Every category on your blog should make a reader want to click on it - that's the goal.

When I start working with a new coaching client I always start off by doing a comprehensive blog audit.

And usually, one of the most significant overhauls happens with the client’s blog categories.

Most of the time, people have no structure or logic to how they’ve assigned categories. They’re usually missing valuable keywords and just assign multiple categories repeatedly.

Then those category terms often duplicate with tag terms and that leads to repeat content which is a big no no for SEO.

Updating and organising your blog categories isn’t just good for improving your pageviews - it can also help improve your bounce rate.

Plus, organising your categories mean those category URLs become more valuable to your readers AND also contributes to your brand reputation and your expertise.

So how do you do it?

THINK OF YOUR BLOG AS A BOOK

Books have chapters that divide a book into sections. Categories work the same way. Would you put the same tutorial in two different chapters? Nope, you wouldn’t.

You want your categories to be three things

Simple
Straightforward
Easy to identify.

Let’s look at a couple of examples.

If you’re a food blogger you could have a “recipes” category rather than just a general food category.

If you’re a fashion blogger, you could use the word "outfits" or real style" for a category rather than fashion.

Your aim is to have multiple posts in a category, so definitely 10+ and up.

The biggest mistake I see bloggers make is having too many categories. It’s going to be so much better for you if have a few categories rather than too many. Four or five is usually a good benchmark.

I used to have four categories but now I rely on three core categories. And you want those categories to be specific to your posts. So if you’re using the same two categories all the time, you need to find a way to differentiate your content better.

For instance, if you’re a fitness blogger, you could have categories like “workouts” “fitness tips” and “healthy eating”.

I do it differently and base mine around my audience. So my categories are split into:

Beginner blogging tips
Everyday blogging tips
Advanced blogging tips.

Let’s go back to the two examples we chatted about earlier and think of some categories for those.

So the food blogger - you could break the categories down into different types of meals - breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, drinks etc.

Then your tags could be vegetarian, vegan, dairy-free, 30-minute meals, chicken - anything associated directly with the post.

And the category acts as how you categorise it.

For the fashion blogger you could have “outfits”, “fashion trends”, “style guides” and so on, and you could add tags based on brand or occassion.

CREATE CATEGORY BUCKETS

If you feel completely stuck, your best bet is to use the method of organisation.

So with the food blog example, you could start with “main dishes”, “side dishes” and "drinks".

But let’s say you’ve got over 100 posts on your blog - now you can afford to get a bit more specific with your categories, like using "soups", "salads", "breakfast".

A salad can act as a main dish and a side dish, but at its root a salad is a salad, right? So a post that is a salad would only be assigned that category.

That’s the thing with your blog categories, you want to be specific. So with the fashion blogger example, you want your categories to focus on different types of outfits whether you do this by season or occasion.

So to sum up, organising your categories and adding them to your blog posts is a great way to encourage readers to stick around by exploring other posts related to the one they’ve just read.

Maybe your reader found your amazing chicken ceasar salad recipe from Pinterest and now they see you’ve got a whole category dedicated to salads. They want to know more, so they click through to the category.

This is a great way to increase your pageviews and create loyal readers too.

So those were some actionable tips to help you organise your categories. How do your categories work on your blog?

Remember to organise your categories so you can get one step closer to a breakthrough.