How many categories do you have in your blog design? Too many I bet! Sometime we give our readers too many choices and our selves to much in the way of hard work – at the same time we could be damaging our blogs SEO.
Categories can be a great way to file information. However there are times when people simply overdo it. I have come across sites that 30 plus categories with every post being tagged into three, four or more of those categories. It is not a sensible blog design strategy.
Take blog SEO for an example. For every category you tag a post into, it is potentially another copy of the post – duplicate content. Although duplicate content is not as harshly dealt with as once thought of, you want your link juice going to the post’s page, not spread throughout the categories. You can use a plugin which can help noindex the categories, but you still have the ‘follow’ issue for links.
By having such a wide variety of categories, you can often be left wondering which category to place your post in. The trap in the finish is to tick as many relevant and near relevant as possible. This can frustrate your readers when trying to find specific information. Your blog design should be there to help your readers, not frustrate them.
I recently came across an oldish (Feb 08) post on Pearsonified titled What Every Blogger Needs to Know About Categories which had a novel but sensible twist on categories. Rather than divide categories into the normal type, he has divided them into ‘Must Read’, ‘Worth A Look’ type categories.
It is an interesting concept although as a reader, if I am looking for specific information, that type of filing system would frustrate me even more. Without being too critical, his blog didn’t have a search option either.
The concept itself is interesting and I am sure it could be modified to cover both in contextual categories and the more inviting ‘Must Read’ style of category. Blog design needs to concentrate on the user as well as the search engines. Make the experience easier on your readers and they will happily return. Categories are one area that can be tightened up to improve both the search engine needs and your readers ability to find what they want.
I for one have always thought that less was more when it came to categories. Most of my posts tend to fall into three or four subjects and I try real hard to keep the posts from falling into multiple cats