What are Blog Categories & Do They Matter?
Blog categories are the tags you choose to organize your blog posts. When someone visits your website, they can click on a given category to see all of the blogs within that category. This makes it easy for people to filter out the topics that they are interested in and only see the content that is relevant to them. It is important to add categories to your blogs to help users have the best experience and find the information that they are looking for.
Common Blog Category Mistakes
Getting too Specific
It can be tempting to get very specific with your blog topics, but that can often lead to having way too many categories, many of which only have one or two blogs in them. For example, if you run an online store that sells sports gear, instead of having separate categories for “baseball bats,” “baseball gloves,” “baseball apparel,” “football cleats,” and “football pads,” it would be better to simply have two categories called “baseball gear” and “football gear.” This provides a simpler user experience and makes it easier for people to find what they are looking for without missing anything that could be relevant to them.
Having Multiple Categories for the Same Thing
We see this all the time. Often, people will either forget which categories they already have and add new ones that are essentially the same or else they will try to get so specific that they end up with a ton of different categories when their blogs would actually fit into just a few. For example, if you run a plumbing company, you don’t need different categories called “boiler tips,” “boiler info,” and “boilers.” Just use one category and put all of your boiler-related content into it. This makes for a better user experience when people visiting your site are looking for content on a particular topic because they can choose just one category and see all of the relevant posts at once.
Never Updating Your Categories
As your business grows and changes, your blog categories should evolve accordingly. If you begin offering new services or products, add a category that reflects this. If you stop offering a particular product or service, you should also remove the corresponding blog category so as to avoid confusion.
How Do I Choose Categories for My Blog?
The categories you choose will depend on the type of business you have and the content that you create. You want to have at least 3-5 categories that are relevant to the most popular services or products that you provide. Make a habit of checking on your blog categories once a year or so and doing a quick cleanup, adding and removing anything as needed.
If you want a little help creating or updating your blog categories, get in touch with the digital marketing experts at ThinkProfits today!
