I’m not talking about the online ‘blog tag’ game here don’t worry! This weeks question is all about seeing if and how you utilise the ‘tags‘ when making a post on your site.
Forgive my ignorance if your self hosted or use a different host other than WordPress.com, your opinions are still required! I’m going to guess that there are tag options on all sites, but I obviously know how the WordPress ones work so will be using that as my example.
Back at the Oscars 🙂
It was good to see De Niro back at the Oscars, despite him not winning. So happy Jennifer Lawrence won. She sent me this image, I’m trying to play it cool though.
I want you Tyson x
Anyway, when making a post we have the option to use tags, with the aim of those words being used when people search on google or whichever search engine they use and ultimately leading people to our post/site. I just want to know how you approach this, if you indeed even care about them!
I have to say, the ‘we saw your boobs‘ video at the Oscars was fantastic! 🙂
I know some people don’t really utilise them as they prefer to keep a neat and tidy look to their site (Mark from Marked Movies, I hope he won’t mind me using him as an example! I would hate to end up on the receiving end of one his idols kicks).
Mark uses only one tag for the year the film was released. This makes it easy to keep it all organised. Other people go for the extreme option (Andy from Rorschach Reviews who again I hope won’t mind me using as an example!). I don’t have time to list all the tags Andy uses, but needless to say if someone has fallen down that day or had a wardrobe malfunction that will be one of his tags! And it works for him, he is high up on google for people searching and if it brings in more people, that makes him more money, so well-played sir!!
I use tags as I feel it gives my site a good organisation system. To me at least! I like the ‘tag cloud‘ and therefore I tag each post I make with the following details:
- what year the movie was released
- what rating I gave it
- who directed & starred in it
- if it’s a foreign film I specify which language it’s in
- the name of the movie
I hope then if people want to see which korean films I’ve reviewed for example, or which movies Jared Leto appears in, they can click the relevant tag and be taken to them all.
I love you Jared!!
You may notice that for this post I have used LOTS of tags. I think it looks a mess personally, especially scrolling to comments and on the homepage, and they will be deleted. I just want to try it for this post, and see if it brings any extra people in. Although I see some blogs use tags for topics they don’t even mention on their post, it’s purely a sneaky marketing ploy. I don’t quite want to do that, and the tags I have used are kind of referenced in some way on this post. I appreciate they make no sense and have no purpose being here other than being a test and a little mickey taking. Hence why there are lots of subtle and not so subtle mentions of famous people. And some gifs, lots of gifs, since people seem to like them!
Jennifer’s face when she saw Chris aka Terry Malloy’s photo
and this is her when she saw mine…….
Breaking News:
- Four months after announcing he wouldn’t play Snooker again this season, world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan has confirmed he will defend his title.
- Egypt Balloon Explosion
- Burger Sales Plunge 43% Amid Horsemeat Scare
- REC 3: Genesis Face Off – votes still being taken, one team still losing 😉
- Places still available in my Twitter List, hit this link and subscribe, I’ll add you and then we can all re-tweet each other
- First images of Alan Partridge from his movie were released
Does anyone else like cute animals as much as I do?? I love animals.
In closing, I want to know how you work ‘tags‘ on your site. Do you try to utilise current world news and events in a bid to get higher on the search engines? Do you ‘pimp‘ yourself out there and tag anything and everything even though it’s not related to what you’re talking about specifically, if not would you consider it if it meant lots more views (especially if you get paid per visit for example). Or do you not care and just tag them to fit in with the ethos of your site? As always, apologies for my underhand tactics and incoherent at times post, but I look forward to seeing how you all do your thing!
If you would like to see all the other questions from this series, please click HERE and check them out!
Head In A Vice 
Teepee12
/ February 26, 2013Using tags or not using tags? If you have a huge following and everyone will seek you out and you don’t care whether any of the search engines index you or you get new traffic, then definitely don’t use tags. On the other hand, if you do not have millions of avid followers stalking you like paparazzi, then some tags will probably help get you some more notice than you would get otherwise. I always look around to see what tags other people use and how they are doing with them. Sometimes I quite literally forget to use tags … I get distracted with the writing and all. I think the category tags are less important than the descriptors. But Google could change their formula again and this would all be moot. Again. It’s all a bit whimsical.
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 26, 2013I only use the category for the movie title, that keeps everything organised for me in the A-Z.
Seeing what other people do is a good trick. I tend to do that when people get Freshly Pressed, just so I can see what the fuss is about! 🙂
LikeLike
mistylayne
/ February 26, 2013Omg, dog in a giraffe costume!!!!!! As for tags, I know how to write for SEO and use like Google Adwords and stuff but I rarely utilize that knowledge. I tend to go with tags that are ridiculous because they fit my site and because it’s the exact sort of thing I’d search for.
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 26, 2013So cute right!? 🙂
Please write all your knowledge on those topics, and then have it on my desk by tomorrow, deal!? 😉 I wish I knew more about them, and hopefully this post will teach not only me but maybe someone else! Cheers Layne 😛
LikeLike
Nick Powell
/ February 26, 2013I’m so confused right now but I love it. As for tagging, I tend to avoid using them because they take up more unattractive space. I know their use, and I should use them, but I just can’t find myself to get around to using it. Plus, I believe I have a plugin that SEOs all of my posts anyway, so the tags then become “invisible”. I think. I could have been lied to this entire time. Who knows.
And I will fight you to the death for J-Law. That is all.
LikeLike
Mark Walker
/ February 26, 2013A fight to the death for Jude Law? 😉
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 26, 2013HAHA confusion is good! I agree, they can look unattractive, depending on the theme a little too. I have read that about plugins doing it for you. Apparently WordPress.com has a great feature that does it for us, but recommend we tag correctly. Unless like you we are all being lied to!
Seems you and Chris want to fight me for her. I’m willing to do this Royal Rumble thing, bring it on! 😛
LikeLike
Nick Powell
/ February 26, 2013First Semi-Annual, Sometimes Daily Super Mega Double Royale with Cheese Battle Extravaganza Bowl for Jennifer Lawrence XII.
Bring it.
LikeLike
Terry Malloy's Pigeon Coop
/ February 26, 2013This is gonna get messy, there may not be many of us left after this.
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 26, 2013Only going to be me left 🙂
LikeLike
Terry Malloy's Pigeon Coop
/ February 26, 2013I see what you’re doing here Mr Tyson with your haphazard blogging! And don’t think you can start some kind of smear campaign to get Jennifer Lawrence to leave me, it’ll never happen!
As for tags, I throw in about 10 or so usually with the main actors’ names and the name of the film and then a few other bits such as ‘movies’ and ‘film’ as that’s how WordPress puts them into the Reader categories I think. I keep meaning to put stuff like the film’s rating and the year the film was released too as that’s a pretty good idea. In terms of using tags for SEO, any searches have to almost be an exact match to the tag (including capital letters) for it to be picked up. And even then it sometimes doesn’t work, it’s a little random.
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 26, 2013Haphazard, great word! Yeah it’s not very subtle on here, and I do admit I’m not really trying to be, just trying other peoples shoes on for a day! LOL – I feel dirty!
Thanks for the SEO advice there. Thats one of the reasons I just do straightforward ones. Although people find my site by some random searches…..not really my fault though!
Hope you like the little gif, put your name on and everything!! 😉
LikeLike
Terry Malloy's Pigeon Coop
/ February 26, 2013Haha don’t think I didn’t notice that! To quote A Mr Wayne Campbell from Wayne’s World, “she will be mine. Oh yes, she will be mine”.
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 26, 2013You have 2 chances Chris, slim & none. Slim just left town 🙂
LikeLike
Mark Walker
/ February 26, 2013LOL. Fabulous post man. Excellent use of Bobby Carlyle pics. Yeah, you know where I stand on this. I don’t “pimp myself out” but I’d be very interested to hear how this little experiment goes. Keep me posted.
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 26, 2013LOL cheers Mark, considering it was all done for fun it still took a surprisingly long time, hopefully worth the effort! I used them just for you, since you mentioned him 😉
Yeah I’m looking forward to seeing what people admit to doing in the quest for views! 🙂
LikeLike
filmhipster
/ February 26, 2013The only tags I use are the name of the film, the Director’s name, and 3 primary actors.
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 26, 2013What if there are 4 primary actors? 😉
So quite similar to me though in all seriousness, I just add the ‘movie’, ‘review’ bits in. Cheers Chris 🙂
LikeLike
Fogs' Movie Reviews
/ February 26, 2013Love the pics in this post man. LOL
For me, I only use tags if I specifially mention that thing in my post. The only exception is Movie, Movies, Movie Reviews, Review, etc… which I use everytime I review a movie.
Once upon a time, I would tag a post with every actor and actress that was in a movie, regardless of whether or not I specifically mentioned said actor or actress. When I stopped doing that – I read somwhere that the Google Gods would hold it against me – I did in fact experience an uptick in my search engine hits. A significant one. So now I make sure that whoever or whatever I tag is actually IN my post.
That said? After that? Knock yourself out. No one looks at your tags except Google (et al), so knock yourself out!
Interested to hear your results!
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 26, 2013Haha, cheers Fogs!
Yeah I use the same with movies, reviews etc as I saw them on the reader when I started out.
Thats interesting about the actors. I only tag them if I talk about them, but thats great to know for the future.
Fair enough, and yeah I agree, not trying to judge anyone for the tags they use, just makes me laugh. Ingenious you could say! Depending on what results they share lol 🙂
LikeLike
theipc
/ February 26, 2013I usually put the title, a couple of descriptors and some actor’s names. I am really just in this for fun and camaraderie and it’s good for my brain. I won’t lie and say that I don’t like it when I get a bunch of traffic but that’s not what it’s all about for me – it’s meeting people like you and all of the other people I interact with and having fun – and being creative : )
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 26, 2013I’ve seen you use some funny tags too, and the whole A-Z for that awful Alphabet anthology of death! Did that help?
I appreciate what you say right there, and the feelings are more than mutual. So much fun! I look forward to ‘hearing’ your creative side one day 😉
LikeLike
theipc
/ February 26, 2013I try to throw in some funny tags every now and then!
That A-Z thing merits up about one hit per day – lol
I *think* I get most of my hits when people come by out of the blue and spend some time checking out the header images –
That would be interesting wouldn’t it….. : )
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 26, 2013Hey, if you want a repeat of last time we played that game I’m up for it if you are! (that sounds weird but is not)
When I put the REC 3 comment on your site before, I got MY HEADER!!! Amazing, so I refreshed in the hope you had it set that way but it was just luck! Fate I tell you 🙂
LikeLike
theipc
/ February 26, 2013AWESOME!! Finally!!!
We are talking about what we discussed in email, yes?
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 26, 2013No, I meant the image hunting on your site. Never mind. Anyway I was waiting for you to reply to that email I thought?! 😛
LikeLike
theipc
/ February 26, 2013I thought I did – but either way – let’s do it!!!
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 26, 2013It’s on! I asked your advice on software and mics I think? I don’t know. Speak soon anyway no doubt 😉
LikeLike
theipc
/ February 26, 2013A tease for your viewers!!!
Talk soon!!
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 26, 2013Lol they’re too busy looking at my gifs 🙂
LikeLike
theipc
/ February 26, 2013LOL!! #searchenginestud
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 26, 2013😛 You know it!
LikeLike
Alastair
/ February 26, 2013I use tags. Usually the same ones. I ALWAYS use the POSTADAY tag as it is seen by a great many people
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 26, 2013I keep seeing the Postaday image, and that is some great advice there Alastair! I do post every day (just about, how strict are they on that!) and maybe I should utilise that more! Thanks buddy 🙂
LikeLike
Alastair
/ February 26, 2013I use it on every post, and I do a few every day 🙂
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 26, 2013I’m all over it now, do I need to pass a test to get in or do I just crack on! I’m good at physical tests, not so much written 🙂
Thanks Alastair!!
LikeLike
Alastair
/ February 26, 2013Nope, just add it to the tags and away you go
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 26, 2013Perfect, much appreciated squire 🙂
LikeLike
Alastair
/ February 26, 2013You’re welcome dood
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 27, 2013🙂
LikeLike
Ryan
/ February 26, 2013If you’re not using tags then you aren’t doing it right. Tags are how people find any of your shit. ESPECIALLY on wordpress. However, the more you use the worse it is. The sweet spot is between 6-11 tags because it’s just enough to show up on all the important feeds but it isn’t too much to be considered spam. If you go over board with tags, wordpress will consider it as spam and they wont show up in certain categories for others to find your stuff. Just sayin!
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 26, 2013I’ve heard about the ‘sweet spot’. Although Andy is proof this doesn’t necessarily matter! 🙂
Appreciate your words of wisdom here Ryan, always appreciated you know that! Thanks buddy 🙂
LikeLike
Brian
/ February 26, 2013I usually go with title of the movie and main actors, then relevant points from the article, mostly whatever seems funniest, like for Molly and the Ghost it was AWFUL SPECIAL EFFECTS, BAD BOOBS, MOLLY AND THE GHOST, REVIEW.
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 26, 2013People will stop reading your tag and have clicked it by the time they see boobs surely? Sure-fire way to bring in the pervy punters! 🙂
Thanks buddy 😛
LikeLike
Parlor of Horror
/ February 26, 2013I will usually tag my posts with 6-10 words or phrases. I get a lot of traffic from google and bing, some of my old posts from last year are still the top viewed posts every week. I like to provide information, then I think, if people were looking for this information, what would they look up? that usually becomes my tags. I try to stay away from general tags because they do nothing, tags like ‘movie reviews’, and ‘horror movies’, are too common and no one would find my blog if they searched for those terms.
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 26, 2013Thats cool about your old posts! I don’t get much from Bing at all, even though I did the link up thing we can do with WordPress.
I use those tags, partly as I mentioned so it keeps it easier to search for on my site, but I do go on the reader here and search movie review and find new people. I think its a pretty good tag to have, but I hear what your saying about trying to be different.
Thanks for your comment my friend. 🙂
LikeLike
Wednesday's Child
/ February 26, 2013Trying to imagine what people would search for is the best advice I’ve gained from this thread, thanks!
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 27, 2013There is no guessing the things some people search for though……..wierdos out there! 🙂
LikeLike
claratsi
/ February 26, 2013I try to limit tags to less than 15 after reading advice and sticking to the guide. It would appear I have been doing all this work at a distinct disadvantage! The fact you use so many encourages me that they still appear in the reader. I will now be using more tags to give my hard work an even better chance of getting seen. P.S. I keep looking at that JL gif and hmmmmm, wow!!!. I know she is your wife and that but i just had to say something 😉
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 26, 2013LOL – appreciate you acknowledging she is my wife, unlike the heathens Chris & Nick trying to claim her. Idiots! 😉 Glad you like the gif(s)
I mean, I only used a lot here as a test. Most of my posts have anywhere from 5-15 never more than that. BUT if this post suddenly spikes up google I’ll be doing this everytime!! Cheers matey 🙂
LikeLike
claratsi
/ February 26, 2013me too, I am not sure everyone obeys the guidelines on tags to be honest. I am going to try and be more savvy with my tags to make sure they reflect the content/keywords of my post and then i will see.
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 27, 2013Yeah I’m not going to change how I do my tags, I really want them specific to the movie I’m reviewing. Again, unless this post explodes at some point then I’ll tag everything and anything lol 🙂
LikeLike
claratsi
/ February 27, 2013I’m gonna start tagging the s**t outta it! 🙂 I will test what are reasonable parameters to ensure posts still appear in the reader. I will go from the usual 15 to 20 and so on to see if, and when it’s too many.
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 27, 2013I’ll be honest, using this many on this post hasn’t really improved the stats, I think I’ll stick to what I do usually! Let me know if things pick up for you with extra tags! 🙂
LikeLike
claratsi
/ February 27, 2013Will do, Cheers Dude.
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 27, 2013🙂
LikeLike
Wordschat
/ February 26, 2013Good topic. Since reading a posting on increasing traffic I’m more precise in my subject title line and tags. I use only tags of content that are in the post so they act like teasers to draw you in to read the piece but not to give away all that’s in it. Like you Tyson the tags act as an index for people to find more on the subject. Click TV reviews and you’ll get them, clck Silver Linings Playbook and you’ll see references to my negative review of it and a handful in the universe that agree. So yes tags matter.
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 26, 2013Nice to be organised right!? Although your negative review has been flagged up on google (by me) as bullshit so they are in the process of making you change your opinion! 😉
Thanks buddy 🙂
LikeLike
Wordschat
/ February 26, 2013Actually Cutting Edge and Get Reel got real with me on SLP. Lucky we didn’t trash Drive good man. I dont know if categories make much of a difference compared to tags.
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 26, 2013It is lucky about Drive, fair point!! 🙂
Yeah I think categories might depend on how you structure your site. For me they are purely so my a-z works. Some people have a page dedicated to their film review index. All down to personal preference I guess 🙂
LikeLike
johnlink00
/ February 26, 2013I use just the genre. I should do more, but I have enough ADD that it would drive me nuts. Actually, I should probably do title and actor, but my ADD would also require me to go back through the previous 500 articles and tag all of those as well. Maybe someone could come break my legs so I have to be out of work for awhile and that would give me an excuse to do such a thing.
And BatCat.
That is all.
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 26, 2013500 is a lot of changes!! As a man currently signed off work on crutches, it is good for getting lots done on the blog!
Cheers mate 🙂
LikeLike
Wednesday's Child
/ February 26, 2013My strategy is to try to write about stuff that everyone else isn’t covering, in order to show up higher for certain things. Why fight 10,000 reviews of A Nightmare on Elm Street when I can be the Google approved authority on what the hell is going on in Session 9? My use of the tags specifically has changed over time, because I started with attention-grabbing stuff that was was only tangentially related, but then found I got hits from people who weren’t really looking for what I had to offer. I usually just mention the actors in the post and then tag some of their names as well as tagging some events in the film. And I do okay, Googlewise, for someone who puts very little effort into marketing. I do better when I post more, and consistently, of course.
Thanks for linking the boobs song, as I don’t have cable so this is my first time hearing it. I thought it, and Charlize Theron’s facepalm, were amusing.
LikeLike
Wednesday's Child
/ February 26, 2013Oh, and categories are also useful, because that’s how I can give someone a link to all the posts I’ve done on a subject. I guess you could do that with tags too, but in my mind tags=SEO and categories=organization/reference.
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 26, 2013I hear you, a lot of films I review are in a niche ie not popular, and it brings in people actually looking for those films. Tagging events from a film is pretty cool though, not something I have thought about until now! 🙂
Glad you like the video, I still think its funny and actually a pretty good song!
I’m the same, I use categories for film titles for my A-Z and thats pretty much it.
LikeLike
Lindsey
/ February 26, 2013I keep my tags pretty simple: rating on review posts, actors/director/writers mentioned in the post, title of the film, type of post (review, list, etc). Sometimes I include the genre.
I choose tags that would make the post easy to find if someone was looking for info on a film I’ve reviewed, but I never use tags that are unrelated to my content. I don’t really see the point in drawing in viewers who are looking for something completely different than my blog offers. They’re never going to visit again, and I’d rather attract readers who are interested in film and might end up enjoying the site as a whole.
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 26, 2013That’s it really, whilst I want to bring in new people in the hope they stick around, I would never (except this post LOL) tag something that I wasn’t talking about.
Great comment Lindsey, thank you! 😛
LikeLike
keith7198
/ February 26, 2013LOL! Dude, that was one funny read!
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 26, 2013Cheers Keith, glad you liked it! 😛
LikeLike
sati
/ February 26, 2013I tag the year, genre, title, director, type of article, type of the production (movie, tv movie) and the first letter of the title 🙂 Makes things more tidy and easier to look for.
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 26, 2013Pretty much the same as I do, except the first letter!! Very organized! Thanks for stopping by Sati 🙂
LikeLike
brideofthebookgod
/ February 26, 2013I do use tags but there mostly to help me find things and they can be bit idiosyncratic. Not sure if they’ve ever helped anyone on my site. Loved the post, but enough of Jennifer Lawrence already (although she was very good in Hunger Games) 😉
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 26, 2013As long as they help you that’s all that matters!
And you can never have enough Jennifer Lawrence!! 🙂
LikeLike
brideofthebookgod
/ February 26, 2013🙂 so I’m finding out!!
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 26, 2013Lol, might review Hunger Games tomorrow, then Winters Bone 😉
LikeLike
brideofthebookgod
/ February 26, 2013Would like to read that, mine is here
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 27, 2013It doesnt really meet any of the codes I use for my site, so I wont really review it. I have seen it though, I liked it!! 🙂
LikeLike
mskatykins
/ February 26, 2013This is a really interesting question. I find tagging quite frustrating. It’s only recently that I’ve been thinking more carefully about the titles of my posts. For instance, I wrote one and named it ‘Stressed Out’ and – it’s small fry to some but – I got something like 5 new people coming to check out my blog. It’s pretty interesting stuff really. I think I have a lot to learn about effective tagging!
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 27, 2013If it brings in new people then thats great!! Hopefully there are some tidbits here you can pick up about tags, I’m trying to! I guess as predominantly a review site, the title is pretty much done for me!
Cheers 🙂
LikeLike
Tim The Film Guy
/ February 26, 2013I just put the film title, year and who played what 😀
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 27, 2013Easy as that?! Good man, cheers Tim 🙂
LikeLike
Tim The Film Guy
/ February 27, 2013I get pretty good search referrals about 100 ish a day, so I try to avoid trick tags just to get views *cough* rorschach *cough* haha 😀
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 27, 2013LOL – yeah but if it brought in 1000’s extra a day would you consider it (it brought in jack shit extra for me!) 🙂
LikeLike
Tim The Film Guy
/ February 27, 2013Sometimes its just luck, granted i am not going to complain about 1000’s a day but I have never got that many. A fluke day I got 566, never got close since. Although in January I got pretty close with 376 😀
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 27, 2013Those are still great numbers dude!! I doubt many people get 1000’s a day, an even though I say now I wont change and sell out with my tags, I could be tempted by those numbers lol! 🙂
LikeLike
Tim The Film Guy
/ February 27, 2013We ain’t no tag whores! ;D
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 27, 2013Dignity above all else 😉 (except this post lol, with my whoring and gifs!)
LikeLike
Tim The Film Guy
/ February 27, 2013GIF’s, the tassels of the tag whores 😀
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 27, 2013Sexy tassels though 😉
LikeLike
fernandorafael
/ February 26, 2013I always use the tags “blog, bloggers, blogging, film, movies” and then I add a few other tags depending on what the post is about (film title, cast, director, etc.)
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 27, 2013Good to know! I don’t use the blog/bloggers etc. Would you say it’s been worth doing those specific tags for yourself?
Cheers Fernando! 😛
LikeLike
fernandorafael
/ February 27, 2013Don’t know actually. Haven’t really checked for how effective they’ve been.
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 27, 2013LOL – fair enough. If you do ever check your stats and they are your most popular tags, please let me know! (So I can steal them) 😉
LikeLike
rochpikey
/ February 26, 2013I heard it is a combination of Categories and Tags. I like read somewhere that in order to pop up under under the “movies” topic in WordPress reader you have to uses less than 8 tags and no more than 2 categories. But you have to use the “movies” tag to get there so you really only have room for like 7 more tags. I usually tag “movies,” title of movie, an actor or two, director/writer, and genre but it varies.
As far as SEO is concerned, that is where most of my extra tags go is in the names of the images/pictures within my post but I still try to keep that to pertinent info and not extraneous tags. It definitely bothers me when I see a tag that has nothing to do with what the blogger is talking about. For example, I saw a Hunger Games review that tagged Dave Matthews. Not only does the review itself not mention him, he does not appear in the movie and his music is not even used in it. This made the blogger look like an attention whore 🙂
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 27, 2013Interesting. I never use more than 2 categories, but do go over 7 tags sometimes.
Yeah I’ve seen that kind of tactic a few places….not one I want to get into myself but to each their own!
Thanks for your comment, very insightful and gives me plenty to ponder! Cheers 🙂
LikeLike
r361n4
/ February 26, 2013Lol, I don’t mind you using me as an example at all. I’m not exactly proud of my tagging (I’d still rather just have a large readership that follows me no matter what I tag, but that’s a work in progress.)
For me, I try to think of what someone might search for a movie, and then think of what major sites would already have that covered. IMDb or Wikipedia will always beat you out if you put in the general title, actors, etc. but you have a solid chance if you put in something like “Who was the Bartender in Hope Springs”. Even if only 1/100 people who actually click on your page in google actually read it through, that’s still an extra interested viewer than you would have gotten without that tag.
In any case I still am in this for the experience of sharing my opinion with other people and WordPress gouges the hell out of it’s advertising revenue, the stats junkie in me still likes seeing returns on tags, lol
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 27, 2013Haha, cheers Andy, glad you didnt mind! I’ll swap my readership for your stats! 😉
I use the actors etc purely for keeping my tags in order and ideally to help people search my site easier. I hear what you’re saying though, clever way of doing things with the questions!
As long as your stats keep improving its all good, surely thats what we all want. Especially for you trying to make some money from it all. Thanks again buddy 😛
LikeLike
jmount43
/ February 26, 2013I usually just use the tags that wordpress suggests for me after I’ve written whatever post I’m doing and that seems to work out pretty good. As for Jennifer Lawrence; Tyson, that was me she was looking at. Don’t feel bad, I’m sure she has an attractive (but not as attractive) sister or cousin for you. 😀
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 27, 2013It suggests them for you? Where’s that at, or am I just being totally blind!?
No way am I taking the back seat on this one, you can fight over her hunchback step cousin, I’m taking Jennifer 😛
LikeLike
ruth
/ February 26, 2013Ahah, your crush on Jennifer Lawrence knows no bounds! I totally get it though, I kind of have a girl crush on her too! She’s awesome & talented. Her Oscar-win is so well-deserved.
As for tagging, well I just try to list as many actors name and titles as possible, and I always put movies on there for Word Press, kind of a habit really. I think I read somewhere that you shouldn’t put too many tags, so I limit mine to about 10 or 12.
Btw, speaking of crushes, I was being rather indulgent today and blog about one of my faves. Would love to hear who YOUR fave TV bad boy or girl, Ty 😀
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 27, 2013LOL – I know, but I will not post about her again, at least for a while! 😉
Seems a few people have heard this ‘no more than x amount’ tags, must be a reason for it. Good to have all this info, I need to look into it more.
I’ll be sure to stop by and check out your crush 😛
Cheers Ruth!
LikeLike
The Focused Filmographer
/ February 27, 2013i LOVED this post! hahaha. all of the jabs and tags and gifs…perfect! haha
I only use tags mainly for my own categorization. usually a mix of “hollywood” “movies” “2013 movies” “theatrical release” and an actor or movie title or something like that.
Oh, and Jennifer Lawrence called me. she asked where you were at the afterparty Sunday night. Since you didn’t show up, well, let’s just say that if your next post bashes me…i understand. (don’t tell Scarlett Johansson though) 😀
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 27, 2013Thank you, glad it had the desired effect!!
Cool, so again just using them for categorisng stuff. Easiest way to keep things neat and tidy. Same as me 🙂
Man she gets around! Everyone seems to be with her…..maybe she is lying to me…….you can keep Scarlett though, never really liked her for some reason 😛
LikeLike
Morgan R. Lewis
/ February 27, 2013I tag the decade, my rating, “movies” and “reviews” to enter WordPress’s lists of those categories, the title of the movie, the director, and any prominent actors. I try to make sure to include the actors and directors names in the post as well (though I’ve been sloppy about that at times); as Fogs notes above, Google likes you better if your tags clearly match your content.
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 27, 2013I do make sure to only tag actors I mention in the review, but normally just ‘x played by x’, maybe I need to mention them by name a little more.
Thanks for your input Morgan, always appreciated 🙂
LikeLike
Drew
/ February 27, 2013That’s one massive tag wall. I use some tags, but I’ve been trying to keep the number below 6.
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 27, 2013Yup, and it’s made jack shit difference! LOL. Cheers Drew 🙂
LikeLike
Todd Benefiel
/ February 27, 2013I’d have to go with Batman Cat as the best photo! Anyway, as you know Tyson, I have two sets of each review; the actual post, and the archived version of it on a ‘page’. I do this only because I like the look of my page over the post, and I’m forced to use a ‘post’ on the main page. So after moving down the rungs for two weeks or so, a post will disappear, while the archived page remains forever.
With that in mind, I hate how tags look on my archived reviews…they just don’t fit the flow. So I put them on the posted reviews, knowing they’ll disappear, and I use between 10-15 tags that only relate to that reviewed film, and I try to use words that someone might use to search the film in question: actor, director, maybe writer, genre, year of release, sometimes something goofy related to it, and The Derby Killer site name. (However, other comments here mention that using too many tags get blocked as spam, so I’ll have to lower that number from this point on).
I don’t get a ton of traffic because of it, but I have noticed a few times, on my site’s Dashboard ‘Site Stats’, that someone has searched using a words I’ve used (someone today searched ‘hot girls massacre’, and they found our review for Slumber Party Massacre), and it’s brought them to my site. I’m not out to get thousands of new visitors or followers, because I know it’ll never happen…but I think it would be cool to maybe bring in a fan or two every now and then, who may like what they see and become regulars!
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 27, 2013Yeah, and I always accidentally ‘like’ the wrong page, that extra click page button, pesky! LOL
Yeah you have it very organised over there, all looks great. And thats it, if even just a couple of people that get directed to our sites by ‘accident’ stick around, its worth it. Cheers Todd 🙂
LikeLike
MikesFilmTalk
/ February 27, 2013Right, after watching all those bloody gifs, I now have a headache and slight eyestrain. I am charging you for the price of some decent painkillers and new glasses. 😀 Tags, eh? I try to follow the WordPress guidelines and not go over 10 or 15. But…Sometimes I go over that amount. I try to tag what I deem tag-able in the post. It doesn’t really seem to make a huge amount of difference. But then, I am relatively new to tagging as my previous blog site didn’t offer that option. Good question though. Oh and LOSE the bloody GIFS. LOL ;-D
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 27, 2013LOL – I’m going to fill our Face Off with them now! Everyone loves gifs 🙂
You blog about quite varied subjects, so I would guess you have lots of different tags. Or maybe you should try using more to see if it makes any difference. It hasn’t for me on this post, google obviously considers me as spam lol.
Cheers Mike 😛
LikeLike
MikesFilmTalk
/ February 27, 2013Wednesdays for me are historically slow. I never set the world on fire on Wednesday and most of Thursday. I’ve never figured out why. My tags go up and down…and like you, it doesn’t seem to make a difference. 😀
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 27, 2013Weird, my quiet day is Friday. Strange. I think my biggest query is down to how many posts people make each day. I know Ive mentioned it with you before, and Ill put it out as a question one day. I do think just 1 post a day works for me, but I probably could get more views if I posted more per day. Who knows! 😛
LikeLike
Abbi
/ February 27, 2013I tag my posts with keywords that I think people will use to search for the content but only stuff that is relevant. For film posts I normally just tag the film names along with films and film reviews (for the sorting win). I definitely find that tagging ingredients helps with visits to my recipe posts.
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 27, 2013Good to know Abbi. Seems not many people use tags as attention seeking things, of my readers that is! Thats great about your recipes, I guess the more obscure the ingredient the better, bit like films. Cheers 😛
LikeLike
markmc2012
/ February 27, 2013I just throw whatever comes to mind in the tag section and slap it up there. You know the real scientific method.
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 27, 2013That does sound scientific! Sometimes people can overcomplicate things anyway. Cheers buddy 🙂
LikeLike
ckckred
/ February 27, 2013I usually tag the title of the film, the director, and actors. Sometimes though I’m too lazy to write tags.
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ February 27, 2013Lol too lazy, at least you’re honest buddy!!! Cheers 🙂
LikeLike
atothewr
/ February 28, 2013I try to use them to represent my post. If I write about birds then I would use, nature, outdoors, birds, maybe the kind of bird, if it is a poem I will use the word poem or poetry, etc. I have always been kind of clueless on tags. I never knew you could do some of the things you mentioned above. I thought they were just supposed to fit the subject of the post. I do know that you are not supposed to use more than 10. It looks un professional. I read that somewhere along the way. Hope this helps. Nice post.
LikeLike
Tyson Carter
/ March 1, 2013Yeah there are some sneaky taggers out there!! I’m with you though, I dont like the look of it with that many. Thanks for sharing your thoughts buddy, always appreciated 🙂
LikeLike