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Tag and Categories Search

  1. andyash
    Member

    This is ridiculous. I mean that when searching by tags in (at least) non-Latin WP you get the results from the categories.

    The biggest example. I have some 1300 posts in my blog and the majority of those are tagged (among other things) with the name of my city - Samara or rather in Russian - Самара. But if you open WP search by tags and print Самара there you won't get about 1200 posts with this tag (remember, you searched by tags and Самара is a tag). You'll only get a couple of posts that obviously had Самара as a category.

    What's the reason? Why does WP confuse tags and categories in a lot of non-Russian instances. On the other hand, the search reasults on say Шереметьево (one of Moscow's airports and again a tag in my blog) turns out results by tags. Where's the logic? But if I search by my tag Delta Air Lines I somehow get only results from the Russian WP and (if I am not mistaken) only categories again.

    It is high time WP team concentrate on bringing logic to search. People should get search results in tags (not categories) when they click on tags in blogs. And people should be able to specify (by maybe choosing from two options in search results) if they need to further bring same-tag results from all over the WP, or stay fine with only the same language domain.

    The blog I need help with is samaralife.wordpress.com.

  2. andyash
    Member

    Well, I tried it again. No logic. From my blog I clicked on the tag Самара and in the results got more than a couple of links... BUT they were not to the posts in my main blog (where Самара is only a tag). These were just few results to other blogs (I can understand that) and the rest - results on my photos in my photoblog (samaralifephoto.wordpress.com)... where, right, Самара is a category (as well as a tag).

  3. panaghiotisadam
    Member

    The only difference between tags and categories is their function in the organization of your blog. As far as search engines are concerned, categories and tags are exactly the same thing. (And this is one of the reasons why you must not use the same word or phrase as both a category and a tag.)

    Great photos, by the way!

  4. andyash
    Member

    Thanks. But I am not satisfied with the tag/categories thing. I am not speaking of what search engibes do. And in my main blog Самара is only a tag. But if you search by tags you don't get Самара-tagged posts from the same blog and it all looks like no one writes about Samara, plus no one finds Samara if they search WP.

    Do I really have to go back and manually add Самара also as a category in 1200 something posts??? What's the stubborness in confusing tags and categories within the same blog platform?

  5. panaghiotisadam
    Member

    Sorry, but you are "speaking of what search engines do". And categories are tags.

    "The Global Tag Listings at WordPress.com aggregate all published posts attached to any particular tag or category". "Although the URL includes “tag”, the global tag listings also include categories". (From http://en.support.wordpress.com/global-tags/ )

  6. panaghiotisadam
    Member

    In other words, I don't think the difference you have noticed has to do with using a category as opposed to a tag. When thesacredpath drops by, he'll probably give you a fuller reply.

  7. panaghiotisadam
    Member

    "Is there any advantage to using tags or categories, or both? No. There is no advantage within WordPress.com and external search engines using one or the other."
    (From http://en.support.wordpress.com/posts/categories-vs-tags/ )

  8. raincoaster
    Member

    Categories can be converted into tags, but tags cannot be converted into categories. Also, there is no linear tag widget, just the tag cloud, which only displays about 40 tags. The Categories widget is list-formatted and has unlimited capacity. Those are the only differences.

  9. andyash
    Member

    Well, guys, let me put it in other words again, simpler. I don't care whether tags are categories or categories are tags and I don't care how search engines work. What I care about is how WP search works.

    If you go to a post and click on a tag what you get is not search results by tags, but search results by categories. I have 1200+ posts with a particular tag which is not a category, therefore, there aren't 1200+ results if you click on that tag in my blog. Similarly, other people don't get 1200+ results if they click on a tag or search here within WP by the word that is the same as the tag (not the category). So how can a tag and a category work in the same way (what you say) if they actually don't?

    Plus however global it is called, when you click on a tag (even in English) you get only results from yourlanguage.wordpress.com, not from anywhere on WP.

  10. andyash
    Member

    So, actually, what was the use of dividing one thing into tags and categories if you say they work the same and mean the same to search engines? You said A. But you didn't say B (make WP search not differentiate between tags and categories).

    Well, I am not a scandalist here, just somewhat hurt that somebody out there in WP doesn't get what they are looking for just because tags and categories AREN'T the same thing here, contrary to what is being said about them.

    Otherwise, love WP! :-)

  11. raincoaster
    Member

    We're telling you how they work here. That was the question, wasn't it?

    If you want staff to change the way they work here, contact staff via the Contact Support page and ask them.

  12. andyash
    Member

    Thanks guys for trying to convince me. It works in 50% of cases.

    1st 50% - when you click on en.wordpress.com/tags/Самара you get nothing, but you get everything when you click on ru.wordpress.com/tags/Самара because global here means national (not global) but at least within Russian tags it finds (as it looks) everything.

    2nd 50% - when you click on a tag (Самара) within a post you get nothing from this blog in search results! And that's what most people would do - they would click on tags within posts instead of typing some URL in the address bar (which, the correct URL, they first have to figure out through guidebooks).

  13. 1tess
    Moderator

    @andyash

    Aye!!
    No one is trying to convince you of any thing here.
    We are all volunteers: your fellow bloggers.
    Just like you!
    If you want to know how something works here on wp.com, then we can help.

    If you want something to change, something to work differently, something to function in a different way, if something is broken…
    you must contact support.
    http://en.support.wordpress.com/contact/
    fill in the details as directed.

  14. 1tess
    Moderator

    @cheerfulemo
    I am sure you do not want to be excluded from wordpress because you are spamming the forums.
    If you have a question about how to work on your blog, then feel free to ask.
    Spamming is very
    not good.

  15. timethief
    Member

    @cheerfulemo
    This is a technical support forum and posting these invitations into support threads is considered to be spamming. Please stop.

    You can Showcase (promote) your blog here http://en.forums.wordpress.com/forum/showcase

    You can chat with other wordpress.com bloggers here Off-Topic http://en.forums.wordpress.com/forum/off-topic

  16. 1tess
    Moderator

    ~~~Hi timethief
    same page
    same song…

  17. timethief
    Member

    Hi Tess,
    Yes, we are ♫ a duet ♫ :)
    P.S. I visited your blog. It's outstanding. The CSS work and the images and gradient shading - I'm so impressed, and that's not to mention the delicious recipes. W0W! Your blog rocks!

  18. 1tess
    Moderator

    Hi timethief

    No CSS there! It is our mutual friend Panos who did the magic to help me disguise Unsleepable. No question: he's brilliant.

    But HEY!! thanks. the borders and shading,that was a lot of work.… only one person has commented on that. (besides you) Ah, it was a game, a puzzle to play with.

    best to you!

  19. andyash
    Member

    Well, I guess the only thing left is WHO IS cheerfulemo to whom suddenly everybody is addressing. ))))))))

  20. bats0711
    Member

    LOL! @andyash...I was thinking the same thing! but quickly realized with the word spam that they were gone out of the thread because spam is a big no go here at WP.

  21. 1tess
    Moderator

    Yes, spammers are not welcome in these forums. wp.org folk do a good job keeping the forums neat and clean.

    I have been in forums where everything degenerated into spammers and name calling and stupid comments about bodily functions.

    But you are confused because of the deleted message so it would have been better for the moderator or staff person who deleted it would have left an indication that a comment had been deleted.

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