在php和wordpress中合并然后排序2个数组

I'm trying to merge 2 arrays in PHP and then sort them.

I'm pulling data from WordPress database ( tags and categories ) and I need to merge them and sort them properly.

Code looks similar to this:

$categories = [ 
  '<a>WordPress Tips</a>',
  '<a>SEO Tips'</a>, 
  '<a>Development Tips</a>' 
]; 

$tags = [ 
  '<a>WordPress</a>',
  '<a>SEO'</a>, 
  '<a>Development</a>' 
]; 

$taxonomies = array_merge($categories, $tags);
sort($taxonomies);

Since I need to loop through $taxonomies array and print them with anchors included ( every one of those must have a valid URL to itself ), I don't get a proper sorting result. However, as soon as I 'strip out' all the tags around these items, sorting works as it should, but I don't get URLs that I need, only string / text.

Could someone suggest a better sorting algorithm which would sort these items properly with html elements included around them? Thanks!