Ever finished a new HackerNoon story and wondered about the "Story Tag" section? It's more important than you think! Story Tags can boost your discoverability on HackerNoon, Google Search, and beyond. Today, we’ll give you a quick scoop on how to use them to your advantage.

Story Tags help organize HackerNoon's catalog of stories into our 22 Tech Categories, reducing clutter. This is also to your benefit: when you write about topics such as AI, proper tagging ensures your piece lands in our Machine Learning catalog, reaching subscribers of our AI Tech Briefs. However, the benefits of tagging also extend past our HackerNoon readers.

You see, Google loves to sort and rank content based on keywords inside story Titles, Headings, Subheadings, and Story Tags. So, when you combine your keyword skills with your tagging expertise, you set yourself up for success across Google’s search results.

Check out the story "Nintendo Breaks Its Silence On Palworld" and see how well-placed keywords in Story Tags can boost visibility on Google Search.

1. Align your tags with your Title and Headings for better Google indexing.
2. Ensure all Story Tags are relevant to the topic to avoid confusing readers and hurting your Google ranking.
3. Start with broad tags and get more specific. For example, tag “AI” first, then add tags like “OpenAI” and “Future of AI.”
4. Ask HackerNoon editors for help. Use the Notes in Story Settings to reach out for tag suggestions.

Ready to put these tips into practice?
Use our Video Game Review Template and submit your next story!

Check out the #bitcoin Writing Contest by Rootstack to win your share of $17,500 and also the #blockchain-api Writing Contest by dRPC featuring a $1,000 prize pool. Good luck🍀

Happy writing!
HackerNoon Team