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What are tags?
Tags, or labels, are special designations that help classify and systematize content, making it easier for users to find. These labels are similar to keywords, as they briefly convey the essence of texts, images, videos, or audio. This allows users to easily find relevant content on the web. In social networks, tags, often known as hashtags, are added by users or administrators under posts.
There are two types of tags: user tags and technical tags. The former are visible to all users — they are clickable and can redirect to topics of interest. Technical tags, such as HTML tags, are intended for developers and are not visible to ordinary users. These tags control how content is displayed on pages and in emails. Interestingly, tags were used long before the internet emerged — in the 1960s, criminal groups in the USA would leave their marks in certain territories, which can be considered a precursor to modern tags.
Why are tags necessary?
Prototypes of modern tags can be seen in categories and topics on forums, which structured information and simplified the search for answers to questions. With the increase in users and content due to the emergence of online stores and social networks, such categories became less effective. It was at this point that the need for tags arose, which serve several key functions:
- Structuring content: Tags allow information to be formatted as clickable links, making it possible to find all materials on a specific topic. A single post can be tagged with multiple tags.
- Correct display of information: Tags help programs correctly display files and page titles. For example, music tracks can contain tags that describe the artist and the title of the composition.
- Improving search results: Tags use keywords, which helps search engines find the most relevant pages based on user queries.
- Visualizing websites: They allow users to see how objects are arranged on pages, their sizes, and the distances between them.
What types of tags are there?
There are many classifications of tags, but the main ones are user tags and technical tags. Let's take a closer look at them.
User tags
User tags include hashtags and post tags. Hashtags are used to categorize content on social networks and start with the # sign. They can consist of a single word or a whole phrase, but do not allow spaces and special characters, except for underscores.
Post tags help users navigate content on websites and forums. They are usually set by the platform administrators and are located below the post. For example, on the platform "Pikabu," users can select tags from a suggested list.
Tag cloud
A tag cloud is a visual representation of all available tags on a website, allowing users to quickly find topics of interest. For example, in the blog of the marketing studio TexTerra, a tag cloud can be seen for easy navigation through articles.
Technical tags
Technical tags, such as HTML tags and meta tags, optimize the operation of websites and help search engines correctly interpret the content of pages. HTML tags, also known as internal markup, allow developers to structure content by highlighting headings, paragraphs, and images.
Meta tags, in turn, are brief descriptions of pages that help sort information in search results. The main meta tags include:
- Title: The title of the page, displayed in the browser tab header.
- Description: A brief description of the page, which is often generated by the search engine.
- Keywords: Keywords used to match the content of the page with user queries.
These meta tags are also known as SEO tags, as they help improve the visibility of websites in search engines.