Blog Tags vs Categories: Do You Need Both?

Before I learned the strategy behind blogging, I was using both blog tags and blog categories. I just wanted to fill in as much detail as I could when posting a new blog. I thought that would give me the best chance of ranking on Google. However, I learned I was probably hurting my SEO by doing that. There is a strategy behind using blog tags vs categories, and that’s what I want to teach you today.

What are Blog Categories?

Blog categories are high level groupings of your blog topics. Here are mine:

I talk a lot about SEO, blogging, entrepreneurship, and community, so those are my blog categories. Any blog I write should fall under at least one of these categories. It’s okay if a topic falls under more than one category. I categorized this blog under Blogging, but it could also go under SEO.

Blog categories keep your blogs relevant. If a topic doesn’t fall under one of your main categories, it probably isn’t relevant to your business or audience. 

Blog categories are also referred to as content buckets or content pillars. Thinking of your blog content strategy this way (or really any content strategy) helps you organize your content into broad topics. Categorizing them helps readers find what they’re interested in reading about. 

I recommend 5-7 main categories for your blog. It’s okay if they’re a little broad, as long as they cover the majority of your content.

What are Blog Tags?

Blog tags are more specific descriptors of blog content. For this blog, my blog tags might be:

• Blog tags
• Blog categories
• Blog content 
• Blog strategy

See how the tags are more specific than blog categories? They highlight key aspects and topics of individual posts. You might want to use blog tags vs categories for more granular organization. Tags allow for more specific labeling of your content, which helps users find specific posts they want to read about. Categories are more broad, so a user would have to go searching for a topic.

I don’t use blog tags but for business owners who decide they are relevant (more on that in a second!), I recommend 3-5 tags per post. This range allows you to highlight the main topics of the post without overwhelming the reader or search engines. Make sure to pick blog tags you might use in the future. As much as you can, avoid using a blog tag only one time.

How Blog Tags vs Categories Affect SEO

Deciding to use blog tags vs. categories isn’t just a preference choice; it also affects your SEO. Let’s talk through a few SEO considerations before making your choice.

New Pages

No matter what you choose, each tag and each category will create a new page on your website. For categories, this is a great thing. It allows you to optimize a broader blog category which tells Google what you’ll be writing about. Categories help create a clear, hierarchical structure, which search engines can easily crawl and understand. This structure makes it easier for search engines to index the content efficiently.

However, this is an issue for blog tags. Seeing as you can create as many tags as you want per blog, you might have hundreds of blog tag pages on your website that aren’t optimized. You might create a tag for a specific blog and never use it again, leading to a tag page with little to no unique content. This thin content can be seen as low-quality by search engines, potentially harming your SEO.

Keyword Optimization

You can optimize for new keywords for both blog tags and categories. As I mentioned before, it’s much easier to do with blog categories because there aren’t as many pages to optimize. The benefit of using blog tags is they allow you to target specific keywords or phrases that might not fit into your broader blog category structure. 

Industries That Benefit From Blog Tags

However, some industries would benefit from blog tags vs categories. If your industry has numerous topics you can write about and it would result in too many blog categories, use tags. Just make sure to use them sparingly. 

Here are some examples of industries that would benefit from using blog tags vs categories.

• Entertainment: Tags can help readers find posts by specific genres, directors, actors, TV shows, or artists, offering more granular navigation than broad categories like movies or music.
• Travel: Tags can specify locations, types of travel (solo travel, family vacations, adventure trips, etc.), and topics (travel tips, packing lists, etc.).
• Food/Recipes: Categorize recipes with tags by ingredients (chicken, vegan, gluten-free, etc.), cuisines, and meal types (breakfast, dinner, desserts, etc.).
• Finance: Tags can differentiate content by specific financial instruments (stocks, bonds, cryptocurrencies, etc.), topics, and market sectors.

Do You Need Both?

The short answer is no, you do not need to use tags and categories. In fact, it might hurt your SEO to use both. 

For most small businesses, it works well to only use blog categories. If I were to use blog tags in addition to my categories, it would result in too granular of pages. I wouldn’t be able to effectively fill those blog tag pages with relevant content for my audience.

In my Blog Content Calendar freebie, I have a section for you to add your blog categories. That way, you can make sure you’re writing evenly within each category. You can edit the template to include blog tags if you decide you need them!

The goal is always to help users find what they’re looking for. If tags will help the reader find a specific blog faster, use those. If you can organize your content into a few blog categories, do that. Remember, all search engines care about is providing the best experience for its users. If you can align with that goal, you’ll be set.

So, what will work best for you? I hope this blog helped you decide between blog tags vs categories. In my blog strategy service, I identify five blog categories to organize your blog content. I also give you 25 blog content ideas with optimized headlines, and you can choose ten for me to outline for you! Learn more about this service and inquire today!