How to Add Categories in WooCommerce: A Beginner’s Guide
WooCommerce, the leading e-commerce platform for WordPress, relies heavily on categories to organize your products. Think of categories like aisles in a supermarket. Without them, customers would be overwhelmed trying to find what they need. Adding categories in WooCommerce is essential for a well-organized and user-friendly online store. This guide will walk you through the process, step-by-step, making it easy even if you’re a complete beginner.
Why are WooCommerce Categories Important?
Imagine you’re selling clothing online. You offer shirts, pants, and shoes. Without categories, all these items would be listed together, making it difficult for customers to find what they’re looking for. Categories help you:
- Improve User Experience: Customers can quickly navigate to the products they want.
- Boost SEO: Well-structured categories improve your website’s search engine ranking.
- Enhance Product Organization: Keeps your backend organized, making it easier to manage your inventory.
- Increase Sales: Easier navigation leads to more browsing and potentially more purchases.
- Name: This is the name of your category (e.g., “T-Shirts,” “Running Shoes,” “Organic Coffee”). Choose descriptive and keyword-rich names.
- Slug: The “slug” is the URL-friendly version of the name (e.g., “t-shirts,” “running-shoes,” “organic-coffee”). WooCommerce usually generates this automatically, but you can customize it. Keep it short and use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Parent Category: If this category is a subcategory of another, select the parent category from the dropdown. For example, “Short Sleeve” could be a subcategory of “T-Shirts.”
- Description: Add a brief description of the category. This can be helpful for SEO and can be displayed on your category page (depending on your theme). Write a concise and engaging description.
- Display Type: Choose how the category page will display:
- Default: Uses your theme’s default setting.
- Products: Shows only products within that category.
- Subcategories: Shows only subcategories within that category.
- Both: Shows both products and subcategories.
- Thumbnail: Add an image to represent the category. This can make your category pages more visually appealing. Use high-quality images that are relevant to the category.
- Category: Coffee
- Learn more about How To Manually Set The Order On Products In Woocommerce Slug: coffee
- Description: Explore our selection of premium coffee beans from around the world.
- Display Type: Both
- Thumbnail: An image of a bag of coffee beans.
- Category: Espresso Blends
- Slug: espresso-blends
- Parent Category: Coffee
- Description: Rich and bold espresso blends for the perfect shot.
- Display Type: Products
- Category: Single Origin
- Slug: single-origin
- Parent Category: Coffee
- Description: Discover the unique flavors of single-origin coffees.
- Display Type: Products
- Plan Your Category Structure: Before you start adding categories, take some time to plan out your overall category structure. This will help you create a logical and intuitive navigation system.
- Use Descriptive Category Names: Choose category names that are clear, concise, and relevant to your products.
- Optimize Category Pages for SEO: Include relevant keywords in your category names, descriptions, and image alt text.
- Use Subcategories to Drill Down: Subcategories can help you further refine your product organization and make it easier for customers to find what they’re looking for.
- Regularly Review and Update Your Categories: As your product offerings evolve, you may need to add, remove, or rename categories to keep your store organized and user-friendly.
How to Add Categories in WooCommerce: The Step-by-Step Guide
Here’s how to add categories to your WooCommerce store:
1. Login to your WordPress Dashboard: This is the backend of your website where you manage everything.
2. Navigate to Products > Categories: On the left-hand side menu, find “Products” and hover over it. Click on “Categories.”
3. Fill in the Category Details: You’ll see a form on the left-hand side of the screen. This is where you’ll add your category information.
4. Click “Add New Category”: Once you’ve filled in all the details, click the “Add New Category” button. Your new category will appear on the right-hand side of the screen.
Example: Creating a “Coffee” Category and Subcategories
Let’s say you’re selling coffee online. Here’s how you might structure your categories:
Then, you could add subcategories under “Coffee”:
How to Assign Products to Categories
Now that you’ve created your categories, you need to assign products to them:
1. Edit the Product: Go to Products > All Products and click “Edit” on the product you want to assign to a category.
2. Find the “Product Categories” Box: On the right-hand side of the product edit screen, you’ll see a box labeled “Product Categories.”
3. Select the Categories: Check the boxes next to the categories you want to assign the product to. A product can belong to multiple categories.
4. Click “Update”: Click the “Update” button to save your changes.
Best Practices for WooCommerce Categories
By following these steps and best practices, you can effectively add and manage categories in WooCommerce, creating a well-organized and user-friendly online store that will help you attract and retain customers. Good luck!
