How To Search Category In Woocommerce

WooCommerce Category Search: A Beginner’s Guide to Finding What You Need

So, you’ve got a WooCommerce store bursting with products. That’s fantastic! But if your customers can’t easily find what they’re looking for, you’re leaving money on the table. One of the most effective ways to improve product discovery is to optimize your category search. This article will walk you through different methods to help your customers navigate your WooCommerce categories with ease. We’ll cover everything from built-in features to helpful plugins and even a touch of coding (don’t worry, it’s beginner-friendly!).

Think of it this way: imagine walking into a huge bookstore without any signs or organized sections. You’d be lost, right? WooCommerce category search helps your online shoppers avoid that frustration and find exactly what they need.

Why is Category Search Important?

Before we dive into the “how-to,” let’s briefly touch on the “why.” A well-implemented category search improves:

User Experience: Customers can quickly find what they’re looking for, leading to a more enjoyable shopping experience.
Conversion Rates: Happier customers are more likely to make a purchase. Easier navigation = more sales!
SEO (Search Engine Optimization): Properly structured categories and their visibility contribute to better search engine rankings. When search engines understand your site’s structure, they can better index and rank your product pages.

Method 1: Using WooCommerce Built-in Features

WooCommerce comes with some basic category search functionality right out of the box. Let’s explore those:

#### 1.1 The Product Category Widget

This is the most basic way to display product categories in your store.

How to use it:

1. Go to Appearance > Widgets in your WordPress dashboard.

2. Find the “Product categories” widget.

3. Drag it to your desired sidebar or widget area.

4. Configure the widget:

Title: Give your widget a descriptive title (e.g., “Shop by Category”).
Display as dropdown: Choose whether to display categories as a list or a dropdown menu. A dropdown is often better for stores with many categories.
Show product counts: Display the number of products in each category. This gives customers an idea of the category’s size.
Hierarchical: Display categories in a parent-child structure (e.g., Clothing > Shirts > T-Shirts).
Hide empty categories: Hide categories that don’t have any products assigned to them.

5. Click “Save“.

Example: Imagine you sell clothing. Your categories might be “Men’s Clothing,” “Women’s Clothing,” and “Children’s Clothing.” Under “Men’s Clothing,” you might have subcategories like “Shirts,” “Pants,” and “Jackets.” The “Product Categories” widget with the “Hierarchical” option enabled will display this structure neatly.

#### 1.2 The Default WooCommerce Search Bar

While not *specifically* a category search, the built-in WooCommerce search bar can be improved to prioritize categories. The problem is it often searches everything by default, which can be inefficient. We can refine this with plugins (see below).

How to use it:

1. Go to Appearance > Widgets in your WordPress dashboard.

2. Find the “Search” widget.

3. Drag it to your desired sidebar or widget area.

4. Configure the widget:

Title: Give your search bar a descriptive title (e.g., “Search Products”).

5. Click “Save“.

Limitations: This is a general search and doesn’t directly allow customers to choose a category before searching.

Method 2: Using Plugins for Enhanced Category Search

Plugins can significantly enhance your WooCommerce category search capabilities. Here are a couple of options:

#### 2.1 Product Filter Plugins

These plugins are fantastic for allowing users to filter products by category, price, attributes, and more. Some popular choices include:

WooCommerce Product Filter by WooBeWoo: Offers powerful filtering options, including category filtering.
YITH WooCommerce Ajax Product Filter: Another robust option with AJAX-powered filtering for a smooth user experience.
Advanced Woo Search: Often includes a dedicated category filter or allows you to prioritize category results in the search bar.

Example: If you sell electronics, a product filter plugin could allow customers to filter by category (e.g., “Laptops,” “Tablets,” “Smartphones”), brand, screen size, RAM, and other relevant specifications.

#### 2.2 Search Plugins with Category Specificity

Some search plugins focus specifically on improving the search functionality, including making category search more prominent.

Ivory Search: This plugin is a more powerful search solution that can be configured to prioritize categories and even show product categories in the search results.
SearchWP: A premium plugin that offers advanced customization options, including the ability to weight search results based on category.

Why use a plugin? Plugins provide a more user-friendly and visually appealing way to filter products by category. They often offer advanced features like AJAX filtering (results update instantly as you filter) and the ability to filter by multiple categories simultaneously.

Method 3: Custom Coding (For the Slightly More Adventurous)

If you’re comfortable with a bit of code, you can customize your WooCommerce theme to improve category search.

Important: Always back up your theme before making any code changes! Also, consider using a child theme to avoid losing your modifications when the main theme updates.

#### 3.1 Modifying the Search Form to Include Category Selection

You can add a dropdown menu to your search form that allows users to select a category before searching.

Step 1: Locate your theme’s `searchform.php` file. This file is responsible for rendering the search form. If your theme doesn’t have one, copy the default `searchform.php` from the WordPress default theme (like Twenty Twenty-Four) into your child theme’s directory.

Step 2: Add the category dropdown to the form.

Open your `searchform.php` file and add the following code snippet within the `

` tag:




 'name',
'order'   => 'ASC',
'hide_empty' => true
) );
foreach ( $categories as $category ) {
echo 'slug . '">' . $category->name . '';
}
?>

<input type="text" class="search-field" placeholder="" value="" name="s" />

Explanation:

“: Creates a dropdown menu named `product_cat`.
`get_terms( ‘product_cat’ …)`: Retrieves all product categories.
`foreach`: Loops through each category and creates an “ element for it.
`value=”$category->slug”`: Sets the category slug as the value for the option. This is important for the search query.
“: Ensures that only products are searched.

Step 3: Modify your theme’s `functions.php` file (or a custom plugin) to handle the category selection in the search query.

Add the following code to your `functions.php` file:

is_main_query() && $query->is_search() ) {
if ( isset( $_GET['product_cat'] ) && ! empty( $_GET['product_cat'] ) ) {
$query->set( 'tax_query', array(
array(
'taxonomy' => 'product_cat',
'field'    => 'slug',
'terms'    => $_GET['product_cat'],
),
) );
}
}
return $query;
}
add_filter( 'pre_get_posts', 'custom_product_category_search' );
?>

Explanation:

`custom_product_category_search( $query )`: Defines a function that modifies the search query.
`if ( ! is_admin() && …)`: Ensures the code only runs on the front end and for the main search query.
`if ( isset( $_GET[‘product_cat’] ) && ! empty( $_GET[‘product_cat’] ) )`: Checks if a category was selected in the dropdown.
`$query->set( ‘tax_query’ …)`: Adds a tax query to the search to filter results based on the selected category.

Important Considerations:

`your-theme-textdomain`: Replace this with your theme’s text domain for proper translation.
Styling: You’ll likely need to add CSS to style the category dropdown to match your theme’s design.

#### 3.2 Advanced Customizations

With coding, you can also create custom category pages, refine search algorithms, and even integrate with third-party search services like Algolia for a super-fast and accurate search experience. However, these are beyond the scope of this beginner’s guide.

Final Thoughts: Testing and Iterating

No matter which method you choose, it’s crucial to test your category search to ensure it’s working correctly. Ask friends or colleagues to use your store and try to find specific products using the category search. Gather feedback and make adjustments as needed.

Remember, optimizing your WooCommerce category search is an ongoing process. As your product catalog grows and your customer’s needs evolve, you’ll need to continue refining your approach to ensure a seamless and efficient shopping experience. Good luck!