Note: This article is deprecated. It is no longer valid. You should not be linking your tags to Technorati, but to your own content. Single hosted versions of WordPress now come with built-in tagging and tag clouds. Manually creating a tag cloud is not necessary.
WordPress.com users currently only host “global” tags, tags that link back to all WordPress.com blogs using that same tag. If you would like to override global tags and offer readers a manual way to link to your own content, see A Tagging Bookmarklet for WordPress and WordPress.com users for more updated information on how to create a tag list on your posts manually.
I’ve been talking about the benefits of using tags on your website. WordPress has the feature benefits of pinging Technorati automatically when you publish a post. It also uses your categories as tags.
But what if you are using WordPressMU like through WordPress.com and you want to have more control over the Technorati tags on your site? If you are using WordPress.com or another WordPressMU driven site, you may not have access to your template files in order to add tags to the template files or with WordPress Plugins. This limits direct tagging to basically three ways of including tag references and links – and all of them will be found within your post content.
Adding Technorati Tags to Your Posts
A Technorati tag is basically a link to the Technorati website that generates a search result web page of posts related to that tag. For instance, if you are interested in photography, that link would open a window on the Technorati site filled with posts about photography. Go on, try it. The rest of this article will wait for you here.
From the Write Post panel in your WordPress Administration Panels, in the textarea where you write your post, you can add a tag link to any word in your post, just as I just did with photography. It is no different from adding a normal link – you just add a rel attribute.
...just as I just did with <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/photography" rel="tag">photography</a>. It is no different from adding a normal link...
When the user clicks on that link, they will be taken from your page to the Technorati site with a list of the most recent posts with that same tag. If you would like to have that link open a new window, leaving your site still open in their browser, you can add a attribute to open a new window or tab. In general, this is frowned upon nowadays as it can confuse users and browsers, so I recommend you warn people before you do this. Most people know how to use the back button, so I recommend you don’t add this feature – but if you want – here it is.
...just as I just did with <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/photography" rel="tag" target="_blank">photography (opens in new window)</a>. It is no different from adding a normal link...
The second way to add tags within the post content is to add a tag that doesn’t go to the Technorati site, but does identify the link as a tag, which will be found by Technorati and other search engines and tag-oriented directories when their spiders and robots come sweeping through your site, adding that tag to their databases. The only caveat is that the link must take you to a real link, which may be found on a site that also uses tags.
...just as I just did with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photography" rel="tag">photography</a>. It is no different from adding a normal link...
The third way to include tags within the post content area, but not within the post itself is to add a list of tags to the bottom of each post you want to feature tags. This can just be a barebones list of tags or you can add some inline styles to make it look pretty and separate from your post. Let’s start with a barebones list of tags:
TAGS: photography, travel, nature, camping
You would type in something like this in your Write Post textarea.
<b>TAGS:</b> <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/photography" rel="tag">photography</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/travel" rel="tag">travel</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/nature" rel="tag">nature</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/camping" rel="tag">camping</a>
To add inline styling, it might look like this:
You could save the links and layout in a text file and then paste it in when you need it, changing the tag references as needed.
<div style="margin:5px; border-top:solid blue 1px; padding: 5px; font-size:80%; font-variant:small-caps"><b>tags:</b> <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/photography" rel="tag">photography</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/travel" rel="tag">travel</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/nature" rel="tag">nature</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/camping" rel="tag">camping</a> </div>
Helping Technorati Find Your Tags
WordPress automatically pings Technorati which triggers your site to be picked up by Technorati so you should be able to see your posts displayed on related tag searches within a few minutes, depending upon the current load on the Internet and Technorati’s services. During heavy usage, sometimes it can take a few hours to appear.
If you would like to manually ping Technorati, visit their manual pinging tool on their site and enter your site’s URL.
For more information on how to use Technorati tags, see Technorati Tag Help.
Adding Site Search Tags to WordPress.com Blogs
Here are instructions on how to generate Technorati-style tags that display in on site results in WordPressMU and WordPress.com.
Technorati links are great, but they also invite visitors to leave your site. While it helps them find more related information, I’m not a big fan on saying “Hey, I’m giving you an invitation to leave instead of looking around here first.” So I encourage you to either use site search tags or use both types of tags to give your users both opportunities for finding more and related content.
To create site search tag lists, use a layout similar to the one above, but change the link in the tag to the link for searching your WordPress blog. Do not use an permalink formation for this, it has to be this way – simply replacing the keyword(s) with the ones you want to become your tag words.
<a href="/index.php?s=wordpress+backup" rel="tag">wordpress backup</a> <a href="/index.php?s=blogging" rel="tag">blogging</a>
The words “wordpress” and “backup” show how to use two key tag words to generate wordpress backup and a single word example for blogging. Also note that there is a slash before the index.php link. This is critical. Without it, ugly things will happen and the search results won’t work. You could also replace the relative link to an absolute link for your blog like:
<a href="https://lorelle.wordpress.com/index.php?s=wordpress+backup" rel="tag">wordpress backup</a>
This function will help add increased navigation results and help your user find related information on your site. And there is no reason why you can’t use both, titled as Technorati Tags and another list for Search Tags, or some other creative name.
Site Search Tags: tags, tagging, technorati, wordpress.com, wordpresscom, wordpressdotcom, using+tags, search, site, navigation
Copyright Lorelle VanFossen
Lorelle on WordPress 
34 Comments
Great write up for users unaware of the steps to manually tagging posts. Hopefully WordPress.com will consider adding the feature to save “average” bloggers a little time and stress.
In case anyone is interested I use the following:
Technorati Tags: tag1, tag2, tag3, tag4Ease of adding tags to a blog entry is something that should come with the Flock experience, though it would be nice to have it directly in the wordpress user experience as well.
It is worth noting that you can use your own or other tag “name spaces”.
Derek: Your example is the same, except for the title, as explained in the article. Just to clarify things.
Lloyd: I think that adding tags through Plugins or built in is fantastic, but remember this is new technology subject to change. Rumors were flying not long ago that Technorati was up for sale, though that’s quieted down now, so the technology behind tags is still evolving.
As stated in Categories vs Tags, tags can link to a variety of results, onsite and offsite.
Unfortunately with the current installation of WordPressMU at wordpress.com, tags are limited to the post content area, what you manually add, and the results are offsite. I’m hoping to find a way to generate onsite results without changing the code, but that is so dependent upon the Theme in WordPress, but you’ll hear it here when we come up with a method.
Through the “magic of modern WordPress” 😉 I was able to come up with a way of displaying onsite tags and it’s highlighted today under “Later that same day”. I’ll fix the title later, but this is exciting.
Using this method within wordpress.com and other WordPressMU sites, you can add tags that will generate onsite search results based on those key tag words, keeping users on your site. The use of the
reltag keeps them recognized as tags.The things you can do with WordPress! Wow.
*jaw hits the floor* Lorelle, I love you! I was unsure if adding the tags directly into a post like that would still work..and here you are answering my question before I even formed it! *squishes* Thanks, hon.
Ah, I call this good sucking up! 😉
Please don’t encourage people to use inline styles, it’s a terrible practice.
There is also no need to “tag” your posts beyond assigning categories, Technorati picks up category values from WordPress. You can create categories on the fly now on the post screen.
Matt, you bring up an interesting point. Yet, you haven’t explained what is “bad” about the process. And what is bad? Using inline styles or tagging within the post?
But the point you bring up that is important to understand that categories equal tags puts more pressure and limits on our choices for categories. Category names are now dictated by choosing titles that reflect keywords found at Technorati and other tag oriented directories.
For example, if I call a category “Behind the Scenes”, that is not very helpful for tagging since it doesn’t “mean” anything as a tag. “Photography Tips”, “WordPress Help”, “Digital Photography”, these all mean something in the tagging world, but “Cultured Banter” means nothing if tags are to “equal” keywords.
Using categories as tags for many people is stifling. I have just added a new category on my site and spent five days debating what to call it. I’ll be writing about the experience later, but the freedom to call it anything I want, knowing that categories are tagged, constrains my choices.
I have to agree with Lorelle on this one — while categories should be treated by Technorati as tags, there are MANY instances in which one would want to add additional tags to a particular post without creating a seperate category for it. Additionally, constraining users to categories for their technorati tags could result in an unmanageably large list of categories in order properly tag all of your posts. Allowing users to add additional tags on a per post basis while still tracking the WP categories as tags gives users the best of all worlds. I sure hope that the finalized version of wordpress.com and WP 1.6 includes a way for the average joe to easily tag their posts without having to manually muck with html coding for each and every post (which, to me, seems to defeat the point of the simplicity of the new wordpress.com interface). Of course, these are just my 2 cents. However, considering the popularity of the numerous tagging related plugins amongst the community of WP 1.5.2 users, it seems to be a feature that would be much appreciated by many if it were incorporated straight into WordPress 1.6. And Matt, keep up the fantastic work on WordPress — I am so impressed with all that you have accomplished (and at such a young age, at that), and can’t wait to see what’s yet to come from you. Rarely has a single person made such a large contribution to the way the web works – what you’ve done is nothing short of amazing.
I’m having a few problems with technorati at the moment as my posts are not appearing on there. I just realised that I’ve not been adding rel=tag to my technorati tags. I tried copy and pasting the above as a test all I get is http://technorati.com/tag/wordress+mu rel=â€?tagâ€?>wordpress+mu
Any ideas what I’m doing wrong?
Sorry for gate crashing this post again, but I think I’ve partly sorted out the tag problem. I went to Options and removed the tick for the rich editing. It’s not as much fun as before but at least I can now at rel=tag to my techanorati tags.
I agree with Emily, in addition to category tags there is still the need to add additional tags to posts, and if wordpress.com is going to be aimed at the same market as blogger and typepad, then this is a feature that would need to be automated as much as possible. Indeed, I do miss on both wordpress and wordpress mu the keyword feature that was available on movable type.
Isn’t it exciting to be part of something that’s in it’s infancy. I believe so.
Your example of wordpress+mu is a tough one, since it is WordPressMU so the tag “should” be “wordpressmu”. Pick a better example to test drive. 😉
Don’t forget that Technorati can take some time to pick up your posts, though they are fairly fast.
And yes, it is exciting to be part of something so new and exciting with so much potential.
I think its in very poor taste for Matt to declare something a “terrible” practice, when its clearly a work-around to a larger problem.If we had proper access to edit stylesheets, we wouldn’t be forced to use hackish inline styles.Fix the root issue, and users won’t encorporate shoddy practices to subvert the system and get what they want. Otherwise, simply applaud Lorelle’s ingenuity and ferver for promoting your product.
Even if we had access to the style sheets, which I think with wordpressMU might be pushing the line, I agree that there is NOTHING wrong with inline styles. The root issue isn’t the style sheet. That’s something for the those who actually KNOW what they are doing and those who grow out of WordPressMU free blogging sites.
The key issue is stripping inline styles out of the post content. If I want to temporarily highlight text in red, then let me add a style that says
color:red. I’m not going to use it on every post, but if I want red, give me some damn red!I have since found out that Matt’s oblique warning was regarding the stripping of all inline styles and codes from the post content for “security reasons”. I’m still hunting for justification for “security” to make my text temporarily “red”. Can’t find it anywhere.
I call it the “throw out the baby with the bath water” thinking.
But I’ll save my own rant for a future post – coming soon to a rant near you.
I provided a GreaseMonkey solution for the same, which allows adding Technorati and/or Deli.cio.us tags to your wordpress.com blog.
I shall work on extending that or creating similar one for ‘site search tags’ in the coming days.
I have to agree Lorelle…On a post, I made a post about Pink Floyd, making a category for Floyd would be quite silly, since I have made one post about them, and I may in a few months. So if I made a category per tag it woukd be a log list that would make people scroll a lot.
hey great post. Can you tell me how to make my tags appear in a smaller-size
In anything except a WordPresMU driven site like wordpress.com, you can set class to include a smaller font size. But in wordpress.com you are unable to do anything with styles inside of a post, something that honks me off.
So the answer is no. Unless we barage the Feedback button with demands to restore basic inline style references and/or use of tags like
small, large, x-large, and basic use of classes like small, large, x-large, red, green, blue, and purple.How could you add that inline styling to your tags? I’ve tried doing that so many times today and every time I update the HTML, the editor takes all of the border styling away, even the small caps. I even tried copy pasting the HTML you have here and that didn’t work either? Do you have special privileges here or is there something I’m missing?
I thought I’d mentioned here that at the time this was written, we had the ability to add styles to wordpress.com blogs. Then they took it away. While we can’t “style” tags in wordpress.com, though you can in the full version of WordPress, you can still add the tags. An updated post explaining this is better detail is at A Tagging Bookmarklet for WordPress and WordPress.com users, which actually makes the process of adding tags really easy.
I hope they allow some styles back soon, but so far, “for security reasons”, they are stripped. Sucks. If you want them, complain loudly via the Feedback button.
There is so much buzz about tag and ping with tutorials selling for $97. There is too much hype. Thanks for detailed and FREE 🙂 explanation about this. I guess there is some use of tagging. This is the info I needed. I wonder if there is a WordPress plugin that will allow us to add the tags without actually writing the HTML??
Glad to help. To make this easier, without the copy and paste, use the Tagging Bookmarklet for WordPress and WordPress.com. If you are using the full version of WordPress, you can use the Ultimate Tag Warrior WordPress Plugin and your tagging nightmares are over.
Also check out The Problems with Tags and Tagging and Tags Are Not Categories – Got It? for more help on understanding how tags work and how to use them.
Excellent, excellent, excellent! I finally found the information I needed. I’m new to blogging (just started this week) and wordpress and kept seeing and reading all these articles relating to tags. I understood their purpose, but for the life of me couldn’t figure out how to use them (or more to the point, how to make them).
I thought by creating categories I was making tags (face red with embarrassment) but now I know what to do; and just in the nick of time because I finally got my own web host and will be spending this weekend moving stuff over. I plan on using the ‘on site results’ tags that you recommend in the last section of the article. So a great BIG thank you for your insightful and concise (and much needed) article 🙂
You are welcome, and make sure you check out A Tagging Bookmarklet for WordPress and WordPress.com users, as it is a better version, and if you are going with a full version WordPress blog, then I recommend using The Ultimate Tag Warrior WordPress Plugin.
Also, in WordPress, categories are automatically tags. So what’s to be embarrassed about. They are. They just are not the only way to make a tag. Any link can be a tag. See Tags and Tagging in WordPress for specifics. Good luck.
That was very useful info on tags.
thanks a lot
don
I just came upon Your very usefull post about tagging. Thanks a lot!!! I finally managed to add Technorati tag to my post 🙂
Thank You Lorelle!
this is a good tip.
thanks for it!
You are welcome and I hope you checked out A Tagging Bookmarklet for WordPress and WordPress.com users as it is even more helpful.
Thank you for this great information. When I achieve world domination and begin my reign of terror, you will be one of the few who will be spared!
Down the end of your post, you have many links. Furl, digg, del.icio.us, etc etc. what did you input those with?
My fingers. Honestly. I just typed it up and copied and pasted it, and then stopped doing it because such links are clutter and not necessary. They do little for your blog. If you have a favorite social bookmarking or site submission service, you are probably using it as a bookmarklet or toolbar on your browser and will use that over any links on a blog page.
This is one of the pages where I forgot to remove the submit links graphics. Thanks for reminding me. Let me also remind you that the updated version of this article is at A Technorati Tag Bookmarklet for WordPress and WordPress.com Users.
Thanks for all this information.
I’m still confused how you dynamically change all the links on a word cloud or in the wp_tag_cloud function so that the result is the search page.
Or the link from each keyword is something like /index.php?s=”tag” instead of /index.php?tag=”tag”.
It would seem to be easy. Is there something basic I’m missing in this concept?
Thanx!
I hope you realize that this article is deprecated and it is no longer valid as few should be linking to Technorati today. I’ll make a note on this page, so thanks for the reminder.
As to what you are tying to do, I assume you want to manually create a tag cloud instead of using the one that comes with WordPress? The proper link format in WordPress is:
<a href="http://example.com/tag/tagname" title="Tag Name">tag name</a> OR <a href="http://example.com/?s=search+term" title="search term">search term</a>Me, I’d just use the built-in tag cloud. 😀
28 Trackbacks/Pingbacks
[…] Lorelle has a lovely post at here about adding tags to your entries here on wp.com and so after tweaking things a bit to work with this theme, I have implemented them here. (I haven’t tagged every entry, but a few I felt worthy…and I’ll try and remember to tag from now on, but you know me.) […]
Add Tag more simple
There is a more simple way to add ‘technorati Tag’ to your blogs. It can be done though 3-steps.fllow me:
just click or bookmark this link.Technorati Tags Bookmarklet
enter you tags then click ‘ok’. If you have more than one tag you sho…
[…] https://lorelle.wordpress.com/2005/09/11/adding-technorati-tags-to-wordpressmu-sites/ This is just a simple modification of the GM script given in 1st link above…but something which took me an hour to figure out (I just know the basics of JavaScript). Here it is: Â 1. Install this GreaseMonkey script. Important: Make sure you replace ’sridhar’ w/ your own username on WordPress.com. Â 2. At any time you are entering the post content or after you’ve done entering the content in the post entry form, click on HTML. You’ll find this: Â (ignore the little arrow symbol. It’s just a form filling extension am using) Â 3. Enter tags separated by spaces and click Append tags button. Â 4. Press Update button at the bottom. Â 5. You’ll see the tags that you entered like so: Â Filed in: technorati GreaseMonkey tags WordPress.com […]
[…] I’ve gotten a lot of questions about the tags I use at the bottom of most of my posts. There are two sets, one for Technorati tags and the other as navigation tags to search my site. Up until recently, these were created from a text file I kept open all the time with my tag list all laid out. I’d copy and paste the tags I wanted into the bottom of each post. Well, now I don’t have to. […]
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[…] Adding Technorati Tags to WordPressMU Blogs […]
[…] Adding Technorati Tags to WordPressMU Sites […]
[…] Adding Technorati Tags to WordPressMU Sites […]
[…] Adding Technorati Tags to WordPressMU Sites […]