Creating and Managing Tags in AEM
In Adobe Experience Manager (AEM), tags are a powerful tool for organizing content, improving searchability, and enhancing personalization. Tags help authors categorize and classify content so it can be reused, filtered, and targeted efficiently across digital experiences. Whether you're building a blog, a product catalog, or a knowledge base, creating and managing tags in AEM allows you to bring structure and intelligence to your content.
In this blog, we'll cover the essentials of how to create, assign, and manage tags in AEM—from both the Touch UI and CRXDE perspectives.
📌 What Are Tags in AEM?
Tags in AEM are part of the Tagging Framework, which enables metadata-driven categorization of content. Tags are stored in the JCR (Java Content Repository) under /content/cq:tags and can be created in hierarchical structures for better organization.
Use cases include:
Classifying articles by topic
Grouping products by brand or type
Personalizing content based on user preferences
Filtering content in search or listing components
🛠 How to Create Tags in AEM (Touch UI)
AEM provides a Tag Console for creating and managing tags through its author-friendly interface.
Steps to Create a Tag:
Go to AEM Start Menu → Tools → General → Tagging
Select the namespace (e.g., marketing, geography) or create a new one.
Click the Create button (top-right corner).
Enter the Tag Title, Name, and optional Description.
Click Create to save the tag.
💡 Tip: The "Name" field becomes part of the tag’s path (e.g., /content/cq:tags/marketing/campaigns), so use lowercase with no spaces.
🧩 Assigning Tags to Content
Tags can be applied to pages, assets, or components using:
Page Properties: Open a page → Page Properties → Basic or Metadata tab → Add tags.
Asset Metadata Editor: Select an asset → Properties → Add tags.
Custom Dialog Fields: In your component dialog, use granite/ui/components/coral/foundation/form/tagfield.
Example:
xml
<tags
jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
sling:resourceType="granite/ui/components/coral/foundation/form/tagfield"
fieldLabel="Tags"
name="./cq:tags"
multiple="true"
rootPath="/content/cq:tags/marketing"/>
🗂 Managing Tag Hierarchies
Tags can be structured into hierarchies for better organization and filtering.
Example hierarchy:
bash
Copy
Edit
/content/cq:tags
└── articles
├── technology
├── health
└── finance
You can drag and drop tags in the Tag Console to restructure them or edit their metadata inline.
🔄 Searching and Filtering with Tags
AEM’s core components (e.g., List or Search) often support filtering by tags. Developers can also query tagged content using JCR-SQL2 or QueryBuilder:
Example:
java
Map<String, String> params = new HashMap<>();
params.put("path", "/content/we-retail");
params.put("property", "cq:tags");
params.put("property.value", "marketing:campaigns");
🧹 Deleting and Merging Tags
To delete a tag: Go to Tag Console, select the tag → Click Delete.
To merge tags: Use the Tag Management Console → Select source tag → Click Merge → Select target tag.
Note: Deleting a tag does not remove it from content where it’s already applied—you must clean up those references manually.
✅ Best Practices
Use clear naming conventions for namespaces and tag titles.
Avoid deep hierarchies unless necessary—keep it user-friendly.
Regularly audit and clean up unused tags.
Educate authors on consistent tag usage.
🧾 Conclusion
Tags in AEM offer a flexible way to categorize content, enhance search, and power personalization. By understanding how to create, manage, and apply tags properly, content authors and developers can unlock smarter content reuse and delivery across channels.
Whether you're building a simple taxonomy or a complex classification system, AEM's tagging capabilities make it easier to manage and scale your digital content strategy.
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