Some people really would like to have a tag page. Well, on this tutorial, you will be able to add a tag cloud to a page without making a template or even using a plugin.
You can use the template where you create a page and can select it, but perhaps you want to add it to another page, like the 404 page. You will have to be familiar with the WordPress loop and your theme’s files to be able to complete this tutorial.
Step 1. Take a template that you already have for your existing theme for your site, preferably page.php. Copy that template’s code into a text editor like Notepad.
Step 2. Paste the following code in where you put your content. Instead of the WordPress loop, you will include the following code. Note (again):Make sure you are in the HTML format instead of Rich Text. The ‘number=0’ means that you want all of the tags to show. Note: You can also create a new page, and have the following code within a template and choose that template format.
<?php wp_tag_cloud('number=0'); ?>
Make sure to label the template as well. If you are not sure how to, at the beginning of the file, include the following:
<?php /* Template Name: Tag Cloud Page */ ?>
You can add header tags (h2 or h3, whichever you use within your content) before it, or you can do without the header tags as the page will already be defined with its own when you publish it.
Step 3. Save file as a different name in the .php extension. Please note that you may need to choose “All Files” to properly name the file or the actual extension will be .txt (text file.)
Step 4. Upload the template to your theme’s folder.
Step 5. Create a new page in your WordPress backend and choose the new template your just loaded up.
Very simple, right?
Hi NiIe! I am a newbie in blogging and I just want to know what is a benefit of tagging a page. Thanks for the future reply and more power to blondish.net
I don’t really see a reason why need to make tag cloud, first because tag clouds are useless and there isn’t any advantage for SEO.
Hi Carl! While tagging in your site is good for your site’s inner SEO. Tag clouds are good to add to those 404 page templates that you should not be ignoring. It allows your user to have a chance to click to see similar topics to what they want, or if they are not sure what exactly they want to search (as in term-wise), the tag cloud is a good prompt. I do not use tag clouds on my main page of my site, but your 404 page should do more than put a search box and “You reached this page in error.”
I didnt know you could d this.. just found a plugin to do tags on pages themselves.. thanks! Gary
Hi NiIe!
Do you think creating a TAG page would any way help in seo(positively) ?
tag clouds help the readers a lot.
Great that I found your best post here, thanks for sharing your knowledge about tag cloud. I really want to learn on how to do it. This is certainly a big help for my blog.
Thanks. been wanting to make a tag cloud for my site for ages but found the whole thing rather confusing until now as I’m not that technical. Will give this method a bash though as I believe it could really be a useful addition.
I use a Tag Cloud on my WordPress blog. It is such a nifty idea. Whoever came up with it is a genius.
Don’t know if it is usefull to have site only with tag cloud but well everyone has it’s own strategy. I use tag cloud somewhere at the bottom of my sidebar just to improve some on page keyword density for googlebot.
I’ve actually read that tag clouds can hurt SEO and that Google frowns at them.
Has anyone else had any experience that they can comment on with this?
I’m refraining from putting a tag cloud on my camping site because I don’t want any SEO penalty, even though I think tag clouds help users find the pages they’re after.
I’m really interested in everyone’s experiences.
Thanks.
Steve McKay
Hi Steve!
Tag clouds may hurt a site if you are just using it to put in anything and everything on each post. You have to limit the tags to each post in a way that you think someone might search for it on your site. The tags are not particularly keywords, but a way to help with the search of your website. If your website’s tags are not relevant to what your site is about then yes… that might mislead your visitors and the search engines as well.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge about tag cloud. I really want to learn on how to do it…..
http://www.findghar.com
Hi,
Are tag clouds still a good idea?
I read that google now penalises you for having them, can anyone confirm that?
I don’t have a tag cloud but do put in a list of keywords that might have bought the visitor to might site because I see it as a great help.
Can someone have a look what I’ve done and tell me if there’s any chance google will penalise me for it?
My site is at http://www.workplacesafetywarehouse.com
And the bit I’m questioning is the “Search terms that may have bought you here” at the top and bottom.
Seems silly if it will penalise me as keywords help people find what they want.
Thanks for the help guys.
Kim
If you have them displayed site wide, yes Google may penalize you. If you are only using it in certain areas, you shouldn’t have to worry. You may find a plugin like Widget Logic can help you limit your tag cloud from being displayed sitewide and only show in places like the blog posts, or however you want.