71: Blog Organization in Squarespace: How To Use Categories and Tags Like A Pro

blogging

Dec 5

After moving over 400 blog posts to a new domain, I discovered some game-changing strategies for content organization that transformed how I manage my blog. Whether you're just starting out or managing hundreds of posts, the right system makes all the difference.

In this episode, I'm breaking down exactly how to use Squarespace categories and tags effectively. You'll learn how to create an intuitive blog structure that works for both you and your readers, plus get my exact system for maintaining organization as your content grows.

You'll learn:

The crucial difference between categories and tags
How to choose categories that actually make sense
Cool Squarespace features that use categories and tags

[00:00:00] When I first started InsideTheSquare. co, I challenged myself to post a brand new blog post once a week for three months straight. Well, fast forward almost five years, and I've kept that up and then some. I have published over 400 blog posts to teach you about all the cool things that you can do with Squarespace.
[00:00:18] When it came time to move that blog to a brand new domain earlier this year, those 400 posts were a hot mess. I did not have a solid strategy when I first started blogging, and I changed my strategy a few times over the last few years. So I needed to rethink and reorganize all of my content. And that's what I'm going to talk to you about in this episode of Think Inside the Square.
[00:00:42] We're going to get into categories and tags and how these two features can help you organize your chaotic content. Welcome to Think Inside the Square, a podcast full of tips and tricks to help you build a website that you're proud of. I'm your host, Becca Harpain, Squarespace expert and educator and creator of InsideTheSquare.co In this [00:01:00] episode, I'm talking about something that can be so helpful for you as a content creator and the user experience for anyone visiting your blog, categories and tags. For a transcript of this episode, along with the links to any resources mentioned, visit insidethesquare.co/podcast
[00:01:16] the term Squarespace is a trademark of Squarespace, Inc. This content is not affiliated with Squarespace, Inc.
[00:01:22] Whether you have five blog posts or 500 blog posts, keeping your content organized can feel overwhelming. Maybe you started blogging with the best intentions, but somewhere along the way things got a little messy.
[00:01:36] Trust me, I have been there. When I first started blogging, I had no system at all. I just posted whatever I was excited about, and I hope that people would somehow find it. But over the years, I've learned that there's a simple way to transform your blog from chaotic to perfectly organized, and it does not require a complete overhaul of your website.
[00:01:56] It all comes down to understanding and using two [00:02:00] powerful features that are built right into Squarespace, categories and tags. In this episode, I'm going to break down exactly how I use these features to create a blog that's easy to navigate, both for you and for your readers. We're going to talk about the difference between categories and tags because they are not the same thing, and then I'll share a strategy with you to help you choose your categories and tags strategically so you can implement them in a way that makes sense for your specific content.
[00:02:28] Let's start by breaking down the difference between categories and tags, because this is where a lot of bloggers can get confused. I want you to think about your blog like a bookstore. I live in the Pacific Northwest, and I have had the joy of visiting Powell's Books many times. It's one of my favorite bookstores in the world.
[00:02:45] It is the world's largest independent bookstore, and it spans an entire city block.
[00:02:50] We're talking about thousands upon thousands of books on multiple floors and it is incredibly organized. Now I want you to think about organizing your [00:03:00] blog the same way that Powell's City of Books organizes their massive inventory.
[00:03:05] Sure, they have a fiction section and a non fiction section, but it goes way beyond that. Now, when we're talking about fiction, there could be science fiction, fantasy, mystery, historical fiction,
[00:03:17] And each one of those classifications can be considered a category for a blog.
[00:03:22] These are the big, broad topics that help people find what they're looking for. Now tags, those are more like the little stickers that they put on books, like staff picks, local author, book club favorite. They give extra information about what's inside. So categories are the main sections and tags are like extra bits of information that can help you understand the content inside. Now let's talk about how to choose your categories. This is where I made a big mistake when I first started my blog. I tried to create a category for just about everything. I had a category for colors, for background colors, for buttons, for hover [00:04:00] effects, for images, for thumbnails, which are technically images. It was a hot mess. I basically turned my category navigation into this massive list that no one could actually use.
[00:04:11] So here's what I've learned. You should aim to have 10 categories or less. That's it. These should be the core topics that you write about regularly.
[00:04:20] For my code tutorial blog, I've tried to organize my main categories to be directly related to the content. We have content block, global element, page section, plugin, mobile, and layout. Just about everything I want to customize with code can fit into one of those broad categories.
[00:04:41] When it comes to tags, that's where I get into the fun stuff, like accordion, button, border, hover effect, image, font, background color, all of the fun details that really add to the context of that tutorial,
[00:04:55] but aren't necessarily broad enough to be its own category. [00:05:00] My blog is focused on tutorial content, so coming up with these broader categories was a lot easier than I expected.
[00:05:06] It might be a little more difficult for your specific subject matter, so here's a tip for you. I want you to think about this from your reader's perspective. When someone lands on your blog for the first time, They should be able to quickly understand what you write about just by glancing at your categories.
[00:05:21] If you're a food blogger, maybe your categories are breakfast, main dishes, desserts, and meal prep. If you're a wedding photographer, they might be wedding planning tips, engagement sessions, wedding day advice, vendor resources, you want to make sure that a brand new reader will understand what content is inside that category.
[00:05:40] Now let's talk a little bit more about tags because again, this is where you get more specific and you can have a little more fun. These tags are just those little stickers that tell you something extra special about your book.
[00:05:51] One of my favorite tags on my own blog is hover effect. Hover effect doesn't need to be its own category, because a hover effect could apply to just about [00:06:00] anything on a website. I have a post about creating a hover effect on a button. Now the category here is content block because that's the main topic. But the tags include things like hover effect, button, color, interactive element, CSS.
[00:06:15] This way, if someone's looking specifically for an interactive CSS element or want to learn more about hover effects, they can click on those tags and find the related content. But it's very clear that this is a content block because that's the category.
[00:06:29] Now here's a pro tip that I wish someone had told me years ago. Create a master list of your tags. I use Google Sheets for this. And whenever I'm about to create a new tag, I check my list first. This prevents you from ending up with five different versions of the same tag. Trust me, future you will thank you for this level of organization.
[00:06:49] When I was cleaning out my blog, I found out that I had misspelled the word hover three different times. And I had so many random tags living in that blog that I did not need to use again. [00:07:00] Create a master list of your tags and refer to it before you try typing in something brand new. Now, organization at this level isn't just about making your content more valuable and scannable for your audience. There are some cool features that you can use in Squarespace when you've properly categorized and tagged your content.
[00:07:19] One of my favorites is the summary block feature. When you add a summary block to anywhere on your Squarespace website, you can have it display content that is in a specific blog assigned to a specific category or tag.
[00:07:32] This means you can share a list of recommended blog posts anywhere on your website that will automatically update to show new articles when they're added to that category or tag. It is such a cool feature. Here's something else cool that you can do in Squarespace when you use these categories and tags properly.
[00:07:49] You can create a custom category menu.
[00:07:52] Using the archive block. You can display a list of categories or tags inside a blog. So your readers can quickly click on [00:08:00] one and see all of the content associated with that category or tag.
[00:08:04] I think the archive block is definitely underutilized and I want to encourage you to check it out once you've started organizing your content.
[00:08:11] Now for those of you listening who already have an established blog, the idea of re categorizing and re tagging all of your content might sound a little overwhelming, so I'm here to give you some action steps. One of the first things I want you to do is to make a list of your broad categories. You might be using a few of them already.
[00:08:29] I want you to make sure that you can fit at least three to five current posts into each category. If you only have one post that fits a category, it's probably not broad enough.
[00:08:40] And for those of you that are creating a brand new blog, I want you to brainstorm three to five main categories and try to imagine three different article ideas for each.
[00:08:50] So you've definitely got some homework today, but we're not quite done with this episode. Now that we've got categories and tags sorted out, let's talk about something that goes hand in hand with blog [00:09:00] organization. Content planning. Because here's the thing, it is so much easier to keep your blog organized when you plan your content strategically.
[00:09:08] I have a massive list in my Notion database of tutorial ideas, And as easy as it would be to assign a random date to each one of these ideas and just pump out a ton of content, I like to organize these content ideas by category to make sure that I'm rotating through these categories regularly.
[00:09:26] This helps me maintain a balanced blog that serves all segments of my audience.
[00:09:31] Now, once you do have those dates assigned, you can create your content in advance and use the blog scheduling feature in Squarespace to plan these posts. I'm recording this podcast episode in early November, and I am very pleased to tell you that I already have. All of my blog tutorials mapped out through the end of the year.
[00:09:50] Full disclosure, I still have to finish recording the intro for two of them, so they're not quite scheduled, but the blog posts themselves are ready to go. And it feels so [00:10:00] good to have that content done, so I can focus on creating other amazing things for our Squarespace community. Organizing my blog content by categories and tags has helped me realize where I can create new content and help me stay on track for my own schedule.
[00:10:16] This gives me a framework that makes content creation easier and more strategic. But I do want you to know that it's important to remain flexible even if you have the world's most amazing content calendar. Now, sometimes breaking news happens in the Squarespace world, or you get an amazing idea that just can't wait, and that's totally fine.
[00:10:34] The goal of organization isn't to box you in. The idea is to plan content and give yourself some flexibility so you can maintain a consistent posting schedule. I've posted a brand new Squarespace tutorial every Tuesday for years now, and that has been crucial for building trust with my audience and establishing my expertise in my niche.
[00:10:54] Before we wrap up, let's review this action plan for organizing your blog. If you already have a blog, [00:11:00] I want you to narrow your categories to less than ten, okay? Each one of those categories should have at least three blog posts . If it doesn't have three blog posts, that category is too broad. From there, I want you to add your tags, and remember that these tags are just extra bits of information for organization.
[00:11:17] If you don't have a blog yet, I want you to brainstorm three to five main categories and try to imagine three different article ideas for each.
[00:11:26] No matter where you're starting, remember to do this from your reader's perspective. When they land on your blog for the first time, someone should be able to understand what you write about just by looking at your categories.
[00:11:37] Don't get too caught up in making it perfect. You can change it at any time. Just focus on making it functional. Start small, be consistent, and watch how these simple organizational tools like categories and tags can transform your blog into a valuable resource for your audience. And if you're up for a challenge, definitely check out the archive block and the summary block in Squarespace.
[00:11:59] Those give us [00:12:00] some creative opportunities for displaying content that we've already organized.
[00:12:04] That wraps it up for this episode of Think Inside the Square, and I hope you enjoyed these tips. When you're working on organizing your blog, I'd love to hear about it. Take a screenshot of where you're listening to this episode and share it on Instagram. Tag me, at thinkinsidethesquare, and let me know what categories you're planning to use.
[00:12:20] If you did find this episode helpful, leave me a review wherever you happen to be listening, and share it with a friend. Thank you so much for tuning in, and most importantly, have fun with your website. Bye for now.
Blog content organizer: insidethesquare.myflodesk.com/blog-organizer