Blog Categories and Tags: Useful Structure or SEO Clutter?

I’ve been working on our new website for the past few days. A big part of that is migrating the blog. Over two years we’ve built up more than 70 articles.

So I took some time out to revisit categories and tags.

This is one of those blog SEO topics that sounds simple until you actually stop and think about it. Then you realise there is still a lot of old advice floating about, much of it left over from the days when people thought adding more labels somehow made a page more relevant.

It didn’t then. It doesn’t now.

Categories and tags still have a place, and we’re using both on our new blog. But we’re using them deliberately, not just because the CMS gave us the option.

That is the difference.

Do categories and tags count as internal links?

Yes, they do.

If a blog post links to a category archive or a tag archive, those are internal links. They help connect pages across the site and can support crawling and discovery.

But let’s not give them medals they haven’t earned.

A category link or tag link is not the same as a well-placed contextual link inside the body of an article. It still counts, but it is usually broader, weaker, and less useful than a link that points a reader towards the next page they genuinely need.

So yes, they count.

No, they are not a substitute for a proper internal linking strategy.

Should you use categories and tags at all?

That, to me, is the more useful question.

Not “Do they count as internal links?”
Not “Will they boost rankings?”
But this:

Should I use categories and tags at all? Is my website better off with them, or without them?

Here’s the honest answer.

Use them if they help organise real content.

Leave them out if they just create clutter.

That’s really it.

A website is not better because it has more taxonomy. It is better when the structure makes the site easier to understand, easier to browse, and easier to maintain.

For most blogs, categories are usually worth having.

Tags are more of a judgement call.

Why we kept both, but kept them tight

As we rebuilt our own blog, we did not throw categories and tags out. We kept them, but on a short leash.

We’ve limited ourselves to six categories and five tags.

Not because some plugin whispered a magic number in our ear. Because we wanted a structure that helps readers, supports the blog, and avoids the usual mess of bloated archive pages, overlapping topics, and labels that only ever get used once.

With more than 70 articles, it would be very easy to let things sprawl.

That might look organised at first glance. Under the bonnet, it usually turns into a mess.

What categories actually do

Categories are the main shelves.

They organise the blog into broad subject areas so readers can quickly understand what kind of content lives where. They give the blog shape and stop it becoming one long stream of posts with no obvious structure.

In simple terms, a category answers this question:

What general area does this article belong to?

Where possible, each article should sit comfortably in one clear category. That keeps things tidy and reduces overlap, duplication, and those archive pages that start to feel suspiciously similar.

For most business blogs, categories are the part I would usually keep.

What tags are supposed to do

Tags are narrower.

They connect articles around specific themes, ideas, or recurring threads that can appear across different categories. They are not there to repeat categories in another format, and they are definitely not there to create a fresh archive page every time someone thinks of a slightly different phrase.

In simple terms, a tag answers this question:

What specific thread runs through this article that also appears elsewhere?

Used properly, tags can help readers discover related content.

Used badly, they become clutter wearing an SEO badge.

That is why tags are optional in my book. They can be useful, but only when there is a disciplined reason for them to exist.

Is your website better off with them, or without them?

Here comes the gloriously inconvenient answer.

A website is usually better off with categories, if they are planned properly.

A website is often better off without tags, unless there is a clear reason to use them.

That is because categories create structure.

Tags can create noise.

A small blog with no categories and no tags can work perfectly well, at least for a while. But over time it may start to feel a bit shapeless. On the other hand, a blog with too many categories and a pile of random tags is worse than having none at all.

So the goal is not to have taxonomy.

The goal is to have useful structure.

If categories and tags help you create that, fine.

If they don’t, skip them and put your energy into better internal links, stronger articles, and cleaner site architecture.

That is where the real value sits.

Why we chose these six blog categories

We wanted categories that reflect the real pillars of our content, not a random list created just to look organised.

These six do the job.

AI Search

This covers where search is heading.

AI-powered search is now part of the visibility conversation, and businesses need help understanding what that means in practice. This category gives us a home for content about AI search platforms, answer engines, changing search behaviour, and how websites need to adapt.

This is where we talk about what’s changing.

Traditional Search

For all the noise around AI, traditional search still matters enormously.

This category covers the more familiar SEO ground: rankings, search intent, organic traffic, visibility in classic search engines, and the practical realities that still drive most business websites.

Not everything needs to be dragged into an AI discussion just because that is the fashionable thing to do this week.

Technical SEO

Some articles belong firmly under the bonnet.

Technical SEO gives us a place for topics like crawlability, indexing, redirects, canonicals, internal linking, site structure, and other technical issues that affect performance behind the scenes.

It helps readers find practical, problem-solving content without having to dig through broader strategy pieces.

SEO Basics

Not everyone arrives on a blog already fluent in SEO.

Some readers simply want a straight answer to a basic question, without being buried in jargon or sold a miracle cure. This category gives us room for beginner-friendly explainers and foundational content in plain English.

That matters, because useful educational content is often where trust starts.

Local SEO

Local visibility deserves its own home.

A business trying to rank in a town or region has different needs from one chasing broader national visibility. Google Business Profile, local intent, reviews, service areas, and map visibility all belong here.

Shoving that in with everything else would make the blog less useful, not more.

KickstartSEO

This category is for our own perspective, updates, philosophy, and behind-the-scenes thinking.

It gives us a place for articles about our website, our service approach, what we are learning, and how we think about SEO as both a discipline and a service. That helps separate pure educational content from posts that are more directly about KickstartSEO itself.

In other words, it is where readers get to see how we think, not just what we know.

Why these six categories work

Together, these six categories cover:

• where search is going
• where search still is
• the technical side
• the foundational side
• the local side
• our own company viewpoint

That gives the blog a useful shape.

The categories are broad enough to organise the content properly, but focused enough to avoid becoming vague dumping grounds. That was the balance we wanted.

Why we limited ourselves to five tags

We have also limited ourselves to five tags.

That is deliberate.

Tags are there to connect recurring themes across the blog, not to turn every article into a Christmas tree covered in labels. We want them to help people discover genuinely related content, not generate a forest of thin archive pages with little or no value.

For us, tags are a second layer.

Categories shape the blog.

Tags create selective cross-connections.

Simple as that.

Where categories and tags start going wrong

This is where categories and tags start causing trouble.

The problem is usually not the taxonomy itself. It is the way people use it.

Common mistakes include:

• creating too many categories
• using tags like keyword targets
• making tag names overlap with category names
• giving every post a pile of tags for no real reason
• creating archive pages with one or two articles and no clear purpose
• assuming every taxonomy page deserves to be indexed

That is how a tidy blog turns into a structural mess.

Should category and tag archive pages be indexed?

This is where the answer gets annoyingly grown-up.

Some category pages may deserve indexing if they act as useful topic hubs and genuinely help people discover related content. A strong category page with a clear theme and a decent cluster of articles can absolutely earn its place.

Tag pages are a bit more suspect.

If a tag archive is thin, repetitive, or barely useful, it probably does not need to be indexed. Just because your CMS created it does not mean Google needs to care.

That is why blanket rules are usually nonsense.

“Always index them” is lazy.

“Always noindex them” is lazy too.

The better question is whether the page genuinely adds value.

If it does, fair enough.

If it doesn’t, let’s not pretend it is strategy.

This is exactly why we kept the structure tight. By limiting ourselves to categories and tags that genuinely matter, we’ve given each archive page a clearer purpose and a far better chance of being worth indexing.

Where categories and tags fit in an SEO strategy now

They still have a place. Just not centre stage.

Categories and tags are best seen as structural tools. They support content organisation, user experience, and crawl paths. Used properly, they are part of good site architecture.

But they are not a ranking trick.

And they are definitely not a replacement for sound editorial judgement, strong internal links, sensible content planning, and archive pages that are actually worth keeping.

The strongest internal links on a site are still the deliberate ones placed inside the body of your content, pointing readers to the next useful page.

That is strategy.

Taxonomy on its own is not.

Our takeaway

Use categories to organise. Use tags to connect. Use both sparingly.

Keep categories broad enough to shape the blog, and tags narrow enough to add meaning without creating clutter.

And never mistake taxonomy for strategy.

That is where I’ve landed while rebuilding our own blog. We are including categories and tags, but we are using them on purpose. Six categories. Five tags. Clear roles for each. No nonsense.

Because a blog should be easy to navigate, easy to understand, and easy to maintain.

The rest is just taxonomy theatre.

And if you’re wondering, “Hey, Michael, when is that new website going live?”

We’re nearly there. I’m confident we’ll be live by 1 May.

But it’s spring. If the sun comes out, so do my golf clubs.

Teri is praying for rain.

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