Reminder: Policy About Tags In Plugin Readmes

This is a reminder of current policy.

We ask that users limit tags in their plugins to no more than 12 (twelve), with some exceptions. Any time your pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party has a high number of tags, you’re seen as trying to game the system.

How do you fix this?

1. Remove any ‘common misspellings’ from your tag list
2. Remove duplicate tags
3. Don’t use ‘wordpress’ or ‘wp’ in your tags
4. Don’t use tags that don’t apply
5. Don’t use your competitors in your tags (if you’re not a woocommerce plugin, don’t list it)
6. Don’t list everything under the sun related to your plugin
7. Do use tags that clearly identify what your plugin is

As much as some people like to think, “tags” are not the same as “search terms” in our system, so including lots of them doesn’t really benefit you much. By adding multiple tags, you reduce the efficacy of searches and tags for everyone and make the experience of looking for a plugin suck. Yeah. You did that to yourself.

If you’re looking to improve your search rankings, we suggest improving the parts of the readme intended for human beings to read. The short and long descriptions should be clear and useful. Addressing common problems in the “FAQ” section helps too. The entire contents of the readme file is considered for the search, and tags are really only a small part of that. Removing irrelevant pieces such as lists of languages (like links) or feature bullet points may help a lot as well, to reduce the overall length and to help eliminate irrelevant information about the plugin.

Make the readme for people, not for machines, and it will help you rank higher in the search results. People actually search for solutions to their problems, not simply for keywords.

#reminder, #tags