Advantages and problems of tag systems

Everyone who has used content management systems such as WordPress will know about content tagging. In each entry we can define a list of terms separated by commas that will be associated to the tag. This is a functionality that is often used without any kind of control and, because a page is created for each tag, we find ourselves in situations where websites with only a few hundred pages of useful content generate thousands of pages of duplicate content.

In the past, tags worked very well and it was possible to create a large number of pages artificially on a site from little real content and they also gained traffic relatively easily. But search engines have been penalizing sites that abuse these practices for some time. in favor of those that generate content instead of simple listings, so we must follow certain rules because, when used well, tags can continue to help us get more traffic to our site.

Advantages of using tags

We must always keep in mind the inclusion of a tag system in our web site and take it into account when defining the information architecture because of the advantages it offers.

Create alternative content groupings to the natural groupings of the portal’s information architecture. When we design the information architecture of a site we define its categories, but during the life of the site we can find alternative groupings that we can implement through the use of tags. For example, if we have a blog that deals with babies, we can have a category “baby hygiene” and tags such as “baby bathing”.
Increase the visibility of information related to a topic. This property is very useful in current news sites, let’s take as an example a site that displays in its sidebar or header the current issues of the political section. If a politician is in the news because he is accused in a certain case, including a link in this featured section to the tag of this politician will leave just two clicks from the home page all the news related to him and thus improve the positioning for a topic that currently has a lot of traffic potential.
As in any other type of categorization, relate pages under the same topic by creating content clusters. A page focused on a concept from which hang several pages dealing with that topic is more optimal to get SEO traffic than several pages scattered throughout the architecture without any relationship.

Tag strategy recommendations

There are certain rules that we must follow so that our tag system does not become a double-edged sword and can end up penalizing traffic acquisition.

Use phrases with search potential: it does not make much sense to create pages on topics that do not interest our users.
They must be different from the menu items: in many sites this can create duplicate content. If we are exhaustive with the assignment to categories and tags in our site, and we have a tag and a category the same, surely the two resulting page listings will be the same.
We can use them to create subcategories of the main categorization. Continuing with the example of the site with news about politics, if for us international politics is secondary, we can have a tag “international politics” instead of having a category or subcategory.
We can use concepts with traffic potential that are synonyms of the categories: this advice must be applied with care, for example “cheap hotel offers” and “cheap hotel offers” would not make sense. On the other hand, “Perfumes” within “Fragrances” does.
We can use more generic concepts than the main categories: it can be generic but must be understandable out of context. If for example our entire site is about “political news”, the home page will surely be focused on this word and in this case it does not make sense to have a tag “news” since we would surely put there all the news that will be about politics.
Avoid page layouts such as flat listings: Google is giving less and less value to content directories, so we have to avoid this model as much as possible. Many content managers allow for example to add descriptions or tag definitions, so we can add differentiating content for that page. Layout tag listings differently from categories can also be a good practice by highlighting the latest entries at the top of the listing, for example.
Avoid irrelevant directory namesLinking with the previous point, in many content managers the URLs of the tags always start from irrelevant directories -such as “/tag/” in WordPress, which we can avoid with plugins- and give clues to the search engines that it is this type of listings.

Potential problems with tags

Content tagging can create a high number of pages that may be duplicate content or of no value to the user due to the following problems with these systems:

Synonym generation: creating tags that are exact synonyms will most likely create duplicate content as they generate the same listings. Examples could be “earthquakes” and “earthquakes”, “lose weight” and “lose weight” or “money laundering” and “money laundering”.
Tags with several meanings (polysemy): words such as “tapas” out of context do not tell us whether they refer to book covers, jar lids, gastronomic lids, etc. If we define a tag as for example “tapas and pinchos” we will be making it clearer what type it is. Or with more specific terms, “tapas routes”, “gastronomic tapas contests”, etc.
Tag clouds: tag clouds in content management systems such as WordPress are usually based on the number of articles related to the tag. This is usually very useful for indexing posts related to the topics for which we write the most in our blog, but from an architectural optimization point of view it is even more useful to highlight the topics that are topical and therefore with more potential to attract traffic. Therefore, adding a list of tags related to current topics can help us to get more traffic in those specific moments.
Automatic tag generators: there are automatic tag definition systems based on the density of words used in the text, but they are rarely effective and generate a high number of irrelevant pages.

The most successful strategy for tags that will help us avoid the situations described in this article is the implementation of a thesaurus. A list of phrases is created and maintained by a person who checks for errors. Editors can only make use of the tags included in the thesaurus and recommend the inclusion of new tags that must be approved by the listing administrator. This system can be completed with the research of new words with traffic potential and the definition of current topics that we will highlight in prominent areas of our site.

Although tag pages are becoming less and less attractive to search engines, a correct strategy can be useful to maximize the amount of traffic obtained by this type of page and give value to the users who visit our site.