Why do tag pages rank so well?

[lurker123]

I've read that tags should be set to noindex, however for me they rank really, really well.

I receive organic traffic through 2 word tags, which is crazy because my domain authority is low.

For me, tags bring in more organic traffic than posts.

What should I do? Noindex tags or keep them as they are?

 

[Castamir]

I could tell you that it's because of the internal links but pm me the domain let me analyze it better.

 

[nerdblogger]

I have seen many websites using this tag technique to rank for low competitive keywords, they do add tons of tags and once there site starts getting traffic, they flip it!

but those rankings don't last for long, it only requires one major google update to destroy the site's traffic so no benefit. But if someone is into churn and burn and this is a great fit!

 

[lurker123]

Never mind - the tag pages in question were ranking for searches of the domain name; not for the keyword of the tag.

So yeah, noindex tags.

 

[hideath]

people usually bounce back when they visit a tag page,
the problem is these tag pages will cause a SERP conflict as in your case and will be ranked since your posts don't have any external links and tags get more interlinks so google simply put more weight on it

 

[SK993]

I have the same problem. Don't think this will survive GG major updates. At the time being, I fill tag pages with lots of ads.

 

[Muhatrima]

I also have the same experience with my sites, even with new ones, if i open tags google indexes them very fast and they are on everywhere, yet my long SEO optimized posts take time and effort to rank.

I think the main reason, is the competition, as tags could be unique looking to the search engines. and less competition.
but they mostly do not serve the people and they would surely cause higher bounce back

 

[Panther28]

Yes, i have websites that rank for tags too, its strange, I normally only put them in for internal navigation possibilities.

 

[rafark]

Yes, i have websites that rank for tags too, its strange, I normally only put them in for internal navigation possibilities.

To me it’s not strange at all. Tags are literally like categories. Let’s say you have a fashion blog and a tag “jeans”. If I’m googling for something related to jeans, landing on the “jeans” section of a fashion blog makes a lot of sense.

 

[Piss]

My site "categories" on each post/the pages for these categories do the same for me, right now. I assume this is what you mean if not the meta tags feature which is supposedly no longer in use by Google for ranking.

I wouldn't noindex them, but you should definitely set up canonical tags and link properly when building backlinks whilst using these, especially if they generate their own page on your domain to house all of the tagged content.

 

[johndig]

Cause competitors in many niches usually morons and not optimize these pages.