Quite a few questions have been asked about tagging for traffic and it’s with hope that I can answer the more common ones.
What are tags and what is tagging?
A tag is the word(s) used to categorize a particular blog entry, page, photo, or other information for easy retrieval later. Tagging is the act of labeling posts with specific tags for indexing within folksonomy websites.
How do you add tags to your blog entry?
You can make any link’s anchor text into a tag by adding the rel=”tag” attribute. For instance, if you link to a web page with anchor text that would make an ideal tag, simply add the rel=”tag” attribute within the link and you’re golden.
Example: <a href="http://www.somesite.com/cool-page.html" rel=”tag”>cool page</a> - your blog entry would now have a tag called cool page.
The above is a general purpose tag and will be recognized in most tagging sites, including Technorati. If you wanted to use a standard Technorati tag, the format is a little different:
<a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/cool+page” rel=”tag”>cool page</a> - your blog entry would still be tagged with cool page, but instead of the link going to some site’s cool page, it would lead to the Technorati listing of other pages labeled cool page.
Other blog search engines and tag clouds may have their own formats for tagging, but the main thing to remember when tagging is to add the rel=”tag” attribute to your link if you wish to turn the anchor text into a tag.
If your blogging software supports categories, like WordPress, you may not need to add your category names as tags because they already will be.
What are some tips for tagging?
Since your blog categories will already have you covered when it comes to tags, it’s important to focus the remaining tags on what’s in your immediate content. Think of your blog entry from the perspective of someone searching for the information provided in your blog entry, then add tags accordingly.
A rule of thumb is to be as specific as possible with your tags. Using broad and general terms will usually get your pages pushed off the front pages fairly quickly by others using the same words for their tags. Make sure to add any proper names, places, or objects and look for words that stand out within your content.
If you have any other tagging questions, feel free to leave a comment or e-mail me.
In this case, what’s the difference between your tags and those from Technorati?
Even more, Technorati tags can include your ID with their site.
So which one will benefit more: your tags or Technorati’s?
What about tags from social networks?
# June 14th, 2006
Hi Valeriu,
Thanks for stopping by and asking some questions
Your tags can link to any website, including your own, that you like and the Technorati tags link to the Technorati tag cloud for that specific tag.
I don’t exactly understand what you mean when you say Technorati tags can include your ID with your site - are you speaking about the listing of your site in Technorati?
Technorati will include a link to your profile and image icon (if you have one) each time your URL shows up in the results, but it’s based on your website and not your specific tags.
One argument for using tag clouds on your own site is that you keep the visitors at the site instead of sending them off to explore other websites with the same keywords.
Whichever you choose to use, your own or Technorati style tags, you need to do what’s ultimately going to be best for you and your site.
Well, by social network, I’m going to assume you mean a service like del.icio.us (social bookmarking site). In this case, you wouldn’t be doing passive tagging on your own individual blog entries.
First, you’d need an account with the service and each time you bookmark a link, you’ll have an opportunity to add a tag through their interface. Each tag you add will be attached to the link and others searching those tags will also be able to find the link (if it’s made public).
Hope that makes sense
If you need clarification on anything or have any other questions, don’t hesitate to ask.
Warm regards,
~ Teli
# June 16th, 2006
Thanks for the questions and of course for the answers. Jürgen
# March 17th, 2007