Selecting Keywords

[Ldy_Sea]

I always struggle to select Keywords for my stories. I hate when I can't come up with 10 key words.

I was wondering how all yall select the keywords you use, and if it really makes a difference in the number of views/votes/comments a story gets.

What are some of the most popular key words, and what should be avoided?

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

As a rule I ignore KEY WORDS. I stipulate theyre useful, but I cant care less. I fuss over titles and descriptions. I just submitted this: KNOCKED UP BUT NOT OUT: Can a mom love her son too much.

 

[oggbashan]

I always struggle to select Keywords for my stories. I hate when I can't come up with 10 key words.

I was wondering how all yall select the keywords you use, and if it really makes a difference in the number of views/votes/comments a story gets.

What are some of the most popular key words, and what should be avoided?

I find it difficult to think of tag words for a story, and many of my older stories have Lit-system generated tag words that appear randomly wierd.

But what I try to do is think:

What would a reader remember of the story in a couple of weeks time?

Would it be the characters' names? Possibly.

Would it be the description of the sex? Maybe.

Would it be the location? Only if it is unusual such as a created world.

Would it be the era in which the story is set? Possibly.

One of Jeanne D'Artois' stories seems to have stuck in people's memories. It is called Unatit, and the main character is Fag-Ash_Lil. SHE gets remembered.

The tags are only useful if someone is searching for stories. The search engine seems to use tags, titles and sub-titles. The more unusual the tag - if it is appropriate to the story - the more likely it is to be found by the search.

Few people would search Literotica for 'Chairman Mao' or 'Crinoline'. If they do, they'll find my relevant stories.

But choosing tag words still isn't easy.

 

[JKendallDane]

I'll usually use a couple of the more popular tags for the category, but then finish up the other seven or eight with story-specific tags. As Ogg said, something that will be helpful in a search to track down a forgotten title or author, or might be used by a reader in an initial search.

Such things as tags that zero in on ages (high school, college, mature, cougars, baby boomers, etc), specific sex acts (sucking, oral, anal, frottage, etc), and oddball things that may be a reader's fantasy (delivery boy, car sex, outdoors, camping, teacher, cowboys, etc) all tend to both help fill up the slots and get you additional story hits.

A good variety in tags becomes even more critical after your story scrolls off the front page of the category and new hubs. Creative tags also help your stories show up in Google searches. Don't leave any of those slots empty when you are doing a submission.

 

[sr71plt]

The hub pages give you lists of the most popular tags for that category.

 

[49greg]

I find some keywords as I start the story, the obvious ones, for instance if it's a mom-son story, I put that, if it's a wife astray or a dominant or submissive wife, I know what to put.

After the story is done, I got to the tags portal and start hunting for words that are more specific for the story. If there's two that are similar, for example Exhibitionism and Exhibitionist, I pick the one that is set in larger type. (I've always assumed that the larger the type in the tags portal, the more popular the word is.) In the example above it is Exhibitionism. It Exhibitionist is more accurate, I do both.

Hopefully when someone searches for stories via tags, the more popular ones will get more results.

Of course the search results are listed by date posted, so the older the story is the less chance it has of being picked for a read.

 

[HeyAll]

On the Hubris, try going to the Popular Tags on the right side:

https://www.literotica.com/c/taboo-sex-stories/tags

They go through plenty of tags that people use.

I use the basics for the first few. For instance, if it's a mother/son story, I use; mom, son, incest, ect...

Then I use the details of the story. For instance, if there's sunbathing, exhibitionism, sex toys, masturbation, I use those terms.


The tags which should be avoided are terms which are never going to be searched. I've seen stories with the most obscure tags, or long winded descriptions, and I think it makes no sense. It doesn't help.

Tags should be things which people are going to actually search. And that helps you get more readers.

 

[JerryJonesAfrique]

tags are important

The hub pages give you lists of the most popular tags for that category.

I open a different window for tags.literotica.com then choose the one that relates to my story.

 

[SamScribble]

One of the questions you have to ask yourself when selecting keywords (tags) is do you want to attract as many readers as possible, or do you want to attract the readers you think will enjoy your story?

 

[Carnevil9]

I try to use as many variations of my main story concept as possible. For example, I'll use handjob, hand job, handjobs, hand jobs. Because if someone searches on one rather than another, they will get different results. It's easy to fill up all the slots using this technique.

 

[sr71plt]

I try to cover all of what would be a quirk for someone so that they can't say they weren't warned (although they say that anyway).

 

[legerdemer]

One of the questions you have to ask yourself when selecting keywords (tags) is do you want to attract as many readers as possible, or do you want to attract the readers you think will enjoy your story?

This is a great point - you'd be trading off number of views with higher scores, presumably (hopefully).

I try to use as many variations of my main story concept as possible. For example, I'll use handjob, hand job, handjobs, hand jobs. Because if someone searches on one rather than another, they will get different results. It's easy to fill up all the slots using this technique.

Hmmm - wouldn't "handjob" as a search term catch both "handjob" and "handjobs" ?
Anyone?

 

[TamLin01]

Coming up with good tags is a remarkable pain in the ass. I suspect that they may be a significant boon for the few writers good at such things. But it will probably only remain a suspicion on my part.

Generally, I like five that relate to the story's sexual content and five about its general themes/plot. Single words seem best, and I guess you should try to be as broad as possible without sanding away the story's entire identity. Beyond that, the gods only know.

 

[susurrus]

There's nothing saying you have to fill in all the tag slots. Still, a few pertinent descriptions of the activity inside can help a potential reader decide if they want to continue.

If it's a straight story, you may want to just put MF and then a few items that describe what goes on between those two people.

The main thing is that the person listing the tags understand what they're really for, and being able to imagine the search that may be made to find those tags.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

The thing to remember about the keywords ("story tags"), is that they don't show up on the story listings or at the beginning of the story. They don't help a reader decide whether to click on your story or whether to read it once selected. Rather, they help users who use the search functions to find a story. Think of them as search terms you would use when doing research.

I find the best strategy is to use general terms that cover many different bases relating to the story. Let's say your story involves a married couple vacationing in Acapulco, Mexico, and they enjoy a threesome where the wife enjoys her first threesome with another man. Some useful tags might be: Threesome, vacation, MFM. I would use Mexico, rather than Acapulco. Does she get DPed or spit-roasted? There's two more, if applicable. Is the other man a stranger or an old friend? There's another tag.

It's not that hard when you think about the process a reader would use to find your story.