword. The decisive factor is whether the corresponding archive page represents a meaningful collection of relevant content for visitors.
What are tag archives? #
By default, WordPress generates an archive page for every tag used.
For example, if a visitor clicks on the tag WooCommerce clicks, WordPress can display a page listing all posts with this tag.
Such archives can be useful when a tag connects numerous relevant posts.
However, they can also be of little help if:
- a tag is used in only one post
- several tags have practically the same meaning
- Tags were only created as supposed SEO keywords
- Hundreds of rarely used keywords exist
- Categories and tags group almost identical content almost identically
Can tag archives be indexed by Google? #
In principle, publicly accessible tag archives can be crawled by search engines and—depending on various factors—also indexed.
Whether you want to have tag archives indexed depends on your website structure and your SEO configuration.
High-quality, sensibly maintained taxonomy archives can offer visitors added value. A large number of thin or nearly identical tag pages, on the other hand, is rarely helpful.
SEO plugins frequently offer settings for how taxonomy archives are treated by search engines. However, you should not change such settings across the board without understanding the impact on your existing website.
Category and tag with the same name? #
Technically, situations can arise where a category and a tag have the same or a very similar name. In terms of content, however, this is often redundant.
For example, if you already have a category WordPress possesses, brings an additional day WordPress mostly no added value.
Both taxonomies would likely group largely the same contributions.
Therefore, use tags for additional thematic connections and not simply as a copy of your categories.
Avoid singular, plural, and different spellings #
Another typical problem arises when similar tags with different spellings are created over a longer period of time.
For example:
- Plugin
- Plugins
- WordPress Plugin
- WordPress Plugins
- WordPress Plugins
If all terms are supposed to describe the same topic, you usually don't need five different tags.
Establish a clear designation and use it consistently.
The same applies to upper and lower case, abbreviations, and alternative product names.
Reuse existing tags #
Before creating a new tag when writing a post, check if a matching tag already exists.
This prevents more and more similar keywords from being created over the years.
Especially on websites with multiple editors, there should be clear rules for categories and tags. Otherwise, each author might create their own variants for the same topic.
Tip: On a larger editorial website, a small list of desired categories and main tags can help. This keeps the taxonomy consistent even with multiple authors.
When are tags actually useful? #
Tags are especially useful when a recurring theme connects multiple posts without justifying a main category itself.
An example would be an extensive tech blog with the categories:
- WordPress
- Web hosting
- Domains
- SEO
The term SSL could occur in several of these areas:
- Enable SSL in WordPress
- SSL Certificates in Web Hosting
- HTTPS and SEO
- SSL issues after a domain change
A day SSL could connect these thematically related posts, even though they belong to different categories.
Tags can be useful precisely for such cross-connections.
When is it better to avoid using tags? #
For small websites or blogs with few posts, you often don't need tags at all.
If your categories already form a clear structure and visitors can find related content without any problems, you do not need to introduce an additional taxonomy level.
Even if you struggle to reuse existing tags with every new post, this is an indication that the keywords may not have any real structural benefit.
In this case, a clear category structure is usually the better solution.
Clean up tags afterwards #
On older WordPress websites, you can often find hundreds of tags that have been created spontaneously over the years.
Before deleting such tags, you should first check:
- How many posts use the tag?
- Are there similar or duplicate tags?
- Is the tag archive publicly accessible?
- Does the archive page receive visitors via search engines or external links?
- Can the tag be merged with another keyword?
- Are redirects required after a change?
Therefore, do not recklessly delete large amounts of existing tags on an already established website.
How to edit and delete existing tags is covered in the article Edit and delete tags in WordPress.
What happens when a tag is deleted? #
Deleting a tag does not delete the posts associated with it.
The assignment to this tag will be removed, the posts themselves will remain.
However, the corresponding tag archive also disappears, or rather, its previous URL may no longer be available as before.
Therefore, in the case of an established public website, you should check whether the previous archive URL has been indexed or externally linked before deleting important tags.
Display tags in menus or widgets #
Depending on the theme and WordPress configuration, tags can also be displayed in various places on the website. For example, some themes show the keywords below a post.
Furthermore, taxonomy archives can be linked, or keywords can be displayed, for example, via a tag cloud block or corresponding theme functions.
Just because tags can be displayed technically, you don't have to place them prominently everywhere. Here too, the deciding factor is whether the display helps visitors with navigation.
How a tag cloud works will be covered later in the article Displaying and effectively using a tag cloud in WordPress.
Tags and internal linking are not the same #
A tag connects posts via a shared archive page. However, this does not replace targeted internal linking within your content.
When mentioning a topic in an article for which you have already published a detailed guide, a direct internal link is often much more helpful to the reader than hoping they will find the relevant article via a tag archive.
Tags can therefore complement navigation. However, they do not replace a sensibly structured internal linking between conceptually related posts.
Practical Tip: Use categories for the basic structure, tags where needed for meaningful thematic cross-references, and direct internal links for concrete further information. These three functions fulfill different tasks.
A simple strategy for categories and tags #
When you are building a new WordPress website, you can follow a simple procedure:
- First, define a few clear main categories.
- Publish your first posts within this structure.
- Observe which specific topics regularly appear in various posts.
- Create meaningful tags only for such recurring topics.
- Consistently reuse existing tags.
- Check occasionally whether barely used or duplicate tags have been created.
This way, the tag structure grows along with your actual content, instead of creating a large number of potentially unnecessary keywords right at the beginning.
Common mistakes with WordPress tags #
Many problems with tags do not arise from WordPress itself, but from their unstructured use.
Common mistakes include:
- create new tags for each post
- Use tags as an SEO keyword list
- Name categories and tags identically
- Create singular and plural as separate tags
- use similar spellings for the same topic
- Assign dozens of tags to a single post
- Create tags that permanently contain only one post
- delete existing tags without considering previous URLs
A small, consistent tag structure is almost always more useful than a huge collection of keywords that nobody can keep track of anymore.
Summary #
Tags, or keywords, are an optional WordPress taxonomy that allows you to connect posts based on specific topics. You manage them under Posts → Tags or assign them directly when editing a post.
Unlike categories, tags are not hierarchical by default. Categories form the basic topical structure of your posts, while tags can create additional thematic cross-connections.
Use tags sparingly and consistently. Do not create new tags for every post and do not treat them like SEO keywords. A good tag should connect several relevant posts and offer visitors clear, added value.
If your website is already clearly structured with just a few categories, you can dispense with tags altogether. If you do need them, you should reuse existing keywords whenever possible and regularly check your taxonomy for duplicate or rarely used entries.
You can find further basics in our guides on Categories and subcategories in WordPress and the WordPress permalink settings.
