Do you use "tags" for your comic? Do they really work?

edmourabarbosa 2016-10-27 12:05:50 UTC #1

I'm relatively new to Tapastic (uploaded Children of the Moon for three months so far) so there are some aspects that I'm still learning. Right now is TAGs.

In my view it's really rare that people look for webcomics using tags, but I could be wrong. I would love to receive advice on how to use them from more experienced users. How should I use them? Is it better to just use a few, or the more the better? Is there a way to effectively draw more viewers with them? Do you think they really work?

AnnaLandin 2016-10-27 12:07:32 UTC #2

Series-tags - the ones you fill in on your dashboard overview for your series (Dashboard>Series>edit, scroll down) - work, AFAIK.

However, individual episode-tags aren't searchable, and as such has no practical function. I use mine to tell jokes and give a nod and a wink at my readers, pretty much.

Emma 2016-10-27 12:13:37 UTC #3

@AnnaLandin is, as always, super fast at writing a helpful response - but yeah, afaik the series tags work, but the episode tags don't work. I generally use them to write jokes as well.

timinabox24 2016-10-27 12:57:50 UTC #4

they do not work, I did go especially out of my way a while ago to test it

zerofruits 2016-10-27 13:04:15 UTC #5

Other than the genre tag, others don't seem to work :/

shazzbaa 2016-10-27 13:34:17 UTC #6

I can confirm that the tags on your SERIES do work, the tags on INDIVIDUAL PAGES do NOT work!

Nothing on the site really encourages readers to search out comics using series tags, and when you do search for something, the results don't seem to be ordered in any logical way.... so I'd imagine people finding you through your tags is pretty rare, but it doesn't hurt to add some to your series! Especially if you have some elements that are kinda uncommon.

One cool note is that searches don't have to match the tags exactly -- so for example, my series is tagged "lovecraftian monsters." If you do a search for "lovecraft," my comic does pop up in that search -- and it displays the "lovecraftian monsters" tag as the reason it's included in the search.

but yeah, the tags on individual pages do nothing.

edmourabarbosa 2016-10-27 14:54:53 UTC #7

Well, what a downer. At least now I can save the 5 seconds it takes to write them...

Anyway, thanks guys! You are awesome!

tayo_rafferty 2016-10-27 15:23:57 UTC #8

@AnnaLandin you are a gold-medal forum lurker XD

How do you get to these topics so fast?

AnnaLandin 2016-10-27 15:43:54 UTC #9

I'm a workaholic freelance illustrator working from home. I'm at my desk pretty much all the time - and tend to drop in on the forums here a lot when I take breaks from drawing.