What Are WordPress Tags

When you publish a blog post in WordPress, you’ll see a “Tags” box alongside “Categories” — and it’s completely normal to wonder what WordPress tags are and whether you should even use them. Used well, tags make your content easier to explore; used badly, they create messy archives and SEO problems.

In this guide, you’ll learn what WordPress tags are, how they differ from categories, and how to create a simple tagging strategy that keeps your blog organized. If you’re just getting started with taxonomies, it also helps to read our beginner’s guide to WordPress categories and tags so you understand how the two work together.

This tutorial assumes you’re using self-hosted WordPress (WordPress.org). The steps work with the Classic Editor and the Block Editor, and they map cleanly to most themes, including Jannah.

Prerequisites

Before you start adjusting tags on your site, make sure you have the basics ready:

• Administrator or Editor access to your WordPress dashboard.
• At least a few published posts so you can see tags in action.
• Basic understanding of WordPress posts and categories.

Step 1: Understand What WordPress Tags Actually Are

WordPress tags are keywords that describe the specific topics of a post. Technically, they’re part of a built-in taxonomy called post_tag. Where categories group broad topics (like “SEO” or “Tutorials”), tags describe more detailed ideas inside each post (like “image optimization” or “internal links”).

Think of tags as “index words” that make it easier for readers to jump between posts on the same micro-topic. Clicking a tag takes users to a tag archive page that lists all posts using that tag.

• Categories = big buckets (Blogging, SEO, WordPress Basics).
• Tags = specific topics inside a post (WordPress tags, keyword research, internal links).
• Posts can have one category but multiple tags (though you should still avoid overdoing it).

Step 2: Plan a Simple Tagging Strategy

Before you start adding tags everywhere, decide how you want to use them. A small amount of planning now prevents a huge clean-up later.

A good tagging strategy focuses on a small set of reusable, meaningful keywords that appear in multiple posts. Avoid creating tags that you’ll only ever use once.

• List the main recurring topics you write about (for example: “WordPress SEO”, “performance”, “content strategy”).
• Create 5–20 high-quality tags that map to those recurring topics.
• Commit to using the same spelling and wording each time (for example, choose either “WordPress SEO” or “SEO WordPress”, not both).

Tags also support your internal linking structure by grouping closely related posts. Combined with a deliberate internal linking strategy, tags help users and search engines discover more content they care about. To dive deeper into this, check out how internal links work in our guide to internal linking in WordPress for beginners.

Step 3: Create and Add Tags in the WordPress Editor

Once you have a simple strategy, it’s time to create and apply tags to your posts. You can do this in two places: the “Tags” admin screen and the post editor itself.

Add Tags from the Tags Screen

1. Log in to your WordPress dashboard.
2. Go to Posts > Tags.
3. Under Add New Tag, enter the tag name (for example, “WordPress tags”).
4. Optionally add a slug (usually the lowercase, hyphenated version) and a description.
5. Click Add New Tag.

You’ll now see the new tag listed with a post count of zero until you assign it to posts.

Add Tags While Editing a Post (Classic Editor and Block Editor)

Most of the time, you’ll add tags directly while writing or editing a post.

1. Open Posts > Add New or edit an existing post.
2. On the right-hand side, find the Tags box:
   • In the Classic Editor, it appears in the sidebar labeled “Tags”.
   • In the Block Editor (Gutenberg), open the Post panel, then scroll to the Tags section.
3. Start typing a tag name. If it already exists, WordPress will suggest it — click to select.
4. If it doesn’t exist yet, type the full tag name and press Enter to create and assign it to the post.
5. Click Update or Publish to save your changes.

After saving, your theme may display the tags at the bottom or top of the post, often as clickable links, depending on your theme (for example, Jannah) and its single-post layout options.

Step 4: Manage, Edit, and Delete Existing Tags

As your blog grows, you’ll want to clean up and refine your tags so they stay consistent and useful. You can manage all tags centrally.

Edit an Existing Tag

1. Go to Posts > Tags.
2. Hover over the tag you want to adjust and click Edit.
3. Change the Name, Slug, or Description as needed.
4. Click Update to save your changes.

Changing a tag’s name does not remove it from posts. WordPress automatically keeps the connection, and the new name appears everywhere that tag is used.

Bulk Edit or Delete Tags

1. On the Tags screen, tick the checkboxes next to tags you want to modify.
2. Use the Bulk actions dropdown to Delete tags you no longer want.
3. Click Apply.

Deleting a tag removes it from all posts and deletes the tag archive page. The posts themselves remain published and accessible under their categories and other tags.

Step 5: Use Tags Safely for SEO and User Experience

Tags are primarily for users, but they do affect SEO indirectly. Well-structured tag archives create relevant internal links and help visitors discover more content, which can improve engagement metrics. Poorly structured tags create thin, duplicate archives that search engines may struggle with.

Follow these best practices to use tags safely:

• Limit tags per post: Aim for 2–5 descriptive tags instead of 15–20 vague ones.
• Avoid near-duplicates: Don’t use “WordPress tag” and “WordPress tags” separately unless you truly need both.
• Make sure each tag has multiple posts: Ideally, a tag should apply to at least 3–5 posts.
• Review tag archives: Visit tag archive URLs to ensure they show helpful lists of related posts.

If you use an SEO plugin such as Yoast, you can fine-tune how tag archives appear in search results (for example, to adjust titles or noindex thin tag archives). For a broader overview of setting up your site’s SEO, see our WordPress SEO beginner guide.

Step 6: Fix Common Problems with WordPress Tags

Even with a good strategy, you might run into tag-related issues. Here are some quick fixes.

Problem 1: Tags Don’t Show on My Posts

• Theme settings: Many themes (including Jannah) let you hide or show tags on single posts. Check your theme options under Appearance or Theme Panel for “Post Meta” or “Tags on single posts”.
• Editor view vs. frontend: Make sure you’ve actually assigned tags in the post editor — seeing suggestions doesn’t mean a tag is applied until you confirm and update the post.

Problem 2: My Tag Archive Pages Look Empty or Thin

• Review tags with a very low post count and either add more posts to them or merge them into broader tags.
• Check your publishing history; sometimes tag archives look empty because most related posts are still drafts.
• If tag archives aren’t useful for visitors, consider noindexing them via your SEO plugin while you improve content depth.

Problem 3: I Have Too Many Messy Tags

If you’ve been adding tags without a plan, you may want to audit them:

1. Export a list of your tags from Posts > Tags (copy/paste into a spreadsheet).
2. Group tags that mean the same thing and decide on a single “canonical” tag for each group.
3. Manually edit posts or use a term management plugin to merge old tags into your chosen canonical ones.

Advanced users with WP-CLI installed can quickly see which tags are most used. Run this on your server’s command line (SSH):

wp term list post_tag --fields=term_id,name,slug,count --order=DESC --orderby=count

This shows the most-used tags first so you can decide which to keep and which to merge or remove.

Turn WordPress Tags into a Helpful Navigation Tool

WordPress tags are a simple but powerful way to connect related posts and help readers explore your content. When you treat them as a focused set of recurring topics instead of a dumping ground for every keyword idea, your tag archives become genuinely useful.

By planning a clear tag strategy, adding tags thoughtfully in the editor, and occasionally cleaning up duplicates or one-off tags, you’ll keep your site easy to navigate and friendlier for both users and search engines.

Further Reading

• Content Planning Workflow for WordPress Blogs
• Beginner Checklist for Optimizing WordPress Blog Posts
• WordPress Guides and Tutorials Overview
• Step-by-Step Guide to On-Page SEO in WordPress

Frequently Asked Questions