User Comments

1. 

   8/21/08

   tpvswp

   I'm not sure how self-hosted WordPress works, I can only speak for wordpress.com, but I assume it's similar. WordPress has tags and categories. Categories would be similiar to labels in Bloggers. Tags are more specific keywords for each post.

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2. 

   8/21/08

   crkian

   This is taken from one of my posts on gregarious, if you treat the post title and tags as keywords you wont go far wrong.
   
   'I mentioned tags previously and a lot go on about using generators to generate keywords for the post and using the best ones, I think that is a load of rubbish myself and I just use a mix of the post title for my tags, for the gregarious plugin post my tags are as follows.
   
   Plugins, social bookmark, stumbleupon, using gregarious, adding gregarious, bookmarking, gregarious
   
   As you can see it just offers a mix of the title and mentions seperate keywords like ‘plugin’ ’social bookmark’ ’stumbleupon’ which will give the search engines something else to mix and match. I could expand on the keywords by using, ‘adding digg to posts”add digg to wordpress’ e.t.c but I havent as it is mentioned in the post and Im going to do a seperate post on adding digg later.
   
   What have you learnt in this so far.
   
   1
   Change the Title() so the seperator is moved after the blog title.
   2
   Use keywords and what the post is about in the post title
   3
   Use the post title as tags and mention certain extra keywords.
   
   These mixed together will have three matches for the ‘keywords’ the search engines will see in the same post. This will produce a post that is aimed at the search engines, easier for search engines to see what the post is about, and should rank the post higher in the listings when someone searches for the keywords.
   
   You dont have to have long drawn out lists of keywords as I think search engines mix and match the words it finds for its own means.
   
   The last thing you want to do is include the ‘keywords’ in the post so anything mentioned in the tags and the post title should also be included when you write the post.'

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3. 

   8/21/08

   sayzlim

   Crk,
   
   usually when I write a post, I'll do some research on what people search with the main topic I want to write on. Because I used to post in Blogger where Categories doesn't play it part in SEO, I just create the category as I wished...
   
   As for tags, is one long tailed keyword is considered as tags?
   Eg. "the meaning of blog" ; "finding the post image"
   
   If I'm not wrong, tags are included in search result right?
   
   Or like what you have written
   
   Include the post title as tags and include some extra keywords
   
   so in tags will be like this
   eg. "how to create a blog from blogger, create blog, blogger blog"
   
   is it? (Hopefully you understand what I mean)

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   1. 

      8/21/08

      crkian

      tags can be normal words or phrases.
      
      Lets take 'seo and how to write good content' as a post title
      
      Then break it down for tags
      
      seo,write,content
      
      then add some phrases as tags onto the end of the previuos ones
      
      write good content, seo content, write seo content
      
      now you have your tags add what you have as tags into your post somewhere to add extra weight to them
   2. 

      8/21/08

      sayzlim

      Ok, I see...
      Thank a lot, I am confused by tags and categories...
      
      The SLUG things in wordpress also seems odd for me,
      me
   3. 

      8/21/08

      crkian

      Categories are totally seperate to tags, posts go into categories, and tags go into posts.
      
      Slug is just the link to the post, if your post title contains comma, full stops etc wordpress cleans it up for the page link
      
      So 'here, we go.' for a post title (yourblog.com/here,wego.) turns into here-we-go (yourblog.com/seo/here-we-go/)
4. 

   8/21/08

   timethief

   @sayzlim
   Congrats on getting your own domain.
   
   The difference between tags and categories
   We used to have just categories at wordpress.
   These allowed the broad grouping of post topics but when you wanted to describe a post in more specific terms you had to use more categories. That lead to very long category lists inside the blog, very long lists in sidebars. It was also confusing in that what we said were categories others said were tags. Now we have tags as well.
   
   Tags are similar, but instead of a list of words to choose from, you write them in a list (separated by commas) in a text box below your post. They are free form words and generally describe your post in more detail. For example, a post titled “Last Night At Burger King” might be filed under the “Dinner” category, but could have tags like, “burger, chicken fries, chocolate shake, dr. pepper”.
   
   Urls.
   A post into a category ‘food’, the url looks like this:
   faq.wordpress.com/category/food/
   
   The same post using the tag ‘food’ will look like this:
   faq.wordpress.com/tag/food/
   
   A post into the category ‘food’ and with the tag ‘rice’ will look like this:
   faq.wordpress.com/category/food/
   faq.wordpress.com/tag/rice/
   
   Is there any advantage to using tags or categories or both?
   Not here at WordPress.com and not for any search engines, no.
   
   Do I have to use tags?
   It is entirely optional.
   
   How do I delete a tag?
   How do I rename a tag?
   - You would need to find each post you had made with the tag and make the changes.
   
   Are categories and tags hierarchical?
   Categories can be treated that way by making categories children of another. This has always been the case. Tags cannot. Tags exist in their own right and have no set relationship to anything else.
   
   I had a lot of categories. Can I delete those and just use tags from now? What will happen to my existing posts?
   You can delete them but all your posts will go into the default category. You will have to edit every post and add back the tags.
   faq.wordpress.com/2007/09/21/the-difference-between-tags-and-categories/
   
   There is an SEO plugin for wordpress blogs as well but some bloggers are finding that they have problems with it wordpress.org/extend/plugins/all-in-one-seo-pack/

   [reply]
   1. 

      8/21/08

      timethief

      @sayzlim
      See also: www.blogcatalog.com/discuss/entry/whats-best-with-labelskeywords#comment_37...
      and
      www.blogcatalog.com/discuss/entry/whats-best-with-labelskeywords#comment_37...
5. 

   8/21/08

   annz

   Not sure if this will be helpful, but here’s how I think about the differences between categories and tags: I keep categories as really broad topic headings, and the tags as finer detailed ways of indicating what a post is about. If I used a book as a metaphor, the categories would be like the chapter titles in the front of a book, and the tags would be like the words in the index, if that makes sense. I get pretty granular on the tags, but try to stay high level on the categories.
   
   My biggest challenge is knowing when to add new categories and then deciding whether or not to go back and update old posts with the new category.

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6. 

   8/21/08

   PetLvr

   I think the best advice that I can offer .. is that if you have 3 categories in your post - you will regret it later. One is best, two is average.
   
   You can have unlimited tags - but, put the tag cloud in your template and LOOK AT IT before your start adding tags to your posts and select tags you already used before, if you can.
   
   
   Although you want as specific type of tags to help readers find content ... you don't want 1 post for every friggin tag created. Also, tags are not just words but can be phrases .. so in your case, instead of tags like..
   articles, marketing, tips, etc
   
   try..
   article marketing tips, etc
   or
   article tips, marketing tips, etc

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7. 

   8/22/08

   sayzlim

   Many thanks for everyone who give information on Tagging,
   there is another question I want to ask :
   1. Do you define category first or you add along the way you do blogging?
   2. How many categories do you have right now in your blog?
   3. What consideration do you take before adding/creating category?
   
   ^^, thanks again...

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8. 

   8/22/08

   annz

   I have 15 categories. Most were defined ahead of time, but I think it's important to be flexible. As I found that I was writing more about certain topics, I added categories for those. I've also split a couple of categories (split "glasses" which was too broad into "babies with glasses" "toddlers with glasses" and "kids with glasses").
   
   Basically I try to think about what my readers are looking for. If they want specific information, will the categories help lead them there. I've also looked at the types of searches people are using to get to my site, and the searches that don't lead to my site and have adjusted the categories accordingly.
   
   One thing to think about is whether or not to go back and re-categorize if you add a new category. If you've just started writing more about a new topic, then there's probably no need, but I've found it to be worth it to re-categorize old posts when it makes sense. But this can take a while.

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   1. 

      8/22/08

      sayzlim

      Are there any plugin for us to customize our post easily?
9. 

   8/22/08

   sayzlim

   1. What is the custom fields? I have read the explanation at codex.wordpress.org/Using_Custom_Fields , however I don't really get it.
   2. What is it use in a post?
   3. What happens if I delete these custom field?
   4. Will it affect the post?
   
   ^^

   [reply]
10. 

    8/22/08

    clioandme

    We also talked about this issue many months ago on this thread, which I started after moving from Blogger to Wordpress.com: www.blogcatalog.com/discuss/entry/categories-versus-tags-on-wordpresscom Maybe there's still something to learn that hasn't been covered here.

    [reply]
    1. 

       8/22/08

       sayzlim

       got any discussion about custom field?
    2. 

       8/22/08

       clioandme

       No, 'cause I don't have that in Wordpress.com, don't think so anyway.