How to use content tags in Joomla!

Content tags are a great way to organize content on your Joomla! site so it’s easier for visitors to find the content they want.  When you apply the same tag to different articles, newsfeeds, contacts, media, and other content items, visitors can find all content on your site on a given subject or topic regardless of what type of content it is.

Creating content tags

There are two ways to create a Joomla! content tag: through the Tag Manager and on the fly when creating or editing content.

Create a tag in Tag Manager

If you want access to all the properties you can set for the new tag, use the Tag Manager.

Accessing the Tag Manager

To access the Tag Manager, first log in to your site’s back-end or administrator interface using the administrator Username and Password. Once you’re in the administrator Control Panel, select Components > Tags on the main menu.

You should now see the Tag Manager screen listing tags already created on your site. All new Joomla! sites start out with one tag: Joomla.

Joomla! Tag Manager - Create Content Tags

Creating the new content tag

To create the new tag, click the New button on the screen’s toolbar.

Create a Joomla! Content Tag

In the Tag Manager New screen, enter a Title for the tag (required). If you want, you can also enter a Description. When you’re done, click the Save & Close button on the toolbar.

Setting other tag details and properties

To set other details for the new tag, use the fields in the screen’s sidebar:

  • Parent – If you’re setting up tags in a hierarchical structure, select the new tag’s Parent tag.
  • Status – The default Status of new tags is Published. To create the tag but make it available at a later time, set Status to Unpublished.
  • Access – Choose who will have access to the tag: the Public, Registered users, users logged in as a Guest, etc.

To set other tag properties, use the Options, Images, and Publishing tabs. To get instructions, click the Help button on the screen’s toolbar.

Applying a tag to content

To apply a new tag to content items on your site, use the Tags field in the sidebar that appears on every content manager New or Edit screen (see the image below). On the sidebar, click inside the Tags field and select a tag from the dropdown list. To find the tag in the list, start typing.

Create a tag on the fly

In addition to using the Tag Manager, you can create a new content tag on the fly at the same time you add or edit a content item to the site. For example, you can create a new tag when adding a new article in the Content Article Manager (see What are Joomla! articles?).

In the Article Manager New or Edit screen, locate the sidebar on the right side of the screen.

Create Joomla! Content Tag on the Fly

Click inside the Tags field, enter the new tag, and hit the ENTER key. When you save the article, the new tag is applied to the article AND it’s added to your Joomla! site for use in other content items.

Using tags to organize and find content

Now that you know how to create new content tags, let’s look at some of the different ways you can use tags to organize content on your site.

Display tags with content items

The most common way of organizing content with tags is to display tags together with content items. For example, to make it easy for visitors to find all content items written for first-time users, you can tag these items as Beginner. When viewing any one of these items, visitors can simply click the Beginner tag to display a list of all the other items on your site with the same tag.

Using Embedded Contents Tags to Organize Content

Another and similar way of using tags is to add an item to a menu that links to all items on your site tagged with a given tag. For example, you can add a Beginner Articles item to the main menu that links to all items tagged as Beginner.

Menu Link to Tagged Items

For more on Joomla! menus, see What are Joomla! menus?

A third way you can use tags to organize content is to display the Popular Tags module on every page of your site. The module appears as a sidebar that displays a list of the most-often used tags on your site. Visitors can click on any of the tags to display a list of content items tagged with that tag.

Joomla! Popular Tags Module

For more on Joomla! components, see What are Joomla! modules?

For further questions, or if you need help, please open a support ticket from your HostPapa Dashboard. Follow this link to learn how.

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