Keywords, often also as Tags tags help you to label individual topics or features of your WordPress posts more precisely. While categories represent broader subject areas of your blog, you can use tags to apply specific terms that connect multiple content-related posts with each other.
A post from the category WordPress could, for example, include keywords like Plugins, WooCommerce, Safety or Performance maintained. Visitors can thus discover further posts that also deal with this specific topic.
Briefly explained: Categories form the basic topic structure of your blog. Tags, on the other hand, describe individual topics, characteristics, or terms within this content. Tags are optional – you do not have to assign tags to every post.
What are tags in WordPress? #
Keywords are a so-called Taxonomy from WordPress. A taxonomy is used to group content according to specific characteristics. WordPress provides two particularly important taxonomies by default for normal posts: Categories and Keywords.
The essential difference lies in their purpose. Categories are suitable for the overarching structure of your content. Tags can describe individual aspects of a post in more detail.
Suppose you publish an article titled:
„Speeding up WordPress with a cache plugin“
This post could be assigned to the following structure, for example:
- Category: WordPress
- Keyword: Performance
- Keyword: Caching
- Keyword: Plugins
The category describes the broad subject area. The keywords indicate more specifically what the post is about.
What is the difference between categories and tags? #
Categories and tags are frequently confused with each other. While both serve to organize posts, they should not be used for the same purpose.
Categories are intended for the basic structure of your blog. They can be organized hierarchically and therefore have main categories and subcategories.
Keywords on the other hand, do not have a hierarchy. A keyword cannot be subordinated to another keyword.
A simple example:
- Category: WordPress
- Subcategory: Safety
- Keywords: Two-factor authentication, login, user account
If you want to build a sensible basic structure for your blog first, also read our article How to use WordPress categories correctly: Structure your posts meaningfully.
Rule of thumb: Categories tend to answer the question, „Which subject area does this post belong to?“ Keywords tend to answer the question, „What specific topics or terms does this post cover?“.
Do I have to use tags in WordPress? #
No. Keywords are not strictly necessary. A WordPress blog can easily be organized using only categories.
This is particularly important because keywords are often used far too generously. Some website operators assign numerous new tags to every post, even though these are not used for any subsequent posts.
This does not create a better structure. On the contrary, it can result in numerous tag archives with just a single post.
Important: Use tags only if they actually help your visitors find other topically relevant posts. A tag that is likely to be used for only a single post is usually redundant.
How to create a new tag in WordPress #
You can centrally manage tags via the WordPress admin area.
Procedure:
- Log in to WordPress admin area a.
- Open in the left navigation „Contributions“.
- Click on „Keywords“.
- Enter a name for the new keyword.
- Set a custom slug if needed.
- Optionally add a description.
- Click on „Create new tag“.
The tag is then available and can be assigned to your posts.
What does the name of a keyword mean? #
The name is the visible designation of the keyword. It should be as unambiguous as possible and comprehensibly describe the topic in question.
For example, the following keywords could be useful for a WordPress blog:
- WooCommerce
- Elementor
- Gutenberg
- Performance
- Backup
- Spam
Whether these terms actually make sense depends on your content, however. If you never publish multiple posts about Elementor, you probably don't need a dedicated tag for it.
What is the tag slug? #
Like categories, every tag also has a Slug. This is used, among other things, for the URL of the automatically generated tag archive.
A keyword named WordPress Security could, for example, have the following slug:
WordPress security
Depending on your WordPress configuration, this can result in an address like this, for example:
your-domain.ch/tag/wordpress-security/
WordPress can automatically generate the slug from the name. You can also define it yourself if needed.
Tip: Keep slugs short and clear. Do not use unnecessarily different spellings or variants for the same term.
Add tags directly while writing a post #
You do not necessarily have to put keywords underneath beforehand „Posts“ > „Tags“ create. You can also assign them or create new ones directly while editing a post.
Here is how you proceed:
- Open an existing post or create a new post.
- Open the post settings in the WordPress editor.
- Search the area „Keywords“.
- Enter the desired keyword.
- Select an existing keyword or add a new one.
- Save or update the post.
Depending on the WordPress version and editor interface used, the exact appearance may look slightly different. However, the basic principle remains the same.
Reuse existing tags #
One of the most important points when using tags sensibly is the Reuse of existing tags.
Assuming you already have the keyword WooCommerce created. If you publish another post about WooCommerce later, you should reuse this existing tag instead of creating similar variants like this:
- WooCommerce
- WooCommerce
- WooCommerce
- WooCommerce Shop
- WooCommerce Tips
If these terms are all supposed to describe the same topic area, they are unnecessarily distributing your posts across multiple different archives.
Typical error: Before creating a new keyword, check whether a suitable tag already exists. Different spellings of the same term quickly lead to a cluttered structure.
How many keywords should a post have? #
WordPress does not prescribe a specific number. Technically, you can assign a very large number of tags to a post. However, that does not mean it makes sense.
There is also no magic SEO rule like „five tags per post.“ Rather, what matters is whether each keyword used serves a clear purpose.
One post may need two or three matching tags. Another may not need any at all.
Avoid automatically turning every important word of an article into a keyword.
For an article about installing a WordPress plugin, for example, tags like these would be less helpful:
- WordPress
- Website
- Internet
- Installation
- Instructions
- Help
- Install plugin
- WordPress Plugin
Such terms are sometimes too general or overlap significantly with each other.
A day like Plugins can be useful if there are multiple posts on your website that cover different aspects of WordPress plugins.
Tags are not SEO keywords #
A common misconception is to equate WordPress tags with SEO keywords. Those are two different things.
A tag is used within WordPress to connect posts topically with one another. It is not automatically a „keyword“ for which a post ranks better on Google.
Assigning numerous tags with desired search terms to an article does not automatically improve its position in the search results.
SEO Note: Use tags for your visitors and for a meaningful content structure – not as a list of keywords meant to help you rank on Google.
WordPress automatically creates tag archives #
For used tags, WordPress can automatically generate so-called Tag Archive generate. Such an archive displays posts that have been assigned the tag in question.
For example, if five posts have the tag WooCommerce use, the WooCommerce tag archive can display these posts together on an overview page.
This can be helpful for visitors because they can get directly from one post to further content on the same topic.
How these archives look depends on the WordPress theme you use or the structure of your website.
Can tag archives appear on Google? #
In principle, publicly accessible tag archives can be found and indexed by search engines. Whether this is desired depends on the structure and SEO configuration of your website.
Well-maintained archives with multiple matching posts can provide users with a useful overview. Hundreds of thin tag pages, each with only one post, on the other hand, create hardly any added value.
Many SEO plugins therefore offer settings for how category and tag archives should be handled by search engines.
Crucial for SEO: Do not create a new tag for every supposed keyword. This can result in a large number of nearly empty archive pages without actually improving the content quality of your website.
What does thin content mean for keywords? #
As Thin Content are, simply put, pages that offer little independent or helpful content. In WordPress, poorly maintained tag structures can contribute to generating a large number of very weak archive pages.
An example: You publish 50 blog posts and assign a total of 150 different tags. Many of these tags are used only once.
WordPress can generate numerous archives from this, each listing only a single post that already exists elsewhere.
Such a structure offers visitors little additional benefit.
That is why it usually makes more sense to work with a smaller number of well-chosen and recurring keywords.
Do not create categories and tags identically #
Avoid using the same subject term as both a category and a tag simultaneously without a recognizable reason, whenever possible.
For example, if you already have a category WordPress own, you usually don't need an additional keyword WordPress, which contains the exact same posts.
This can result in two nearly identical archive pages:
your-domain.ch/category/wordpress/
and
deine-domain.ch/tag/wordpress/
Both would potentially list the same content and would have hardly any different functions for visitors.
Better: Use categories for your major topic areas and tags only for meaningful cross-connections between posts.
A practical example of a clean structure #
Assuming your blog deals with websites, hosting, and online marketing.
The categories could be structured as follows:
- WordPress
- Web hosting
- SEO
Additionally, you use some recurring keywords:
- WooCommerce
- Elementor
- Safety
- Performance
- Backup
A post about securing a WooCommerce shop could then, for example, be in the category WordPress be assigned and the keywords WooCommerce and Safety use.
Another article about the performance of a WooCommerce shop could also belong to the WordPress category, but the tags WooCommerce and Performance received.
Using the keyword WooCommerce, visitors can then connect the two posts, even though they cover different aspects.
Edit keywords #
You manage existing tags under „Posts“ > „Tags“.
There you can, among other things:
- change the name,
- edit the slug,
- change the description,
- delete unneeded keywords.
For an already established website, you should make changes to slugs carefully because this can change the URL of the corresponding tag archive.
Be careful when changing a tag slug #
If a tag is already in use and its archive is publicly accessible, changing the slug may also change the URL.
From:
your-domain.ch/tag/performance/
could for example become:
deine-domain.ch/tag/wordpress-performance/
If the previous address was already linked or indexed by a search engine, it may lead to a dead end after the change.
Important: Do not unnecessarily change the slugs of established keywords. If a URL change is necessary, it should be checked whether a permanent 301 redirect from the previous to the new URL needs to be set up.
What happens when you delete a keyword? #
When you delete a tag, the posts associated with it not deleted. Only the assignment of this tag to the posts will be removed.
Other categories and tags of the posts remain unchanged.
Before deleting a tag that has already been in use for a while, however, you should check whether its archive has been linked internally or externally and whether the URL has been indexed by search engines.
When should you summarize keywords? #
Over time, a messy tag structure can develop in a blog. This happens particularly often when multiple authors publish posts or new keywords are created spontaneously with every new article.
Check occasionally if you find tags that mean the same or nearly the same.
Examples would be:
- Webshop and online shop
- Backup and data recovery
- Speed and performance
This does not mean that these terms are always identical in principle. However, if they are used for the same type of posts on your website, combining them can make sense.
A simple strategy for beginners #
If you are just starting out with WordPress, you do not need to plan a complicated tag structure.
It is better to proceed step by step:
- First, define a few meaningful categories for the main topics of your website.
- Publish your first posts.
- Observe which specific topics recur regularly.
- Create meaningful keywords only for these recurring topics.
- Consistently reuse existing tags.
As a result, the structure grows together with your content instead of creating dozens of empty or barely used archives right at the beginning.
Recommendation: If you are not sure whether a term should become a category or a tag, ask yourself whether it describes a main topic of your website or merely a recurring aspect of various posts.
Using categories and tags together in a meaningful way #
Categories and tags can complement each other exceptionally well when both are used deliberately.
Categories form the stable framework of your blog. Tags create additional cross-connections between individual posts.
However, you need neither as many categories as possible nor as many tags as possible. A small, logically structured layout is usually much more helpful to visitors than a large collection of rarely used terms.
If you have not yet set up your categories, read our detailed article as well. How to use WordPress categories correctly: Structure your posts meaningfully.
Summary #
Keywords or tags help you connect specific topics and features of your WordPress posts. You can find them under „Posts“ > „Tags“ manage or add directly while editing a post.
Unlike categories, tags have no hierarchy and are not strictly required. Use them purposefully for recurring topics and avoid creating numerous new tags for every post.
It is especially important to reuse existing tags. This creates meaningful thematic archives instead of generating numerous nearly empty pages. Categories form the main structure of your blog; tags complement this structure through targeted cross-connections between your content.
