Tagging content in the library - how many tags are the optimum number?

When creating a new Q&A pair, once you've applied your metadata, how many tags do you recommend to your users to tag their records? How many tags are too many? Do you allow freedom to create new tags? What is good practice in regards to tagging content?

Comments

This is a great question!

We recommend that all QA pairs have at least one tag. This will help ensure that none of your content gets lost in the content library. You can have multiple tags on one QA pair but try not to go over four. Too many tags will eventually cause diminishing returns when you're searching for content in your library.

When thinking about your tagging structure, it's always best to use broad categories. Think of things like "Security", "Company Info", "Marketing", etc. Once this is done you can start incorporating Custom Fields and Collections to help further organize your content.

This Foundations of Content Management course from RFPIO University will walk you through where and how to create your tags, and how to add them to your QA pairs. There are also videos on how to create and incorporate Custom Fields and Collections.

If you have more questions please feel free to post them here or reach out to your CSM!

**Pro Tip -- After you've determined what tags you want to use and the type of content they should be applied to, make a list and store it in your Document Library. This will give your users (especially new users) a guide on how to tag any new content! You can do the same for Custom Fields and Collections!**

Elizabeth Bissell

I reached out to my Customer Success Manager on this exact question, and he was extremely helpful! We are now in the process of reorganizing our Content Library with a lot of focus on Custom Fields and very targeted Tags. Collections are only being used if the content needs to be restricted.

Tiffany Ramos

I agree with at least one!

And just like @Beth_B, we have many Custom Fields to narrow searches. We also do not allow our users to create their own. I can't imagine the mess they could cause here!

I recently interviewed our non-SME users and asked them how they search. About 5% use Tags and Filters. The others? Just like a Google search. The filters are more for us as admins to keep an eye on the amount of content in a topic.

Linda Wesley

I agree with at least one tag per Q&A pair, with restrictions on who can create tags.

As mentioned by @tiffany_ramos, most users use keyword searches. They are looking for an answer to a question, and may not know the department responsible for the topic. I've also found that users are not aware of the full search functionality. This is a great article: https://help.rfpio.com/hc/en-us/articles/360005861673-Understanding-the-Content-Library-Keyword-Search-Functionality.

Elizabeth Bissell

I know the best practice is between 1 and 3 tags per Q&A pair (4 if you're feeling froggy), but is there a way to 'limit' the number of tags allowed for a Q&A pair in order to ensure the rules are being followed?

Patty Graner

I personally do not allow any users but me to create a tag - this controls how many we have (a defined set). If they want to add one, they need to put in a request with me to evaluate. I have had 1-2 people do this. Working fine. No complaints so far.

George Karanikos

Hi @Tiffany Ramos @Beth_B, reading your comments with interest!

If you're willing to share, I'm keen to understand how you're using Custom Fields to organise content!?

We have a spreadsheet (spreadsheets for everything!) where we have registered our Tags available on our SharePoint, so that users can quickly find an appropriate tag depending on the category of information. If the image below comes through, we've colour coded them based on category. Wondering how we can incorporate custom fields to augment this as Collections aren't the right answer for our purpose.

Thanks in advance!

George

Elizabeth Bissell

@George Karanikos I am happy to share what I can :)

I can try to give an example of one way we have used Custom Fields. I work for a Saas Software company, and we frequently get asked security questions about 1) our product, 2) our organization, and 3) our hosting environment. Many times, the questions are the same for each area, but the responses can be completely different based on the 'focus' area. That also means that the 'Tags' are the same and applicable to all areas. With this in mind, we wanted the users to be able to filter down to the appropriate focus area to pull accurate information.

So, if we are asked "How do you control access to your system?" and it is related to the Product, we are able to easily filter down to only this focus area, and then further filter by Tag. For this question, it would be "Access Management". Whereas if we were only using Tags, each record would have to have an additional Tag for the selections in Custom Field along with the additional Tag.

Also, Custom Fields should be set up based on things unique to your company and the scenario above would not apply to many companies. So you have to think about what is unique to your organization and how your people would logically think to narrow things down.

Does this make sense? I might have not had enough coffee before I replied, LOL

George Karanikos

https://rfpio.vanillacommunities.com/discussion/comment/424#Comment_424

That's amazing @Beth_B . Thank you for the explanation, and that makes a lot of sense!

Lyn Garner

We offer both TPA and SaaS services for both dental and vision, so our Tags focus on differentiating between products and services. Our Tags include Dental, Vision, Both, TPA, SaaS, that kind of thing. We then use Collections for things like Security, Access, Claims, Call Center, Account Management, Disaster Recovery, etc. We have also standardized the project name to include client name, product (dental or vision or both), and service (TPA or SaaS). That way we can make sure we are applying the correct type of response since TPA and SaaS are so different.

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