Categories, comments & SEO
The three things that turn a pile of posts into a blog: organisation, conversation, and being findable.
Categories
Manage Categories in the post editor. Each category has:
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Name | What readers see. |
| Slug | Its address. |
| Description | Shown on the category's own page. Worth writing - it is a page that can rank. |
| Color | Used for the category label on listings. |
| Parent | Puts this category inside another, so they nest. |
Keep it to a handful. Categories exist so a reader can find more of what they just enjoyed; twenty categories with one post each help nobody.
Tags
Tags are the finer labels, and a post can have many. Use categories for the shape of your blog and tags for specifics - category "Recipes", tags "vegetarian", "under 30 minutes".
Comments
Turn comments on per post with Allow Comments.
Comments arrive in Blog > Comments with a status:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Pending | Waiting for you. This is where new comments land. |
| Approved | Visible on the post. |
| Rejected | Hidden. |
Comments are held for approval before they appear. That is deliberate - an unmoderated comment box on a small site fills with spam within weeks. If a reader says their comment vanished, it is pending.
Approve generously and reply. A post with a real conversation under it keeps people on the page, which is both good for readers and a signal search engines notice.
SEO for a blog
- One question per post, answered properly. That is what gets found.
- Put the question in the title, in the words someone would type.
- Fill in SEO title and description on every post - see Write blog posts.
- Link between your own posts. A related post at the end of an article keeps the reader, and helps search engines understand which of your pages matter.
- Add alt text to images. It describes them to screen readers and to search engines.
- Update old posts rather than always writing new ones. A post from two years ago that you refresh usually outperforms a new one on the same subject.