What are Tags?
In this article, we will look specifically at the "Tags" component of Joomla, which is different from meta tags used in the head of html pages. We have an article about those tags too.
The most important rule for these tags is to have specific list of tags which you always choose from. Tags become useful when you use the same tag every time, without spelling or wording variations. Every article can have as many tags as you wish to add, so you can have overlapping tags without using multiple articles.
If you use consistent tags with each article, they improve SEO and can be used in several ways to sort and display articles.
How does Coughlin use them?
We can add links and filtering options which allow for people to see only the articles assigned with a specific tag, but there are a few different ways to do this:
- A list (or a link to a page with the list) of all tags currently in use. From there, the user can click one of the tags to view articles with that tag.
- A link to a page which lists all the article titles of one specific tag. The titles then link to the full article page.
- A link to a page which displays all the full articles of a specific tag.
Which method we choose depends on preference, the number of tags you use, and the nature of the content in your articles. We can work with you in figuring out how you might want to use tags with your articles.
So how do you add them to your articles?
You can add tags to any article when you create it, or by editing existing articles. You'll find the Tags field under your publishing options.
To make it easy, Joomla keeps track of what tags you use. When you click in the "Tags" field, a list of any existing tags will pop up to choose from. This helps you stay consistent with your tags without having to remember how you originally wrote them all. If the tag you want to use is not in the list, you can type it in and press Enter. You can use any word or phrase, including spaces, but it is best to keep them short and simple. Once you hit Enter, the word will appear enclosed in a box. To remove it, click the small x in the corner of that box.
