This blog is the first I’ve attempted on WordPress. I’ve set up some WordPress sites for others, played with some plugins, widgets, etc., but never had one all to myself to maintain and play with! So when I was going through- I found myself trying to figure out the difference between Tags and Categories. A quick google search later led me to this blog, which covers in detail what I was looking for.

The basic breakdown- from my understanding- is that I will use categories to fit most of my entries. My categories kind of go all over the place, but that’s the point. Most of my posts will fit into only one category. But tags are a quick list of keywords for that particular post. So while this post will be in my “Blogging” category, it will have the following tags: blogging, blogs, wordpress, tags, categories, seo, search engines, optimization

Search engines can pickup on these tags to get a better idea about what this post is about. At least what I think it’s about- since I set the tags. Tags could of course be mis-used. I could add a tag that says “Vegas” or “beach house” — which makes no sense. And the reason I will avoid that kind of trickery, is that it doesn’t earn you any regular readers. Any site that pulls you in with the promise of beach houses in vegas, and then has a link to a get-rich-quick-scheme instead will never have followers.

So it’s simple. Keep your posts in a single category, and tag it to death with anything you think should be searchable or stands out for a particular post.