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tags and searchability: I'm confused.

  1. firsttwoalgebras
    Member

    So far, I found some support articles:
    http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/my-blog-seems-unsearchable-on-the-wp-home-page?replies=5
    http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/make-my-blog-searchable-through-google?replies=2

    and I finally tried searching in WordPress exactly using my tags; but only ONE of them produced my blog in a search in WordPress. I also found that through Dashboard > Posts > Post Tags, I could add another tag, so I did this and added two more tags to my blog. Now, I tried searching through wordpress again, using the new tags, but they do not produce my blog as a find. Something wrong? Is using tags a good way to find a blog or a post in wordpress?
    Any directly related articles would be helpful. Alternatively, any good explanation very welcome.

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

  2. thesacredpath
    Member

    We need a link to the blog please.

  3. thesacredpath
    Member

    Is this the blog you are talking about http://firsttwoalgebras.wordpress.com/ ? If so, please provide a link to the blog when asking questions as we typically have to be able to view the blog in order to help.

    Your latest post shows up in these global tags pages:

    http://en.wordpress.com/tag/improper-fraction/
    http://en.wordpress.com/tag/quotient/

    Your first post however does not show up in tags. My suggestion would be to open that post, make a minor change (such as adding a space and then deleting it) and then click "update post." Wait a few minutes and then see if it does not show up in the tags pages. Sometimes it can take up to an hour for the tags pages to update depending on server loads and such.

    Do note that new blogs take a little time to get listed in the tags pages typically and it may just be that with your first post being only 7 days ago that your blog hasn't completely been indexed by wordpress.

  4. firsttwoalgebras
    Member

    Correct; the blog I referred to is http://firsttwoalgebras.wordpress.com
    The search feature of WordPress returns my blog for only two tags, but there are three other tags for the blog which still will not yield my blog in a search. "algebra tutor" nor "arithmetic tutor" are also tags to one of my posts but a wordpress search does not (yet) give my blog in search results. So, this will be able to occur some time in the next few days?

  5. izaakmak
    Member

    I have a similar question as it relates to categories. I have searched for an answer 'til my eyes ached. I've recently divided up my categories into hierarchies. I'm hoping that this will allow me to reduce the total of the categories + tags I assign to my posts. As an example, I have several sub-categories under the parent "music" but I'm still not sure if anyone searching for one of the sub-categories will find a post that only has the "music" category assigned to it, or if someone searching for "music" will find all of my posts that only have one or more of its sub-categories assigned to it.

    Can anyone answer this? Or provide a link to the answer?

  6. churchmouse
    Member

    To thesacredpath re tags suggestion -- thank you! I'd been having the same problem as firsttwoalgebras and your solution worked a treat! Many thanks!!!

  7. chicago40suncensored
    Member

    I have a very similiar problem with my blog, I've had it for about 6 months, and basically forgot about it because I literally had ZERO hits for the first 3 months - then out of nowhere I got 1000 hits one day, based on pics I put of the "Face Transplant" recipient being made public, however since then, I've updated it with new posts and NEW tags, and I'm back to zero hits on every other POST I make - but still I get 50 hits a day to that one Face transplant post.

    I tried searching my posts out by tags and they do NOT show up, I would really appreciate a response to this, because I'm seriously thinking of finding another blog server.

    http://sototallyandcompletelypoliticallyincorrect.wordpress.com/

    Thank you

  8. raincoaster
    Member

    Since you've been using the "Michael Jackson" tag on posts that have nothing to do with Michael Jackson, it's quite possible you've been reported as a tag spammer and eliminated from the Global Tag system. You'd have to ask staff directly about that, via your Contact Support button.

  9. chicago40suncensored
    Member

    The previous post I ADDED the Michael Jackson TAG just to see if I'd get anything at all from, what was at the time, the most popular tag. That was nothing but an experiment; prior to that, all my tags were completely in-line with topic, still NO hits.

    If your explanation was feasible, it would effect me from the time I used that tag (2 days ago), and NOT for the past 6 months.

  10. raincoaster
    Member

    Given that information, that's so. But even being excluded from the global tag pages wouldn't fully account for zero hits altogether; do you really mean zero hits? Because if that's literally true, I think you need to contact staff. Something must be wrong with your blog, given your updating.

  11. chicago40suncensored
    Member

    Yes, for the first 3 months I literally GOT ZERO hits... and I tagged every post, and every post was QUITE topical to current issues. I have to say one thing though, the posts were somewhat "UN-PC" (hence the title of my blog) mostly dealing with the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, and I was NOT on the side of Isreal...

    Is it possible I was CENSORED?

  12. thesacredpath
    Member

    Is my blog working reports that you are indexed by Google: http://ismyblogworking.com/sototallyandcompletelypoliticallyincorrect.wordpress.com .

    As far as the global tags pages here, you will have to contact support and ask them what the problem is. I checked a couple tags on your latest post and do not see it in the tags pages.

    http://support.wordpress.com/contact/

  13. raincoaster
    Member

    And to your question, no. The did not censor you. You should see the stuff I post when I'm feeling political.

  14. chicago40suncensored
    Member

    Sacred and Rain, thank you for your replies; I wrote WordPress 3 days ago explaining the problem, and I still have yet to receive a response. Now, is THAT normal?

  15. thesacredpath
    Member

    It was a long weekend so staff was at a minimum and it's likely they are backed up with support requests today.

    If you don't hear anything by the end of the day, contact them again. And also make sure and check your ISP email spam filter to make sure their reply doesn't get caught there.

  16. chicago40suncensored
    Member

    I finally heard back from them:

    "Hi,
    I'm seeing plenty of hits for your blog in the stats:
    http://sototallyandcompletelypoliticallyincorrect.wordpress.com/wp-admin/index.p
    hp?page=stats

    Where are you seeing 0?

    --

    Nick"

    Nick was refering to the "traffic" I got coming from the "Facial Transplant" pictures I posted, and ALL that traffic was coming from OUTSIDE of wordpress. (Evidently someone linked to that post)

    I got 1000 hits one day out of nowhere for those pics, and NOT one bleed-over into any of my other posts - and definitely nothing from within WordPress, or again; related to tags.

    I responded to Nick, telling him all this - and again, I still haven't heard back from him. (It's been 2 days now)

    I mean CLEARLY there's a problem here, and they don't seem to KEEN on fixing it.

  17. chicago40suncensored
    Member

    (quite frankly the only traffic I'm getting from within WordPress, is coming from THIS forum; and it ain't MUCH)

  18. raincoaster
    Member

    Your best chance at getting traffic from within WP, other than posting to the What Did You Post In Your Blog Today thread in Off-Topic, is to post fresh things, otherwise your posts get buried on the tag pages. Exposure on Dashboards under "Recently Posted" and on tag pages depends on the freshness of your material, and in most tags you will be pushed off the front page in a matter of minutes or hours. The solution is to post something new.

  19. chicago40suncensored
    Member

    Rain, I understand that - what I'm talking about again; is ZERO hits prior to 2 or 3 weeks ago, when out of the CLEAR blue someone linked to my "Facial transplant" pictures, and I wound up with 1000 hits in one day - while every single day before that, I had ZERO hits. And that "Facial Transplant" post was posted MONTHS ago as well, WITH tags relating to the story literally the DAY it hit the press.

    So again, my gripe isn't about "low number of hits", my gripe is about NO HITS and no Word Press TAG traffic at all.

  20. raincoaster
    Member

    I haven't had a hit on any of my blogs from a WP tag page in almost a year. That's not so uncommon. As for zero hits before that point would be surprising and indicate a larger issue than just no tag juice. If the blog were private, it would make sense. Otherwise, no more guesses.

  21. quirkyhill
    Member

    can someone tell me the differences between tags and categories??? how is it that one can convert tags into categories...??? first time WP user here and i'm plenty confused...

  22. thesacredpath
    Member

    This will explain the differences between tags and categories: http://support.wordpress.com/posts/categories-vs-tags/ .

    In your dashboard, go to posts > categories, go to the bottom of the page and click on the link to convert categories into tags. When that page appears, at the top will be two buttons: One to covert categories to tags, and one to convert tags to categories.

  23. quirkyhill
    Member

    thanks... btw, what is this global tag thing that i read about here? can others come to your blog via tags?

  24. thesacredpath
    Member

    Yes, if they find one of your posts on the global tags pages and click on it to read more, they are directed to your blog post.

    This support document explains global tags: http://support.wordpress.com/global-tags/ .

  25. thesacredpath
    Member

    By the way, tags and categories you assign to your posts end up in the global tags pages. It isn't just for tags, and in reality, the search engines treat tags and categories exactly the same so as far as they are concerned, there is no difference. The two are separate here to give you more organizational possibilities.

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