If you have ever stared at your blog settings wondering what to do with blog tags, or you have seen a blog with thirty random tags on each post, you are not alone. Blog categories and blog tags are two of the most underused and misunderstood tools in blogging (and you want to leverage these, trust me). When they are not set up with intention, you miss out on SEO power that is already baked into your content you’ve already poured into.
As a long-time photographer turned SEO consultant, I see this almost every week with my VIP clients. Sorting out massive lists of unused or duplicate tags, tightening categories, and building a clear structure often gives existing posts a visibility boost without publishing a single new piece of content. It’s one of those “low effort, high impact” wins I love finding for my clients.
What Are Blog Categories?
Categories are your blog’s main subject areas and a core part of your site’s structure. They help both visitors and search engines understand what your content is about at a high level. Before you ever start blogging, you’ll want this piece ironed out.
If you photograph families, newborns, and branding, your categories should match those focus areas. If you are a niched wedding photographer, your categories might look more like Engagement Sessions, Wedding Venues, Wedding Photo Inspiration, Micro Weddings, and Elopements.
As I often tell clients when working 1:1, categories should support your overall SEO strategy by creating well-defined topic areas that match your services. Each category page has its own unique URL, page title, and meta description. Optimizing these is an easy way to improve your site’s chances of having those pages indexed and ranked in search results.
What Are Blog Tags?
Tags are more specific labels that live under your categories. They describe particular details or subtopics within a category. For example, under the Family Photography category, you might have tags like Extended Family, Fall Sessions, and Sunset Locations.
Each blog tag creates its own unique URL, page title, and meta description. Sometimes clients use them to find very specific content, such as sunset photo locations or extended family sessions. Blog tags can also be powerful tools in your overall SEO plan for guiding search engines toward your areas of expertise, especially when you link to tag pages from your main service pages or other related blog posts. Tagging is where you can really show your super power or area of expertise.
One thing I remind people all the time: tags are not just labels like an Instagram post with all the ###, they are small but mighty SEO pages. Use them with intention or don’t use them at all.
The Difference Between a Blog Category and a Blog Tag
Categories are your blog’s big themes. Tags are the details that connect related posts.
Why Blog Categories and Blog Tags Matter for SEO
Both categories and tags create indexable pages that can strengthen your site’s topical authority when they are organized well. What is “Topical Authority”? It’s basically how much do search engines think you’re an expert on the things you talk about. Because there is a difference between talking about a thing and being seen as an expert in the eyes of Google.
Tags and categories are also a natural fit for internal linking. For example, if you mention “Extended Family Sessions” in a post, link that text to the tag page containing all your extended family content. I cover this more in The Power of Internal Links for SEO and Why Most Photographers Are Missing Out. But the takeaway here is that internal linking in general huge for SEO but linking to your blog tags (when setup correctly) is a power boost for SEO.
Avoid tag sprawl. If you have thirty blog posts, you do not need fifty tags. A good guideline is that each tag should have at least three posts assigned to it. Skip duplicate tags like “Family Photos With Dogs” and “Pet-Friendly Family Photos” unless they truly represent different content.
Keeping categories and tags intentional is more important than ever. In recent Google updates, low-value pages are often removed from indexing, while well-organized, niche, high-value content that demonstrates EEAT is prioritized. You can read more about this in Updating My Photography Blog for SEO: Google’s Latest Updates.
Example: Organizing a Family Photography Blog
Here is what a simple, effective structure might look like:
Categories: Family Photography, Maternity, Newborn, Seniors
Tags under Family Photography: Spring Sessions, Extended Family, Beach Sessions, Sunset Locations
In this setup, a post might live in the Family Photography category but also carry multiple relevant tags like Spring Sessions and Sunset Locations. If one of these tags becomes a frequently searched topic, you can link directly to that tag page from your services or portfolio to give clients a curated view of related work without adding a new category.
How Google Sees Your Blog Categories and Blog Tags
Most site visitors will not use categories or tags for primary navigation, but they may click them when they want more of the same type of content. Recent data shows people are less likely to click into a category from your blog page but will click on a niche tag topic within an existing blog they are reading.
However, just because your clients aren’t clicking in the traditional way, search engines still are. Google will crawl and index these pages if they are optimized with a short intro, relevant images, and internal links to related content and the follow they hierarchy. For example Home Page– Blog – Category – Tags.
Restructuring tags and cleaning them up, is often where I see clients get quick wins. Sometimes all it takes is cleaning up duplicate tags, intentionally grouping blogs together with more searchable tags, and dropping some thoughtful internal links. New new content needed for some Google love is an easy win in my book.
Content Neighborhoods and Holistic SEO
Categories and tags should have SEO baked in from the start. They are not just a filing system; they form the framework that helps Google understand your areas of expertise and authority. When used with intention, they create connected topic clusters that support your rankings and your visibility over time.
For more on how content neighborhoods work, see Updating My Photography Blog for SEO: Google’s Latest Updates.
Behind the Scenes: A Tag and Category Makeover
One of my VIP clients from 2024 had over 200 tags, most used only once and about 50 blogs. We reduced the list to 25 focused tags, refined the categories, and updated the meta descriptions and page titles. Within 2 weeks, their existing posts were showing up in more keyword searches, and their category pages began ranking for competitive terms on their own. This was achieved without creating any new posts, simply by making the content structure work strategically.
My thought process on this project was, not add anything new, just making what they already had easier for Google to understand. Often content creation is what we need it’s organization.
Wrap Things Up
Blog categories are your broad topics. Blog tags are your specific connections within them. Used with purpose, they make your blog easier to navigate, help search engines understand your expertise, and give you more opportunities to show up in search results.
If you are still not sure whether your current setup is helping or hurting your SEO, you can learn more about blog plan services in my ala carte options for photographers Custom SEO Services.
