# How to Add a Page Title to WooCommerce Category Pages: A Beginner’s Guide
WooCommerce is a powerful e-commerce platform, but sometimes its default settings need a little tweaking. One common issue is customizing the page titles for your product category pages. Having clear, concise, and SEO-friendly titles is crucial for attracting customers and improving your website’s ranking in search engine results. This guide will show you how to add or customize those titles, even if you’re a complete beginner.
Why are Custom Category Page Titles Important?
Generic category page titles like “Shop” or “Category Archive” are unhelpful for both your customers and search engines. They don’t tell anyone what specific products are listed on the page. Think of it like this:
* Bad Title: “Shop” – What shop? What are you selling?
* Good Title: “Women’s Summer Dresses 2024” – This title clearly tells the customer and search engine exactly what the page is about.
Strong, descriptive titles:
- Improve SEO (Search Engine Optimization) by giving search engines more context.
- Enhance the user experience by clearly indicating page content.
- Increase click-through rates from search engine results pages (SERPs).
Method 1: Using a Plugin (Easiest Method)
The easiest way to customize WooCommerce category page titles is using a plugin. Many SEO plugins offer this functionality, and some are even free! Yoast SEO and Rank Math are popular choices.
Here’s the general process (steps might vary slightly depending on the plugin):
1. Install and activate your chosen SEO plugin.
2. Go to the plugin’s settings. Most will have a section dedicated to title and meta description customization.
3. Find the category settings. The exact location varies between plugins, but it’s often within the SEO settings section or a similar area.
4. Enable custom titles. This setting usually allows you to individually change the title for each category page.
5. Edit the titles. For each category, enter a relevant and engaging title.
Example (Yoast SEO): You might find an option to override the default title by adding a custom title template for categories.
Method 2: Using a Child Theme and Code (For Advanced Users)
This method requires more technical skills and involves editing your theme’s files. Always back up your files before making any code changes. It’s best practice to work within a child theme to avoid losing your customizations when updating your parent theme.
This method uses a function hooked into `woocommerce_product_cat_title` to change the title.
//Add this code to your theme's functions.php (or better yet, a child theme's functions.php file) add_filter( 'woocommerce_product_cat_title', 'custom_category_title', 10, 2 );
function custom_category_title( $title, $category ) {
//Check for specific categories and customize their title. You can add more conditions as needed.
if ( $category->slug == ‘womens-summer-dresses’ ) {
$title = ‘Women’s Summer Dresses 2024’;
} elseif ( $category->slug == ‘mens-shirts’ ) {
$title = ‘Men’s Stylish Shirts – Shop Now!’;
}
return $title;
}
This code checks the category slug. If it matches a specific slug (e.g., ‘womens-summer-dresses’), it replaces the title with a custom one. You can add more `elseif` conditions to customize titles for other categories.
Choosing the Right Method
- For beginners, the plugin method is strongly recommended. It’s simpler, safer, and often provides more options beyond just title customization.
- The code method is for users comfortable with PHP and working with theme files. It offers more control but requires more technical expertise and carries a higher risk of breaking your site if done incorrectly.
Remember to always preview your changes before publishing them to ensure they look and function as expected. By following these steps, you can Explore this article on How To Change View Cart Button Text In Woocommerce create clear, compelling category page titles that benefit both your customers and your search engine rankings.
