How to Set Up a Category Page in WooCommerce: A Beginner’s Guide

WooCommerce makes selling online relatively painless, but sometimes navigating the initial setup can feel overwhelming. Don’t worry! This guide is designed to walk you through creating and customizing your WooCommerce category pages, even if you’re a complete beginner. Think of category pages as the aisles in your online supermarket. They help customers find exactly what they’re looking for.

Why is this important? Because a well-organized shop with clear categories leads to a better user experience, boosted sales, and improved search engine rankings. Let’s get started!

What are WooCommerce Category Pages?

Category pages are essentially landing pages that display products belonging to a specific category. Think of them as virtual shelves in your store. For example:

• If you sell clothing, you might have categories like “T-Shirts,” “Jeans,” and “Dresses.”
• If you sell electronics, you might have categories like “Laptops,” “Smartphones,” and “Headphones.”

These pages allow customers to easily browse and filter products within a particular group, making it easier for them to find what they’re looking for. Instead of scrolling through hundreds of products, they can narrow their search quickly.

Step-by-Step: Creating WooCommerce Categories

Creating categories is the foundation for an organized online store. Here’s how to do it:

1. Log in to your WordPress dashboard: This is the back-end of your website where you manage everything.

2. Navigate to Products > Categories: This is where the magic happens.

3. Fill in the details: You’ll see a form with the following fields:

• Name: This is the name of your category (e.g., “T-Shirts”). Choose a descriptive name that accurately reflects the products within.
• Slug: The “slug” is the URL-friendly version of the name (e.g., “t-shirts”). WooCommerce will usually generate this automatically, but you can customize it. It should be lowercase and use hyphens instead of spaces. Keep slugs short and relevant for better SEO.
• Parent Category: If this category is a sub-category of another (e.g., “Crew Neck” under “T-Shirts”), select the parent category from the dropdown. This creates a hierarchy, like a tree. Using parent/child categories enhances your site structure.
• Description: This is a brief description of the category. Use this to provide valuable information to customers and include relevant keywords for SEO. For example, for “T-Shirts,” you might write: “Browse our collection of comfortable and stylish T-shirts. We offer a wide range of colors, sizes, and designs.”
• Display Type: This controls what’s displayed on the category page. You have three options:
• Default: Uses the default WooCommerce settings (usually just products).
• Products: Only Discover insights on How To Edit Code For Woocommerce Input Fields displays products within the category. This is the most common choice.
• Subcategories: Only displays subcategories (if any). Useful for high-level category pages.
• Both: Displays both products and subcategories. Use this carefully; it can sometimes look cluttered.
• Thumbnail: This is the image that represents your category. Use a high-quality image that is visually appealing and relevant to the category. Think of it as the cover of a book; it needs to be enticing.

4. Click “Add New Category”: Once you’ve filled in all the details, click this button to create your category.

Adding Products to Categories

Now that you have your categories, you need to assign products to them:

1. Navigate to Products > All Products: This lists all the products in your WooCommerce store.

2. Edit the product: Click “Edit” on the product you want to assign to a category.

3. Locate the “Product Categories” box: This is usually found on the right-hand side of the product edit screen.

4. Check the relevant categories: Simply check the boxes next to the categories to which you want to assign the product. A product can belong to multiple categories.

5. Click “Update”: Save your changes.

Repeat this process for all your products, assigning them to the appropriate categories.

Customizing Your Category Pages (Beyond the Basics)

While the basic setup is functional, you can enhance your category pages to improve the user experience and boost sales. Here are some advanced techniques:

1. Using Category Page Plugins: Several plugins can help you customize your category pages without needing to write code. Some popular options include:

• WooCommerce Category Page Design: This type of plugin gives you drag-and-drop interfaces to create visually appealing category layouts.
• Category Accordion Widgets: These plugins allow users to expand and collapse categories, especially useful for stores with many categories.

2. Customizing with Code (For the Advanced User): If you’re comfortable with PHP, you can directly modify the WooCommerce templates.

• Find the Template Files: WooCommerce templates are located in the `woocommerce/templates` folder within the WooCommerce plugin directory. However, do not edit these files directly!
• Override the Templates: To customize a template, create a `woocommerce` folder in your theme’s directory. Copy the template file you want to modify (e.g., `archive-product.php` for category pages) into your theme’s `woocommerce` folder.
• Modify the Copied Template: Now you can safely edit the copied template. For example, you might add a custom heading or change the product display order.

Here’s a simple example of adding a custom heading to your category page:

 <?php /** 
WooCommerce Archive Product Template
 */ 

if ( ! defined( ‘ABSPATH’ ) ) {

exit; // Exit if accessed directly

}

get_header( ‘shop’ ); ?>

Welcome to our category!

<?php

/

* Hook: woocommerce_archive_description.

*

* @hooked woocommerce_taxonomy_archive_description – 10

* @hooked woocommerce_product_archive_description – 10

*/

do_action( ‘woocommerce_archive_description’ );

?>

<?php

if ( woocommerce_product_loop() ) {

/

* Hook: woocommerce_before_shop_loop.

*

* @hooked woocommerce_output_all_notices – 10

* @hooked woocommerce_result_count – 20

* @hooked woocommerce_catalog_ordering – 30

*/

do_action( ‘woocommerce_before_shop_loop’ );

woocommerce_product_loop_start();

if ( wc_get_loop_prop( ‘total’ ) ) {

while ( have_posts() ) {

the_post();

/

* Hook: woocommerce_shop_loop.

*/

do_action( ‘woocommerce_shop_loop’ );

wc_get_template_part( ‘content’, ‘product’ );

}

}

woocommerce_product_loop_end();

/

* Hook: woocommerce_after_shop_loop.

*

* @hooked woocommerce_pagination – 10

*/

do_action( ‘woocommerce_after_shop_loop’ );

} else {

/

* Hook: woocommerce_no_products_found.

*

* @hooked wc_no_products_found – 10

*/

do_action( ‘woocommerce_no_products_found’ );

}

get_footer( ‘shop’ );

Always back up your theme before making changes to template files. Also using a child theme will prevent your customisations being overriden during an update.

3. Adding Custom Fields to Categories: You can add custom fields (like a category-specific banner image or a special discount code) to your categories using plugins like Advanced Custom Fields (ACF). Then, you can display these custom fields on your category pages using code or a visual builder.

SEO Tips for WooCommerce Category Pages

Optimizing your category pages for search engines is crucial for attracting organic traffic. Here’s how:

• Keyword Research: Use keyword research tools (like Google Keyword Planner or SEMrush) to identify the keywords that people are using to search for products in your categories.
• Optimize Category Names and Descriptions: Incorporate your target keywords into the category name, slug, and description. Write compelling and informative descriptions that encourage clicks.
• Use Category Images: Optimize your category images with relevant alt text (the “alt” attribute of the `` tag). The alt text should describe the image and include relevant keywords. Ensure the image files are compressed to improve page load speed.
• Internal Linking: Link to your category pages from other relevant pages on your website, such as your homepage or product pages. Strategic internal linking helps search engines understand your site structure and index your content effectively.
• Mobile Optimization: Ensure your category pages are responsive and look good on all devices. Google prioritizes mobile-friendly websites in search results.