Categories and tags are very important in a blog. It helps in grouping content in a WordPress site. Do you know how to properly use them? In this article, you will learn how to add categories and tags on WordPress and convert category to tag and vice versa.
What are WordPress categories?
Categories are important for every WordPress site. They are designed to group content on WP sites. A category can be a separate topic or a group of related topics.
The main purpose of using a category on WordPress for your posts is to organize your posts neatly and make them accessible (easy to find) to your visitors or readers.
For example to better understand the concept. If I write an article on how to rank high on search engines, I will put it in the “SEO” category. Likewise, if I write a post on ”how to grow your blog” I will put it in the “Blogging” category.
Keep in mind that it is important to add a category to your content. If you don’t add a category to your post, WP will automatically do that for you by assigning a default category, known as “UnCategorized“.
Categories and Sub-categories In WordPress
Let’s refer to a category as a parent and a sub-category as a child. Also referred to as ‘child categories, Subcategory is a niche group within the parent category that is more specific about the post topic. For example, you might have a parent category named “Clothing” and a subcategory titled “Men’s Wear.”
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How to Add Categories in WordPress?
There are two ways to add a category, they are:
- When creating a post, scroll down until you see “Add New Category” and click on it.
- You can also create a category without editing your post. In your WP dashboard, click Posts and then Categories. On the page that opens, you can create a new category or edit old categories.
How to Add a Description to Category?
To add a description to a category in WP, you need to edit it.
- Go to your WordPress dashboard, hover your mouse over “Posts” and click on “Categories”.
- Locate the category you want to edit and click Edit below it.
- In the Description field, enter your preferred description, and when you are done, click Update to save your changes.
How to Change the Default WordPress Category
There are two ways to change the default category:
- Create a new category and make it the default category
- After creating the category you wish to use as a default.
- Select writing from settings on the WP dashboard.
- Then chose the category you want to be as default and save.
- Change the category name to Uncategorized.
- Go to categories
- Locate uncategorized
- Click edit, change the name and save it.
How To Delete a Category in WordPress?
Follow these steps to delete a category :
- From the WordPress dashboard, hover over Posts and click Categories.
- On the category page, you want to delete, click Delete,
Once you delete a category, all your contents will be moved to the default category. You can change them later.
How To Add Image In WP Category
- Go to categories, click on edit for the category you want to add an image to.
- Click on Add image, choose/upload the image you want.
- Lastly, scroll down and save changes.
What are WordPress Tags?
WordPress tags are also important in a WordPress site. They are quite similar to category. Tags are used for more specific purposes i.e it helps to describe an article in more detail and also help users quickly find content for a specific search. For example, this post is tagged WordPress tutorials, it is specifically for WordPress.
Another example, if I own a movie site, and I want to post a movie, let’s say F9 2021. I can add various tags like Action, Adventure, Vin Diesel, Jordana Brewster, Michelle Rodriguez, John Cena, Ludacris, and so on. Tags are usually used to summarize the main ideas of the content.
How to Add Tags in WordPress
Just like WP category, there are two ways to add a tag, they are:
- When creating a post, scroll down until you see “Tags”, type the name of the tag you want and click add.
- You can also create a tag without editing your post. In your WP dashboard, click Posts and then Tags. On the page that opens, you can create a new Tag or edit old tags.
How to Add a Description to Tag
- Go to your WP dashboard, hover your mouse over “Posts” and click on “Tags”.
- Locate the tag you want to edit and click Edit below it.
- In the Description field, enter your preferred description, and when you are done, click Update to save your changes.
How To Delete Tag in WordPress
- From the WordPress dashboard, hover over Posts and click Tags.
- On the category page, you want to delete, click Delete.
WordPress Tag Clouds
Tag clouds are simply all the popular tags (tag list) on your WP site. Tag clouds are usually hidden on WP by default. To make it visible;
- From the WP dashboard, hover over Appearance and click Widgets.
- Scroll down the page until you see Tag Cloud.
- Select where you want it to be seen
- Finally, click Add Widget.
WordPress Categories vs Tags: The key difference
While WordPress categories and tags may seem very similar but they are very different. They are required for the grouping of contents, which makes it easier for a user to find content. It is compulsory you always categorize your post, if you don’t WordPress will do it for you.
As for tags, you don’t always need to use them but it’s necessary you do. The main difference between both is in your usage.
A category is the general grouping of contents while a tag is a more specific way of grouping content. This way, you can use different tags in the same post, and the fewer categories in the post, the better.
Keep in mind that you can add categories and tags to your pages using the plugin since WordPress only has tags and categories in blog posts.
Categories are used to include different posts, and you can use tags and subcategories to further divide your post into smaller groups.
How To Avoid Duplication when using Tags and Categories
Never use categories and tags for your posts with the same name.
Example.
If you have a category known as “Best Free WP Themes “, you should avoid using categories and tags with the exact names, as this will lead to duplicate problems on search engines.
How to Convert Categories to Tags
If your site already has a set of categories and tags that you want to change, you do not need to delete and create them. WordPress allows you to convert tags to categories and vice versa with the click of a button.
- Go to tools> import
- Locate “Categories and Tags Converter”
- Click install
- Wait a few seconds for a new link to appear
- Then, click “Run Importer”
- Select the categories you want to convert to tags
- Finally, click the “Convert Categories to Tags” button
