On AO3, tags are split into different sections, relationships being one. This includes platonic relationships and romantic/sexual relationships. They are written as CharacterName/CharacterName or CharacterName&CharacterName.
No ship names are used and you don't need to tag one ship twice, but names switched around. Once is enough.*
These are easily distinguished. Platonic relationships are separated by the & and romantic ones by the /.
Many new users get it wrong and it is annoying.
It happened often that someone searched for a platonic ship fic just to read a romance. Please make sure you use the right tag.
You can tag both if the relationship starts as one and becomes the other over the duration of the narrative.
Now, before the relationship section, you're asked to pick at least one category.
The categories are female/female, male/male, female/male, Gen, Multiple and Other.
The first three are to the point, the last three need explanation.
Gen: Gen means that a romantic relationship is not the focus of the narrative. Many people think it means no romance at all. It just means it is not the focus.
Multi: Either the focus is on multiple types of relationships or there sre multiple partners.
Other: Everything else that doesn't match the other categories.
While not a fix rule, due to the amount of time this is asked, I have to mention it.
Many new users ask if they should tag a relationship even if it isn't the focus, only appears in the background etc.
If they are tagged, this can be very annoying for readers. They search for X/Y, click on a fic with the tag, only for X/Y to be mentioned a few times in the background.
Just ask yourself: Would a reader searching for it be disappointed by my fic?
If you have to tag it, tag it as 'Background X/Y' or similar. This is mostly done on the Additional tag section instead of the dedicated one. Sometimes ship names are used here.
* There was once a slight controversy that the order of names shows the top/bottom dynamic. People who didn't knew or cared for it sometimes got complains for "mistagging" the dynamic. Or were just insulted for liking the "wrong" dynamic.
I am not sure how big that was or if it is still going on, but I wanted to have it mentioned.
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