Skip to content
    Moz logo Menu open Menu close
    • Products
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Pro Home
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Home
      • STAT
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Home
      • Compare SEO Products
      • Moz Data
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis
      • Keyword Explorer
      • Link Explorer
      • Competitive Research
      • MozBar
      • More Free SEO Tools
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO
      • SEO Learning Center
      • Moz Academy
      • MozCon
      • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Digital Marketers
      • Agency Solutions
      • Enterprise Solutions
      • Small Business Solutions
      • The Moz Story
      • New Releases
    • Log in
    • Log out
    • Products
      • Moz Pro

        Your all-in-one suite of SEO essentials.

      • Moz Local

        Raise your local SEO visibility with complete local SEO management.

      • STAT

        SERP tracking and analytics for enterprise SEO experts.

      • Moz API

        Power your SEO with our index of over 44 trillion links.

      • Compare SEO Products

        See which Moz SEO solution best meets your business needs.

      • Moz Data

        Power your SEO strategy & AI models with custom data solutions.

      Track AI Overviews in Keyword Research
      Moz Pro

      Track AI Overviews in Keyword Research

      Try it free!
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis

        Get top competitive SEO metrics like DA, top pages and more.

      • Keyword Explorer

        Find traffic-driving keywords with our 1.25 billion+ keyword index.

      • Link Explorer

        Explore over 40 trillion links for powerful backlink data.

      • Competitive Research

        Uncover valuable insights on your organic search competitors.

      • MozBar

        See top SEO metrics for free as you browse the web.

      • More Free SEO Tools

        Explore all the free SEO tools Moz has to offer.

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
      Moz Pro

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

      Learn more
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO

        The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.

      • SEO Learning Center

        Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.

      • On-Demand Webinars

        Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.

      • How-To Guides

        Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.

      • Moz Academy

        Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.

      • MozCon

        Save on Early Bird tickets and join us in London or New York City

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints
      Moz API

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints

      Find your plan
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Digital Marketers

        Simplify SEO tasks to save time and grow your traffic.

      • Small Business Solutions

        Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.

      • Agency Solutions

        Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.

      • Enterprise Solutions

        Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.

      • The Moz Story

        Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.

      • New Releases

        Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.

      Surface actionable competitive intel
      New Feature

      Surface actionable competitive intel

      Learn More
    • Log in
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Dashboard
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Dashboard
      • Moz Academy
    • Avatar
      • Moz Home
      • Notifications
      • Account & Billing
      • Manage Users
      • Community Profile
      • My Q&A
      • My Videos
      • Log Out

    The Moz Q&A Forum

    • Forum
    • Questions
    • Users
    • Ask the Community

    Welcome to the Q&A Forum

    Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

    1. Home
    2. SEO Tactics
    3. On-Page Optimization
    4. Less Tags better for SEO?

    Moz Q&A is closed.

    After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.

    Less Tags better for SEO?

    On-Page Optimization
    3
    6
    913
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as question
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with question management privileges can see it.
    • TheWebMastercom
      TheWebMastercom last edited by

      I am currently reviewing my strategy when it comes to categories and tags on my site.  Having been no-indexed for some time, and having many tags with just one entry I am thinking that this is not optimal for SEO purposes.

      This is what I am planning:

      • Categories - Change these to Index, but only after adding a hundred words or so by way of introduction (see this example - https://www.besthostnews.com/news/hosting/a-small-orange-news/).  With the categories I am thinking of highlighting key articles as well to improve link juice distribution to older articles that are important.
      • Tags - About half my tags have only 1 entry, with a few more just having 2 entries.  I am thinking of deleting all tags with just one entry, and trying to merge those with just two or 3 entries where it makes sense to do so.  I will keep these as no-index, but I think this will mean more optimal distribution of link juice within the site.

      I would appreciate your thoughts \ suggestions on the best practices here.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • TheWebMastercom
        TheWebMastercom last edited by

        I have added an update here: http://moz.com/community/q/reviewing-category-tag-policy-update

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • TheWebMastercom
          TheWebMastercom last edited by

          Thank you.  The example page i linked  is actually a resource that helps with conversions. .  The content at the top will highlight the better posts rather than some of the fluff posts that I rel canonical  or no-index (i.e. old offers etc). The problem is that if I do more than 100 words, it would end up fluff.  I think it adds value by linking to some external resources and key posts, so I will work towards building that up over time.

          But thank you for your indepth reply.  You are saying alot of what I was thinking, but not convinced enough to make the drastic changes I probably need to do.

          I am tempted to remove tags.  I don't think anyone ever visits them.

          Update:  I have now removed the tags.  I can always create one or two new categories if I need to in the future, but for now I think I have made the best decision for my site.  160 pages that were never visited and diluted link juice have just been deleted.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • EGOL
            EGOL last edited by

            I am currently reviewing my strategy when it comes to categories and tags on my site.

            Everyone should do this.  I do it once every year or so.

            Having been no-indexed for some time, and having many tags with just one entry I am thinking that this is not optimal for SEO purposes.

            I agree.  I don't use tag pages.

            Categories - Change these to Index, but only after adding a hundred words or so by way of introduction (see this example).

            Where I have used categories, I wait until I have a substantive amount of material to appear on the category page.  I visited your sample page and can't tell if the hundred words or so at the top is yada yada yada content or real beef.  If it is real beef then go with it.  If it is yada yada yada then wait until you have a large enough number of posts that your page is of substantive length.

            Also, I run periodic traffic assessments on my category pages.  If some of them are not bringing in the traffic or at least showing traffic growth then I delete them (301 redirect to the blog homepage).  My philosophy is that a compact site competes better for difficult, high-traffic terms if it does not have a lot of useless pages.

            I am thinking of deleting all tags with just one entry,

            Yes, these never should have been created.

            and trying to merge those with just two or 3 entries where it makes sense

            If this is going to create pages that compete with category pages then just delete them.

            I will keep these as no-index, but I think this will mean more optimal distribution of link juice within the site.

            In my opinion, tag pages are dangerous if they have snippets of the same content that appears on category pages and on the main blog page and its paginations.  Also, tag pages that are same topic as category pages are a bad idea in my opinion.

            If you are not indexing pages they will pull zero traffic from search.  If you have links to them then you linkjuice is being scattered into potentially low-value pages.  I am all about internal linking but keep my philosophy that compact sites compete more strongly for the difficult queries where the big traffic is earned.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
            • TheWebMastercom
              TheWebMastercom last edited by

              Neither have been indexed due to that very reason... duplicate content, poor quality \ thin content.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • Martijn_Scheijbeler
                Martijn_Scheijbeler last edited by

                Have both the categories as tags been indexed by Google? Usually you leave one of them out of the indexes of Google to make sure you don't get in trouble with creating a lot of duplicate content and not unique pages.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • 1 / 1
                • First post
                  Last post

                Got a burning SEO question?

                Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.


                Start my free trial


                Browse Questions

                Explore more categories

                • Moz Tools

                  Chat with the community about the Moz tools.

                • SEO Tactics

                  Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers

                • Community

                  Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!

                • Digital Marketing

                  Chat about tactics outside of SEO

                • Research & Trends

                  Dive into research and trends in the search industry.

                • Support

                  Connect on product support and feature requests.

                • See all categories

                Related Questions

                • Christinaa

                  Tags - Good or bad for SEO

                  We are getting Moz errors for duplicate content because tag pages share the same blog posts. Is there any way to fix this? Are these errors bad for SEO, or can I simply disregard these and ignore them? We are also getting Moz errors for missing descriptions on tag pages. I am unsure how to fix these errors, as we do not actually have pages for these on our WordPress site where we are able to put in a description. I have heard that having tags can be good for SEO? (We don't mind having several links that show up when searching for us on google...) As far as the SEO goes, I am not sure what to do. Does anyone know the best strategy?

                  On-Page Optimization | | Christinaa
                  0
                • Alex.harvey.Cortex

                  What is the best tag to use for your Logo ?

                  Hi, I'm wondering what is the best tag to use on your logo. We're currently using h1 and i want to scrap that ASAP.

                  On-Page Optimization | | Alex.harvey.Cortex
                  0
                • wianno168

                  Is it OK to include name of your town to the title tag or H1 tag on a blog to enhance local search results

                  I recently attended a webinar by ETNA Interactive on local search SEO. The presenter recommended including the name of your town in the title of the blog to increase local search SEO. Is this OK? Ive always been concerned that it is such an obvious attempt to rank locally that Google would consider it "spammy" ? black hat, "sketchy" or otherwise manipulative. Have the rules changed? Is it OK to do? Brooke

                  On-Page Optimization | | wianno168
                  0
                • GRIP-SEO

                  How will it effect SEO to have multiple h1 tags on a page?

                  I have a client who recieved this advice from his marketing consultant: "If there are multiple h1 tags on a page, this can confuse Google and it may have a negative impact on the keyword rankings. If you could ask your web developer to go in and remove the h1 tags on the header images that would be helpful. This way it will be easier for Google to index your site and will help your keyword rankings." How will it effect SEO to have multiple h1 tags on a page?

                  On-Page Optimization | | GRIP-SEO
                  0
                • JonnytheB

                  Bullet points good or bad for seo?

                  Hi Everyone, After a body of unique content of say 50 words, will Google then penalise you for adding bullet points which will then be duplicated across all those products (say 100 products)? http://www.polesandblinds.com/acacia-teal-roller-blind/? Look forward to your comments, good or bad, Thanks Jonathan

                  On-Page Optimization | | JonnytheB
                  0
                • moziodavid

                  Does Title Tag have to be in the HEAD tag?

                  We are using templates that load the same header for every page. I'd like to just include a different title tag in the "body" template of each page. If I was to do this, does it affect SEO at all?

                  On-Page Optimization | | moziodavid
                  0
                • jannkuzel

                  Title and Heading Tags

                  Firstly I would like to comment on how helpful this site is. I haven't posted much before but have been reading tonnes of answers for many months now and have been finding it really useful. I used the SEOmoz scanner and the main problem highlighted was duplicate content so I started to add 'customer product reviews' I had received and unique 'further information' to each page (hopefully this was the right thing to do to solve duplicate content! : ) ) Then I looked at heading and title tags. Currently I set title tags for each product page to be "Brand Name- Product Name" but after doing some research we are thinking of putting Keyword Description of Product | Product Name | Brand Name (around 60 characters long). So is this the advised thing to do and create unique titles that are relevant to each specific product page for over 200 pages we have? In addition, any advice on setting optimum tags would be great. We keep reading varying tips online. I gather ideally h1 needs to be a shorter keyword rich version of the title tag? Many Thanks

                  On-Page Optimization | | jannkuzel
                  0
                • scanlin

                  Best SEO structure for blog

                  What is the best SEO page/link structure for a blog with, say 100 posts that grows at a rate of 4 per month? Each post is 500+ words with charts/graphics; they're not simple one paragraph postings. Rather than use a CMS I have a hand crafted HTML/CSS blog (for tighter integration with the parent site, some dynamic data effects, and in general to have total control). I have a sidebar with headlines from all prior posts, and my blog home page is a 1 line summary of each article. I feel that after 100 articles the sidebar and home page have too many links on them. What is the optimal way to split them up? They are all covering the same niche topic that my site is about. I thought of making the side bar and home page only have the most recent 25 postings, and then create an archive directory for older posts. But categorizing by time doesn't really help someone looking for a specific topic. I could tag each entry with 2-3 keywords and then make the sidebar a sorted list of tags. Clicking on a tag would then show an intermediate index of all articles that have that tag, and then you could click on an article title to read the whole article. Or is there some other strategy that is optimal for SEO and the indexing robots? Is it bad to have a blog that is too heirarchical (where articles are 3 levels down from the root domain) or too flat (if there are 100s of entries)? Thanks for any thoughts or pointers.

                  On-Page Optimization | | scanlin
                  0

                Get started with Moz Pro!

                Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

                Start my free trial
                Products
                • Moz Pro
                • Moz Local
                • Moz API
                • Moz Data
                • STAT
                • Product Updates
                Moz Solutions
                • SMB Solutions
                • Agency Solutions
                • Enterprise Solutions
                • Digital Marketers
                Free SEO Tools
                • Domain Authority Checker
                • Link Explorer
                • Keyword Explorer
                • Competitive Research
                • Brand Authority Checker
                • Local Citation Checker
                • MozBar Extension
                • MozCast
                Resources
                • Blog
                • SEO Learning Center
                • Help Hub
                • Beginner's Guide to SEO
                • How-to Guides
                • Moz Academy
                • API Docs
                About Moz
                • About
                • Team
                • Careers
                • Contact
                Why Moz
                • Case Studies
                • Testimonials
                Get Involved
                • Become an Affiliate
                • MozCon
                • Webinars
                • Practical Marketer Series
                • MozPod
                Connect with us

                Contact the Help team

                Join our newsletter
                Moz logo
                © 2021 - 2025 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
                • Accessibility
                • Terms of Use
                • Privacy

                Looks like your connection to Moz was lost, please wait while we try to reconnect.