Tags work best when each one answers a question you ask often. These tips show you how to get better results from the Tags section in Find, which tag categories are worth creating, and how to keep your tags organized. For the steps behind each tip, follow the links.
How do you get better results when searching by tag?
For the steps, see Searching Based on Tags.
💡 Pro Tip: If your search returns fewer contacts than you expect, check the setting at the bottom of the Tags section in Find. By default, it is set to all, so with several tags selected, you see only contacts who have every one of them. Switch to ANY of the selected tags to include contacts who have at least one.
💡 Pro Tip: Combine tags from different categories in one search. For example, pair a specialty tag with a relocation tag to find candidates in your specialty who would move to a particular state.
💡 Pro Tip: Add the Tags column to your results to see why each contact matched. It shows every tag on each record, not only the ones you searched for.
What are common tag categories?
Relocation
Create a category for relocation, typically with one tag for each state. The tags show where a contact is willing to relocate.
This helps because a location-based search for contacts who live in Washington state misses candidates who have said they would relocate there. When you also search for a “Washington” relocation tag, your candidate pool includes people you could actually recruit for that area.
💡 Pro Tip: To find candidates who live in a state or are willing to relocate to it, add both the location filter and the relocation tag in Find, then change the AND drop-down at the top of the Tags section to OR. If you combine several relocation states, choose ANY of the selected tags so a candidate needs only one of them.
Division or specialty
Create a category for an area of expertise, such as a division or specialty. This is a good fit for any value you would otherwise pick from a list. Only administrators can create new tags in a category, so your team chooses from one consistent list instead of typing a new version each time.
If you want to highlight a particular area of expertise, tagging records within that category makes them easy to find.
💡 Pro Tip: To find candidates who have both a specialty tag and a rating tag, choose ALL of the selected tags. To find candidates in any of several specialties, choose ANY of the selected tags.
Rating
Create a simple rating category, such as A, B, and C, to show proficiency or ranking. When you start a new search, you can quickly find records with the highest rating.
💡 Pro Tip: To skip candidates you have already rated low, choose NONE of the selected tags and select your lowest rating. The results include the records with other ratings and records with no rating yet.
How do you set up tag categories and add tags?
An administrator creates a tag category in Settings > Customization > Tags. When you create a category, you choose its name, a color, and the types of records it is available on, such as contacts, companies, or opportunities. The tags in the category then display in the color you chose. For the steps, see Managing, Creating, and Exporting Tags.
💡 Pro Tip: Choose a different color for each category. When a record has tags from several categories, you can tell them apart at a glance. To add tags to a record, see Using Tags.
💡 Pro Tip: Before you add a new tag, check the existing list. Typing a tag name shows matching tags, so you can choose an existing one and avoid creating a near-duplicate.
How do you keep your tags organized over time?
Tags are most useful when the list stays consistent. An administrator can merge duplicate tags, and every record that had either tag keeps the tag you choose. You can merge only tags in the same category. For the steps, see Managing, Creating, and Exporting Tags.
💡 Pro Tip: When two tags mean the same thing, merge them to keep your list consistent. Choose the clearer name as the tag you keep, because that is the tag every affected record will have.
How do you export tags?
An administrator can export the tags in a category from Settings. Anyone can export the tags on their own records by adding the Tags column to a list. For the steps, see Managing, Creating, and Exporting Tags and Using Tags.
💡 Pro Tip: Before a tag cleanup, export each category and review the tags in a spreadsheet. An export covers one category at a time, so repeat it for each category you want to review.
💡 Pro Tip: Add the Tags column to your list before you export, so each contact’s tags are included in the file.
Key takeaway
Tags are most useful when each category answers a question you ask often. Relocation, division or specialty, and rating are three common examples. Use ALL, ANY, or NONE in Find to match your tags the way you need, and keep the list consistent by merging duplicates.
What's Next?
Let's take a look at how we may begin adding tags to a record!