In the age of digital and mobile content publishing it’s a fight to the front of the line to ensure that your company’s content is seen and stands out among the rest. So what can give your content the edge it needs to be in the forefront of web searches? Tags.
The answer is simple, but effectively executing the use of tags…not so much. Tags and hashtags have become all the rage in the last year, but there is a fine line between including strategic keywords in your media and frivolously tagging every semi-applicable word. Well-researched hashtags have the ability to increase the quantity and quality of visitors to your content, while merely tagging the same types of words for each blog post completely defeats the purpose of categorizing the information.
For example, on our own Celtic Chicago blog, we have chosen to do away with traditional tags completely and opted for a cleaner design and more purposeful navigation experience by featuring four distinct categories in the top navigation of our homepage. It is here where visitors will be able to accurately determine the broader topic that they wish to read about. Our writers are cognizant to include the “keywords” and “tags” within the titles of the posts or prominently throughout the body copy.
There is a time and place for tags and although an abundance of tags is not the most effective choice for a blog post, it is the most prominent method used to categorize information on Twitter. On Instagram hashtags allow your post’s content to build a community, while establishing unique details/trends specific to your account.
Before hash-tagging away, ask yourself what is the purpose of your post’s content and how does it relate to your company’s service. Also, think about your users and audience and how they respond to and interact with tags and categories of information. This will give you a good gauge of how many, if any, tags should be used on a specific piece of content.
In the age of digital media, less is sometimes more and for our blog, tags…you’re just not it.
