How to Add Categories in WooCommerce: A Beginner’s Guide

Organizing your WooCommerce store is crucial for both you and your customers. A well-organized store is easier to manage and offers a better shopping experience. One of the most important organizational tools is using categories. This guide will walk you through adding categories in WooCommerce, even if you’re a complete beginner.

Why Use WooCommerce Categories?

Think of categories like the aisles in a supermarket. Would you want to search for milk in the frozen food section? No! Categories help customers quickly find what they’re looking for. For you, they make managing your products much easier. Well-structured categories improve your site’s SEO, increase sales, and enhance user experience.

For example, if you sell clothing, you might have categories like “Women’s,” “Men’s,” “Children’s,” and each of those could have subcategories like “Dresses,” “Shirts,” “Pants,” etc.

Adding a Top-Level Category

Let’s add a top-level category, the broadest category in your structure. For this example, we’ll add “Electronics.”

• Log in to your WordPress dashboard.
• Navigate to Products > Categories.

Click the “Add New” button.

You’ll now Discover insights on Woocommerce How To Test Order see a screen to add your new category:

• Name: Enter “Electronics”. This is what your customers will see.

Slug: This is the URL-friendly version of the name. WooCommerce usually fills this in automatically (e.g., “electronics”). If it doesn’t, create a similar version, using hyphens to separate words.

Parent: Leave this blank for a top-level category.

Description (optional): Add a short description about this category. This isn’t visible on the front-end by default, but it’s useful for internal organization.

Image (optional): Upload an image to represent the category. This can improve visual appeal.

Click “Publish“.

Adding Subcategories

Now let’s add subcategories under “Electronics,” such as “Laptops” and “Smartphones.”

• Go back to Products > Categories.

Click “Add New” again.

This time, in the “Parent” field, select “Electronics” from the dropdown menu.

Enter the name (“Laptops” or “Smartphones”), slug, and any other details.

Click “Publish“.

Repeat this process for as many subcategories as you need.

Assigning Products to Categories

Once you’ve created your categories, you need to assign your products to them.

• Go to Products > All Products.

Edit the product you want to categorize.

In the “Product Data” meta box, find the “Product Category” section.

Select the Learn more about How To Use Frontend Woocommerce appropriate category (or categories) for your product from the dropdown menu. You can select multiple categories if needed.

Click “Update“.

Tips for Effective Category Management

• Use a logical hierarchy: Think about how customers would naturally search for your products.
• Keep it simple: Avoid overly specific or numerous categories.
• Use descriptive names: Make sure your category names clearly reflect the products they contain.
• Regularly review your categories: As your product range changes, update your categories accordingly.

By following these steps, you can effectively organize your WooCommerce store using categories, leading to a better shopping experience for your customers and easier management for you. Remember, a well-organized store is a successful store!