WordPress Categories vs. Tags
Categories organize your content into broad sections; tags label specific details within it.
What it means
Categories are the broad sections your content is organized into — think of them like chapters, such as "Recipes" or "Company News." Tags are more specific labels you attach within those, like "gluten-free" or "product-launch." A post usually has one or two categories but can have several tags.
Why it matters
Getting this backwards — using dozens of categories or tagging everything with everything — makes your site harder for both visitors and search engines to navigate. A clear category structure often becomes part of your site's main menu and URL structure, so it's worth deciding early rather than fixing after hundreds of posts pile up.
ask datanephew
How many categories should my site actually have?
There's no fixed number, but most small business sites do best with somewhere between three and eight main categories. Ask datanephew to look at your existing content and suggest a structure based on what you actually publish.
Can messy tags actually hurt my SEO?
Not directly, but a huge number of thin tag pages can dilute your site's focus. Ask datanephew to check how many tag pages you have and whether any are getting real traffic — that tells you if cleanup is worth it.