Most blogging platforms let writers add tags to posts, and each tag gets its own archive page listing the tagged posts. Used sparingly, tags help readers find related content. Used freely, they create hundreds of near-empty or overlapping pages, such as /tag/saas, /tag/saas-tips and /tag/b2b-saas, that waste crawl attention and can compete with real pages.
Why tag pages cause problems
Tag pages usually have no unique content: just a title and a list of excerpts. When many tags overlap, the same posts appear on many tag pages. And because writers add tags casually, a site can end up with tags used once. The result is a large number of thin, similar URLs.
Options for managing them
Which option fits depends on whether any tag pages bring in useful search traffic. Check Search Console before removing or noindexing them.
- Limit tags to a controlled list and merge near-duplicates
- Delete tags used only once or twice
- Apply noindex to tag archives while keeping them crawlable for users
- Remove tag pages entirely and redirect them to the matching category
- Turn the few valuable tags into curated hub pages with an introduction
Example
Pruning a tag sprawl
Hypothetical scheduling SaaS Driftmere's blog had more than 400 tags for around 300 posts, most used once. The team kept twelve tags, redirected merged tags to the nearest survivor, set the remaining tag archives to noindex, and built two curated hub pages for the topics that had steady search demand.
Common mistakes
Blocking tag pages in robots.txt and adding noindex
If robots.txt blocks a page, crawlers cannot see its noindex tag. Use one approach, not both.
Questions
Not inherently. Uncontrolled tag sprawl is the problem. A small set of well-used tags is fine.
