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I usually add a new tag with the same name of post title before publishing a new post as the following:

Ex:

Is it considered a duplicate content issue?

Also, I am using a plugin that generates a different sitemap for posts, pages tags.

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I added these sitemaps to google webmaster

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  • What is the effect of doing this?
  • Is it preferred to remove tag sitemap from google webmaster?

Thanks

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    You are creating a tag page that has only one post on it for every post on your WordPress site? Why would you do that?
    – Stephen Ostermiller ♦
    Apr 10, 2020 at 0:44
  • Thanks for your reply. as per my search, when I tried to search for a specific old article in my blog, I have noted that some post tag appeared on the first search page rather than the post itself!
    – Mohamed El-Qassas MVP
    Apr 10, 2020 at 0:54
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    Are using using the <!--more--> tag in every WordPress post so that only a snippet from the post shows up on the home page, on category pages, and on tag pages?
    – Stephen Ostermiller ♦
    Apr 10, 2020 at 13:58
  • Yes most of the old posts have more tag
    – Mohamed El-Qassas MVP
    Apr 10, 2020 at 23:55

1 Answer 1

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So let's see... You publish a post with a certain name. You tag it with the same name. You publish the post to a sitemap (I presume), and also the tag to a tag sitemap. You submit both in Search Console. This causes unpredictable search results.

It's not that you have a duplicate content issue, it's that you're confusing the search engines by bombarding them with redundant info. And you're getting unpredictable results in the index in return. This can be handled much more gracefully.

First, what is the purpose of creating a tag that is also the name of the post? You already have that name as the title of the post. Tags exist so that the user can more easily find the topic they're looking for on your website. They're basically a filter. Thus, a tag like "webmaster" would be more helpful to the user than the name of the post. Think about the UX aspect; is your site made for users?

Second, what is the purpose of creating a tag sitemap if it basically mirrors the regular sitemap with posts? By submitting both to Google, you may also be putting undue load on your server and/or exhausting the crawl budget.

There is really no point of putting tags into sitemaps at all. Your sitemap already contains pages, posts, and categories. The best practice, in most cases, is to index the categories and noindex the tags. If you should be noindexing the tags, why submit them in a sitemap at all?

To fix the issue of tags appearing above your actual posts, I recommend:

  • Think about your content, create a tag scheme for your posts, delete the spammy tags, and tag your posts with the brief tags you came up with.
  • Delete the tag sitemap altogether, both from your website and from Search Console.
  • Make sure you noindex tag pages (your SEO plugin should have this functionality).
  • Put together an XML Sitemap with pages, posts, and categories, and just submit that to be crawled.
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  • Thank you so much for your detail answer, I have updated my answer with images, please check it and told me which sitemap file should be deleted and should be added
    – Mohamed El-Qassas MVP
    Apr 11, 2020 at 10:11
  • BTW, I am using a plugin that generates different and independent sitemap files for posts, pages tags. What should I do now, Do you think I should only add posts site map or all as I already did?
    – Mohamed El-Qassas MVP
    Apr 11, 2020 at 10:13
  • @MohamedEl-QassasMVP You're welcome! Curious, what's the sitemap plugin you're using? Anyway, I'd remove the "post_tag-sitemap1.xml" from your site and from Google. And then check if there's an option for a Category sitemap (if you are using categories on your site) and add that, if applicable.
    – Henry Visotski
    Apr 12, 2020 at 0:10
  • I am using RankMath, I am gonna remove it from the search console, but I would like to know why I need to remove it from my site too?
    – Mohamed El-Qassas MVP
    Apr 12, 2020 at 1:24
  • Well, it's practically useless on your site. And it's also part of your index sitemap file, so every time you submit your index sitemap, Search Console will find it. If your site has a good clear architecture, your content will be discovered without the tag sitemap. Really, in most cases, tags are just filters. Your content should be discoverable through clear hierarchies and categories. Make sure that your pages and posts aren't blocked anywhere, and add categories if you can (and if you use them).
    – Henry Visotski
    Apr 12, 2020 at 2:05

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