How to use tags in a cleaner fashion?

[Michael]

I'm building my category pages now, and I'm going to use tags to allow my users to sort through the category.

Is there a way I can use tags without making my site look like a complete mess? For example, in the SERPs sometimes I see people's tags show up, and when I click into it I'm left rather disappointed because it's mostly just random BS.

Not to mention I don't actually want to use the tag landing pages (domain.com/tag/test-tag).

I'm not to fond of using categories either for the same reason. Plus it defeats the purpose of me creating pages with dropdown lists of tags for the user to chose from when they're on a category page.

 

[Calamari]

Do you really need tags at all? How about a site search bar or a few subcategories instead?

 

[Michael]

Do you really need tags at all? How about a site search bar or a few subcategories instead?

Well I wanted to tag everything so that when you land on a category page, I can show all posts that match a certain tag. The certain tag being what the user chooses from a dropdown list / radio button. Is there a better way of achieving this?
EG: http://www.techradar.com/reviews/phones/mobile-phones

I have a search bar too.

 

[Ryuzaki]

I don't use tags. If you provide a search bar then to me that's good enough. I considered tags but it's a huge can of worms regarding depth (how much precision do I allow in the tags = exponential number of them), etc.

If you use them, no-index them all. That's what I'd do to avoid a huge Panda issue.

For categories, I no-index anything at page/2 and deeper. I only want the first page to be indexed. But I leave them crawl-able and followable so the link juice flows.

My own question:

I've considered rel="canonical"-ing all of these pages back to the first page, but haven't. This way, if anyone linked to a deeper page, it would help rank the head of the category itself, which is preferable since they are the only ones with anything static on them. With all of the URL's being available in the sitemap and with interlinking, I see no reason not to do this. I might implement that tonight. Anyone have input on this?​

 

[Michael]

Hmm okay. So your assumption is that people will make use of the search bar before they start drilling down category pages using dropdowns etc?

I like the idea of noindexing pages > 1, thanks. But then again, I'm still worried that just having straight category pages isn't enough and will harm the UX.

These are my personal ideas and experiences, but I'd be lying if I said I don't get real OCD with this stuff lol.

 

[Ryuzaki]

So your assumption is that people will make use of the search bar before they start drilling down category pages using dropdowns etc?

No, not if you provide that option. I think they'll go where you direct them. Why I avoided tags is because I have a policy of one category per post. This way I know that I'm dealing directly with what someone who browses that category wants. I choose before I start writing.

And that's why I didn't mess with tags. It would get insane fast, even if you limit it to the top-most level of tags. But if you drill down into more detail, it gets nuttier. And then you start spending time deciding if a post justifies having a certain tag.

For me, I felt it was better to put the lid on that concept and never open it, for the same reasons... coimpletionism and obsession.

I will admit though, CMS search engines tend to blow. They are keyword finders with no real sense of relevance. You could always use an on-site Google search. I don't know, it's all a pain in the ass.

My main solace is most people view one or two pages. Other people who really want more info will be motivated to find it despite these hurdles.

 

[Michael]

And that's why I didn't mess with tags. It would get insane fast, even if you limit it to the top-most level of tags. But if you drill down into more detail, it gets nuttier. And then you start spending time deciding if a post justifies having a certain tag.

Real talk, my head was already hurting trying to group everything.

For me, I felt it was better to put the lid on that concept and never open it, for the same reasons... coimpletionism and obsession.

Yeah, that sounds good to me. Can already seeing myself wasting lots of time with this.

I will just use categories, but I will instead filter by categories rather than tags. One last thing, is there a way to handle no-indexing pages > 1 automatically? Or are you manually doing this?

 

[Nat]

Yeah, I've experienced this problem as well. Site organization and structure was easily the most annoying / hardest thing I've encountered so far. At first I decided not to use tags at all. And then I sort of caved and have been using on intuition - mostly for categorizing views and types. Potentially not the best idea, but I decided to stop myself from inaction and just started doing. I've been tags sort of like some subreddits use them - almost as little warning notices that there is either an {angle / opinion / subject} to this post that you wouldn't realize after reading the headline or glancing at the category.

 

[Ryuzaki]

One last thing, is there a way to handle no-indexing pages > 1 automatically?

Yoast can handle this for you if you use that plugin. Otherwise I'm sure there's a function out there you could copy pasta. I let Yoast do it. I use it for several features and they keep it updated and bug free so I don't worry about that one. It's one of the few that aren't worth recreating for yourself.

but I will instead filter by categories rather than tags.

I use sub-categories. That helped tremendously.

 

[Michael]

Yoast can handle this for you if you use that plugin. Otherwise I'm sure there's a function out there you could copy pasta. I let Yoast do it. I use it for several features and they keep it updated and bug free so I don't worry about that one. It's one of the few that aren't worth recreating for yourself.



I use sub-categories. That helped tremendously.

I was just looking for a manual solution to remove the category slug (didn't want another plugin) and I know Yoast does this. So this is a perfect solution, 2 birds with 1 stone. Cheers mate!

 

[Joe Wee]

I would use exact match tags for the keyword you are trying to rank for. I have noticed very slight differences (could be unrelated) but saw positive movement when I changed some of my post tags to the exact keyword I was trying to rank for.

 

[Maria]

I usually put my content up around a certain theme. Usually at least 10 pieces with a main larger post. I tag each page with the same tag. Then move on to the next set of content. This helps me keep organised and see what content I have already written on a certain subject.