It’s not the most common topic in the blogging world, but for the past 10+ years I consistently see questions about categories. Personal bloggers wonder about the topic. Business bloggers also wonder.
I sometimes see the question about categories in relation to SEO. I love SEO, but I get frustrated when I see questions about it. Including when it comes to categories.
Over my decade plus of blogging the one thing that seems to work for the long-term is trying to create the best content for readers. Google’s stated goal is to provide the answers their users are searching for. Is a category going to make a difference for SEO? Maybe, but only if it helps your readers to find the answers they’re looking for.
Here are a few of my thoughts on creating categories for your blog…
1. You Want ~5 Categories
I really like to compare blog categories to the categories you see on streaming services. For some reason, humans like to put content into categories. We’ve done this for a long time. Walk into a bookstore and you’ll see signs separating the content into categories. Open Netflix and it’s the same thing. Open Spotify and it’s the same thing.
Each type of content seems to have its own standard for the number of categories. For business blogs it’s about ~5 for the number of categories. You can certainly have more. You can even have less. Every situation is a little different, but if you’re questioning how many to have, go with 5 and you’ll be fine.
2. Review Competitors
I like to start by looking at other blogs in the industry. You can start by looking at a competitor. See what they have been doing and how they organize their content. Chances are they put at least a little effort into it. So piggyback on what they’re doing.
Then look at another competitor. They’re probably similar, but with a few differences. Chances are you can at least get a good idea for how you want to stack up against the competition.
3. Examine Internal Knowledge
After you get an idea for what others are doing, look internally. Think about the knowledge you have. Think about the topics you want to talk about. If you have some ideas for blog posts, consider how you might categorize those titles.
Ultimately the decision for categories comes down to you and what you want to write about. Usually the categories will kind of reveal themselves.
Conclusion
Start with an initial 5 categories. Do your best to set them at the start. The thing I’ve learned over my career is that things always change. You start with the best of intentions and then you learn as you go. There is no shame in making tweaks as you go along.
You’ll probably find that you’re better off with different categories in the future. Maybe different names will help readers to better find similar content. Maybe a new topic will come along that is more important than one you’re writing about now.
But try to stick to just 5 or so categories. As some new ones come along, others kind of fade into the background. It happens in all areas of content: movies, music and even in blogging.
And it’s not about SEO. It’s for organizing your content so it’s easier for readers to find more. Keep that as your main focus always and the rest will follow, including SEO.