How to Display Your Most Popular Tags in WordPress for Better SEO and Engagement in 2024

As a WordPress site owner, you know that tags are a useful way to organize your content by topic. But did you know that featuring your most popular tags prominently on your site can give your SEO a boost while helping visitors discover more of your content?

In this guide, I‘ll show you exactly how to display your top tags in WordPress – with and without using plugins. You‘ll also learn best practices for optimizing your tags to rank higher in search engines and keep readers engaged longer. Let‘s dive in!

What are WordPress Tags and Why Highlight the Popular Ones?

WordPress tags are essentially keywords that describe the content of a post. They are similar to categories, but whereas categories are meant for broad grouping, tags describe your post in more specific terms.

Displaying your most popular tags offers several key benefits:

• Improved SEO: Featuring tags that you frequently write about signals to search engines that your site is an authority on those topics. Interlinking the tag archive pages also boosts the ranking of those topic pages.

• Better user experience: Visitors can easily see the main topics you cover and click through to find more posts on their areas of interest. This can lead to more page views, a lower bounce rate, and increased time on site.

• Inspiration for content planning: Knowing which tags resonate with your audience helps inform your future content strategy, so you can plan new articles around the subjects your readers care about most.

Now that you understand the why, let‘s look at how to actually display popular tags on your WordPress site, step-by-step.

How to Manually Display Popular Tags by Editing functions.php

If you prefer not to use plugins, you can enable popular tags by adding code to your theme‘s functions.php file:

1. From your WordPress dashboard, navigate to Appearance > Theme Editor.
2. Locate and click on the functions.php file in the list on the right.
3. Paste the following code snippet inside the PHP tags:

function wpb_tag_cloud() { 
  $tags = get_tags();
  $args = array(
    ‘smallest‘ => 10, 
    ‘largest‘ => 22,
    ‘unit‘ => ‘px‘,
    ‘number‘ => 10,
    ‘format‘ => ‘flat‘,
    ‘separator‘ => " ",
    ‘orderby‘ => ‘count‘, 
    ‘order‘ => ‘DESC‘,
    ‘show_count‘ => 1,
    ‘echo‘ => false
  );
  $tag_string = wp_generate_tag_cloud( $tags, $args );
  return $tag_string;
}
// Add a shortcode so we can use it in widgets
add_shortcode(‘wpb_popular_tags‘, ‘wpb_tag_cloud‘);
// Enable shortcode execution in text widget
add_filter (‘widget_text‘, ‘do_shortcode‘);  

4. Click "Update File" to save the changes.

Here‘s what this code does:

• The wpb_tag_cloud() function retrieves the tags and sets the arguments for how to display them. In this example, we are showing the 10 most popular tags, in descending order, with a font size between 10-22px.
• The add_shortcode line creates a shortcode that allows you to display the popular tags inside a widget or page/post.
• The add_filter line enables the execution of the shortcode in a text widget.

To display the tag cloud, add the widget "Text" to your sidebar or footer and include the shortcode [wpb_popular_tags] inside it.

This code will generate a tag cloud that looks something like the example above, with the most-used tags appearing larger than less-used ones. Clicking on a tag takes the visitor to an archive of all posts with that tag.

How to Use the Simple Tags Plugin to Show Popular Tags

If you don‘t want to mess with code, you can use a plugin to configure and display popular tags. Simple Tags is a free, easy-to-use option.

Here‘s how to set it up:

1. Install and activate the plugin
2. Go to Tags > Tag Cloud in your WordPress dashboard
3. Configure the settings:

• Choose "Order tags by counter" to show most popular first
• Select the number of tags to display
• Set min/max font sizes and colors
• Choose a tag cloud format (cloud, list, dropdown, etc.)

4. Click "Update options"
5. Add the "Tag Cloud" widget to your desired sidebar or footer, or use the shortcode [st-tag-cloud] in a page or post

In addition to the popular tags display, Simple Tags also offers a way to streamline your tagging process with the auto tags feature. When enabled, the plugin will scan your post content and automatically add relevant tags based on your frequently-used keywords – no manual tagging required!

To turn on auto tags:

1. Go to Tags > Auto Terms
2. Check the box for "Auto tag posts"
3. Choose whether to auto tag pages and/or media as well
4. Select the taxonomy (Tags, Categories, or both)
5. Set the maximum number of tags to add per post
6. Click "Update options"

With auto tagging enabled, you can build up your tag archives without spending time manually adding tags to every post. The plugin will pull from your most commonly used keywords, reinforcing the topics your site is most focused on.

Showcase Tags with Style Using the Extended Tags Widget

For even more customization options, consider the Extended Tags Widget. This premium plugin offers advanced features and stylings beyond the standard tag cloud.

Some key features:

• 20+ tag styles, like title border, animated rainbow, and gradient taxtured design
• 30+ count styles such as stars, hearts, and speech bubbles
• Support for custom post types
• Option to include/exclude specific tags
• Limit tags to specific categories
• Integrations with other third party tag plugins

Here‘s how to use it:

1. Purchase and install the plugin
2. Go to Appearance > Widgets
3. Drag the "Extended Tags Widget" to your sidebar or footer
4. Enter a title for the widget
5. Choose a theme, style, and color scheme
6. Set the maximum number of tags to show
7. Choose how to order the tags (by name or count)
8. Specify post types, inclusions/exclusions, and other display settings
9. Click "Save"

With dozens of themes and customization options, the Extended Tags Widget allows you to display your most used tags in a unique, eye-catching way that complements your site design. Use it to create a stylish "Hot Topics" section in your sidebar to keep visitors engaged with your top content.

WordPress Tag Best Practices for SEO

Displaying popular tags is just one part of a solid WordPress tagging strategy. For maximum SEO benefits, follow these tips:

• Use keyword research to choose tags: Look at the search volume and competition for keywords related to your post topics. Incorporate high-opportunity keywords as tags.

• Keep tag length in check: Generally stick to 1-2 word tags that succinctly describe the content subject. Avoid overly long, complex tags.

• Use relevant tags, not gimmicks: Only add tags that accurately reflect what the post is about. Skip misleading tags like "Best of" or "Popular" designed to draw clicks.

• Interlink tag archive pages: Edit your tag archive page introductions to link to other relevant tag archives. This enhances your site‘s topical authority in Google‘s eyes.

• Develop topic clusters with tags: Plan content that covers multiple aspects of a topic in-depth, and use tags to interlink the cluster. For example, if you write about social media marketing, use tags to group posts on subtopics like Instagram tips, Facebook ad tutorials, Twitter tools, etc.

Creative Ways to Leverage Popular Tags

Displaying a popular tags cloud in your sidebar is an excellent start – but why stop there? To get even more mileage out of your top tags:

• Add related tags to post footers: Below each post, display links to other top tags related to the post‘s topic. This encourages visitors to keep clicking through your archive.

• Create a "Tag of the Month" feature: Once a month, choose one of your most popular tags to spotlight. Write a roundup post linking to all the top articles on the topic, and consider creating a special offer or content upgrade around the theme.

• Use top tags for content planning: Review your top tags when brainstorming topics for upcoming posts. Planning content around tags you want to build authority for can help you rank for those valuable keywords faster.

• Display related tags on 404 pages: Instead of a generic "Page not found" error, customize your 404 page to show links to your most popular tags. You‘ll entice visitors to browse other content rather than clicking away.

Wrapping Up

As you can see, displaying your most popular tags in WordPress comes with a host of benefits for your SEO and user engagement. Whether you choose to customize your code or use a plugin, featuring hot topics front and center will entice visitors to dig deeper into your content archives.

For best results, pair your popular tag display with a solid tagging strategy based on keyword research and topic clustering. By planning content around strategic tags, you‘ll build topical authority over time.

I encourage you to try these techniques on your own WordPress site. Choose a popular tags implementation method that suits your skill level, then track your results. When you start seeing an uptick in pageviews, lower bounce rates, and higher SERP rankings, you‘ll be glad you took the time to highlight your top tags.