I love doing discussion posts because I always learn something – or at least I have another question to ask. LOL
This time I have a question for all of you WordPress bloggers.
Ever since I have been blogging I’ve been using categories and tags on my WordPress posts. Both are useful to me (and hopefully to others) to categorize my posts.
A comment from my previous post about using Hashtags brings up this question:
Should we be using the # symbol in our WordPress tags?
I never have… but should I have been?
Thanks in advance.I have SO much to learn!
UPDATE: I received an answer to the question.
Benjamin Thomas (The Writing Train) says:
“It isn’t necessary to use # with WordPress for blogging. Unless, you wanted to track your site/blog by using a plugin. The use of categories and tagging is sufficient if you want to have your site optimized by search engines and ranking higher for easy access.”
Thanks SO much to everyone who weighed-in on this subject.
Fictionophile 
Ooh! Thanks for the answer :)))
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But I really have no idea either 😱
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Hi hi! New blogger here ;)))
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Welcome to the blogging community. 😁
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Thanks 😉
Please do check out my blog when you have time!
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I have seen several blogs using hashtag, but this does not change the results or help!
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Thanks. Yes, that seems to be the consensus.
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Thanks for the tip! Always something new to learn!
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Thanks. Like you, I learn something new every day. 💕👍
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oh good grief. so i’m wrong again? thank you, i’ll drop the practice. was just thinking to get the widest audience possible.
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Oh, nice! Good to know 🙂
I never used # in the wp tags.
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Neither did I Norrie. Guess we were right. ♥ I had a minor heart attack when someone asked the question though. As usual I always over-think things and assume I’m doing it wrong. LOL
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Reblogged this on The Reluctant Poet.
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Reblogged this on When Angels Fly.
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i tried looking up some popular hashtags and got zero results
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Yes Sara. The consensus is that the hashtag symbol is NOT to be used within WordPress. Thanks.
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i ve never used them on wordpress only twitter, i don’t even look for them on instagram
, but i thought only people who look them up do so on the site they’re on , like no one really looks up hashtags on good, but will on insta or twitter, so it’s kind of a waste, but you never know.
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I actually FOLLOW some hashtags on Instagram. For instance I follow the hashtags #policeprocedural and #mysterythriller. On Twitter I have quite often SEARCHED by hashtag. I often search #bookreviews and #thriller for instance.
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Wouldn’t it be great if all the advice that is thrown at us had some sort of rhyme or reason?
All too often it contradicts some other advice…
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True, so true. I am fairly confident now that the great research done by Benjamin Thomas coupled with some of my own research has pretty much concluded that hashtags are very valuable on Twitter and Instagram but are NOT to be used in WordPress. The book blogging community is so supportive. I know that whenever I’m in the dark about something, a bookblogger will shed some light.
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It would be good to know why one place but not another…
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Reblogged this on anita dawes and jaye marie.
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I had no idea about this so your post was very useful!
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Hope you had a chance to read all the comments Christina. I have now included the answer to the question by updating my post. ♥
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Yes, I did read the comments and saw your update – very helpful, thank you!
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I do use them sometimes but going by the replies you’ve had I no longer need to bother! 😀
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I’m glad to be of service Nicki. I’m constantly learning something new everyday. ♥
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Exactly! The # is really only for social media sites like Twitter and Instagram and Facebook. I use them all the time when I promote my blog posts.
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Good to hear! Thanks Davida. ♥
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i don’t have any idea, so what’s your final conclusion is it necessary to use # symbol or not. Now i got more confused
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The short and simple answer is NO. You do NOT have to use the # symbol in WordPress tags.
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I asked that question before too to a seasoned blogger and she gave me the same answer 🙂
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I do not use the symbol. I never have looked up blogs or topics with hashtags on here.
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According to one of my very knowledgeable followers, it is NOT necessary to use the # symbol when using WordPress tags. Whew!
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Great!
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This was so useful for me, I didn’t know either if it was necessary to use them! 😄
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According to one of my very knowledgeable followers, it is NOT necessary to use the # symbol when using WordPress tags. Whew!
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What’s the difference between a tag used on WordPress versus a hashtag used on WordPress?
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Precisely my question. I don’t know if using the # symbol makes WordPress tags work any differently…
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We have discovered that we should NOT use the # symbol when using WordPress tags. Thanks for your interest in this post.
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Tags on posts work like hashtags on social media, so while it wouldn’t really be detrimental to use the # symbol in a tag, it’s not necessary.
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Thanks Kelsey. Do YOU use the #symbol in WordPress?
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I presume you are talking about using them in the titles of your posts and not in the tags section?
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No, I meant the tags – like tags on your blog work like hashtags on social media. Clicking on a tag will bring me to your other posts with that same tag, like clicking a hashtag on Twitter will bring me to other tweets with that hashtag, without having to use the # symbol.
I’ve never used the # symbol in a tag because of that ^. I also leave them out of my post titles because I think it’s too clunky looking.
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No, you shouldn’t- WordPress doesn’t accept a hashtag when you try to follow it, so I wouldn’t waste time with it 🙂
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Thanks SO much. ♥
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No problem haha- I had the same panic attack about a year ago! 🙂
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I use them because I always thought you had too. Totally clueless.
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I think the majority of us are clueless Jennifer. Already I’ve seen answers to my question that say the opposite…
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Hi there! I have no idea either. I’ve been blogging for almost ten year now and never used hashtags. Just the usual categories and tags…..BUT I’m going to do some research and come back 🙂
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I’d be real interested in what you find. I did a bit of research myself before posing this question. I found bloggers who used the # symbol AND those who don’t. I don’t know which is correct.
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Ok. Here’s what I’ve been able to gather so far. It isn’t necessary to use # with WordPress for blogging. Unless, you wanted to track your site/blog by using a plugin. The use of categories and tagging is sufficient if you want to have your site optimized by search engines and ranking higher for easy access.
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Wow! Thank-you SO much for doing this research. I feel much better now knowing that my symbol-free tags are doing what I thought they were doing.
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It was definitely mutual. I learned something myself!
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Lost here too …🤨🤨
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I think I’ve got quite a few bloggers wondering like I am. I’ve found some bloggers who DO use the # symbol in WordPress and many who do not…
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Hm, I use without & only 12-13 tags. I’m not sure there’s any big difference but who knows
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You are correct. You do NOT use the #symbol in WordPress.
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Oki 🙂
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Good question, and I have no idea?!? 😕🤔
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Glad to hear I’m not the only one.
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We now have an answer. I’ve updated my post to reflect that. Thanks for your interest.
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Oh perfect I will definitely take a look!
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