Story tags - An art in itself?

I’d assumed that if you put a story in the Lesbian category, you didn’t need to also add a Lesbian tag. Am I wrong?

Em
It's a bit redundant, yes, but might catch the odd reader who goes tagging for lesbian instead of just looking in the lesbian category. But since you can search for tag combos, if someone specifically is hoping to find lesbian + 'X' having both will put it closer to the top of the results compared to just being a partial match for only tagging it with 'X.'
 
Also, apparently my experience is unusual, but I was including 'mind control' in my tags initially in my story in that category, but it kept disappearing by the time it was posted. I assumed Laurel or whomever was approving the story was deleting the tag as redundant so I stopped bothering. It's interesting that others have not had that happen.
 
My sweaty hand still desperately clings to 'Encounter' since that, in essence, is the trigger for the rest. Think 'Brief Encounter'...

So, would 'lesbian encounter' be better?
 
My sweaty hand still desperately clings to 'Encounter' since that, in essence, is the trigger for the rest. Think 'Brief Encounter'...

So, would 'lesbian encounter' be better?
It's apparently a more popular tag than I would have thought, although the three pages of results include anything with that word in the title or the tagline, so it's a bit inflated.
It's not hurting anything including it, unless it prevents you from using a more readily searchable tag. 'Lesbian encounter' is less likely to be searched than just 'encounter,' but it still turns up a couple dozen results.
 
It's apparently a more popular tag than I would have thought, although the three pages of results include anything with that word in the title or the tagline, so it's a bit inflated.
It's not hurting anything including it, unless it prevents you from using a more readily searchable tag. 'Lesbian encounter' is less likely to be searched than just 'encounter,' but it still turns up a couple dozen results.

Keep in mind that the data on the tag page reveal how often tags are used, not how often they are searched.

The problem with the longer "encounter" search result list is that many results will be totally irrelevant to a reader looking for this particular type of story. So "lesbian encounter" or "stranger encounter" probably would be more helpful.
 
Keep in mind that the data on the tag page reveal how often tags are used, not how often they are searched.

The problem with the longer "encounter" search result list is that many results will be totally irrelevant to a reader looking for this particular type of story. So "lesbian encounter" or "stranger encounter" probably would be more helpful.
Yeah, I probably phrased that poorly. The more generic 'encounter' tag will make the story a bit harder to pick out of the list than 'lesbian encounter,' but it will probably pop up in more searches, assuming the searchers start with more generic terms and try to narrow things down. I have no idea if people on the site are more likely to make a beeline for their specific favorite tags or try to cast a wide net and winnow it down based on taglines or other criteria.
 
I'm curious as to the specificity of a tag search.

For example: if I tagged a story "Light BDSM" if it would still come up under a search for "BDSM."
 
For fun, I put a 'noisy sex' tag on one of my stories, "Crashing at the Office," and the readers thought it was funny. I think it got a few more to click on it, too.

I described one character in the story as sounding like a 'howler monkey in heat,' when she makes love with her husband in the bedroom next to my MC's. Which is why I tagged the noisy sex.
 
In the spirit of community good-will set forth by our wholesome friend, @EmilyMiller , a bid you all a very good day. 😘

I'd like to talk about tags.

They're not something I've paid much attention to beyond picking the obvious tick boxes but a comment posted a few days ago on one of my stories has drawn my attention:

"Lovely stuff. You can use more tags and let more people find this, it's really good. I wouldn't have found it if I needed to use the tags." (On Standing Room Only , which will soon be removed and replaced by a 2023 Redux with rewritten dialogue in the second half.)

Hmm. The story in question has two tags - 'Romance' and 'Encounter'

It's a lesbian story posted in the Lesbian Sex category, so I omitted a 'Lesbian' tag thinking it redundant. I can't honestly think of what tags I would add, nor what potential audience they would draw. I'm neither a sales person nor someone swayed by advertising so maybe I'm under-thinking it. Thus far in my Lit career I kind of expect little more than handful of scattered views after the story falls of the 'New' page anyway.

I know some people don't tag their stories at all. So how would I tag that story better? How do you tag your stories? What details are you cherry-picking to use as tags?
I've learned that you should go to the category list of stories and look at the list to the right for "Popular Tags" for that category. Pick the ones appropriate for your story. Then click on the link at the bottom of that list for "More Tags" and you'll get even more ideas of what you should add to your story tags.

This will make your story more visible to more readers.
 
Here're the official suggestions. Interestingly, they say don't include the category as a tag, but they do recommend including it for subcategorization, which is a little amusing.
 
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I'm curious as to the specificity of a tag search.

For example: if I tagged a story "Light BDSM" if it would still come up under a search for "BDSM."
I think it would, since the algorithm seems to include results where the searched string is located in the title or tagline, but it might well treat tags differently.
 
I think it would, since the algorithm seems to include results where the searched string is located in the title or tagline, but it might well treat tags differently.

The reason I'm curious; a new story I'm working on will feature some VERY light BDSM aspects.

I don't necessarily want to tag it BDSM and scare off potential readers who see that and think "whips and chains" etc.

But on the reverse I'd like it to come up in a BDSM search for those interested.
 
That won't help somebody who, in looking for a story, uses the search system rather than the category system. If I publish a story in Incest, I will always also have a tag that includes the word "incest."
Crappy search system - surely it would be obvious to have it pick up on category as well.

Em
 
The reason I'm curious; a new story I'm working on will feature some VERY light BDSM aspects.

I don't necessarily want to tag it BDSM and scare off potential readers who see that and think "whips and chains" etc.

But on the reverse I'd like it to come up in a BDSM search for those interested.
I'm sure any of the words inside the tag is going put the story in their cue.
 
The reason I'm curious; a new story I'm working on will feature some VERY light BDSM aspects.

I don't necessarily want to tag it BDSM and scare off potential readers who see that and think "whips and chains" etc.

But on the reverse I'd like it to come up in a BDSM search for those interested.
I suppose you could always tag it as both, unless you run out of slots. 🤷‍♀️
 
Many thanks all for weighing in, most helpful. I'm definitely inspired to more liberal use of tags in the future.
 
I just re-published A Small Sacrifice here (its in the cue) because I have two sequels I'm going to publish in the Halloween contest. I hope I used the right tags. This little vampire tale was the first I wrote for here, but wasn't the first published as it was for the Halloween contest. So now its a series. Can't wait to not win the contest!
 
They are your best stories.
I just re-published A Small Sacrifice here (its in the cue) because I have two sequels I'm going to publish in the Halloween contest. I hope I used the right tags. This little vampire tale was the first I wrote for here, but wasn't the first published as it was for the Halloween contest. So now its a series. Can't wait to not win the contest!
 
The story search page lists some “popular searches“ (recently popular I think). The current list is entertaining (I love the specificity):

anal nurse
bob
cinema
homeless
knickers
martial arts
medical exam
mother son mom
neighbor slut
prison guard
rehearsal
trucker
wife massage

bob??? Is that a short hair fetish?
 
Is bobbing for balls on the list?
The story search page lists some “popular searches“ (recently popular I think). The current list is entertaining (I love the specificity):

anal nurse
bob
cinema
homeless
knickers
martial arts
medical exam
mother son mom
neighbor slut
prison guard
rehearsal
trucker
wife massage

bob??? Is that a short hair fetish?
 
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