Unleash the Power of WooCommerce Categories: Showing Products the Right Way!
So you’ve got a WooCommerce store packed with awesome products. Great! But are your customers finding what they’re looking for? That’s where categories come in – they’re like signposts in a supermarket, guiding shoppers to exactly what Read more about How To Integrate Stripe Payment Gateway In Woocommerce they need. If your WooCommerce store’s product categories are hidden or difficult to navigate, you’re losing potential sales.
This guide will show you, in simple, newbie-friendly terms, how to effectively display your WooCommerce product categories and improve your customer’s shopping experience. Think of it as making your online store more like a well-organized, easy-to-browse physical shop.
Why Bother Displaying Product Categories?
Imagine walking into a bookstore where all the books are randomly scattered. Frustrating, right? Product categories solve this problem for online stores. They:
- Improve User Experience: Customers can easily browse specific types of products, making it faster and easier to find what they want. Think of someone searching for “dog toys.” They don’t want to wade through pages of dog food and beds!
- Boost SEO: Categories create more opportunities for search engines to understand what your store offers. Each category page can be optimized for specific keywords, like “organic cotton baby clothes.”
- Increase Conversions: A clear and intuitive navigation leads to a smoother buying process, ultimately increasing sales. Happy customers are more likely to buy!
- Organize Products: Maintain a well-structured store for easier management on your end.
- Title: Give your widget a clear and descriptive title, like “Shop by Category” or “Our Products.”
- Display as dropdown: Choose whether to display the categories as a list or a dropdown menu. Dropdowns are great for sites with many categories.
- Show product counts: Display the number of products in each category (e.g., “T-shirts (25)”). This gives customers an idea of the selection available.
- Hierarchical: Display categories in a hierarchical structure, showing parent and child categories. This is crucial if you have nested categories. For example, you might have a parent category “Clothing” and child categories “T-shirts,” “Jeans,” and “Sweaters.”
- Show only top-level categories: Only display parent categories, hiding the child categories. Useful for a simplified navigation.
- Hide empty categories: Don’t show categories that don’t have any products assigned to them. This keeps your navigation clean and relevant.
- Title: “Browse Our Plants”
- Display as: List
- Show product counts: Yes
- Hierarchical: Yes
- Hide empty categories: Yes
- Men
- Women
- T-Shirts
- Jeans
- Dresses
- Accessories
- Sale
- `number`: The number of categories to display. For example: `[product_categories number=”4″]`
- `orderby`: How to order the categories. Options include “name,” “slug,” “count,” and “term_id.” For example: `[product_categories orderby=”name”]`
- `order`: The order to display categories in. Options include “ASC” (ascending) and “DESC” (descending). For example: `[product_categories order=”DESC”]`
- `columns`: The number of columns to display the categories in. For example: `[product_categories columns=”3″]`
- `hide_empty`: Whether to hide empty categories (true/false). For example: `[product_categories hide_empty=”true”]`
- `parent`: Only show child categories of a specific parent category (using the parent category ID). For example: `[product_categories parent=”15″]`
Method 1: Using the WooCommerce Product Category Widget
This is the easiest and most common method, perfect for beginners. WooCommerce comes with a built-in widget specifically designed for displaying product categories.
1. Go to Appearance -> Widgets in your WordPress dashboard.
2. Find the “WooCommerce Product Categories” widget. It might be listed under “Available Widgets.”
3. Drag and drop the widget into your desired sidebar or widget area. Common choices are the “Shop Sidebar” (if your theme has one) or a footer widget area.
4. Configure the Widget Options:
5. Click “Save.”
Real-life Example: Imagine an online garden center. You could use this widget in their shop sidebar with these settings:
This would allow customers to easily browse by plant type, such as “Flowers (50),” “Vegetables (30),” and “Herbs (20),” making it easy to find exactly what they need.
Method 2: Adding Product Categories to Your Main Menu
Another excellent way to showcase your categories is by adding them directly to your website’s main navigation menu.
1. Go to Appearance -> Menus in your WordPress dashboard.
2. Select the menu you want to edit (usually your “Primary Menu” or “Main Menu”).
3. In the “Add menu items” box, click on “Product categories.” If you don’t see “Product categories,” click the “Screen Options” tab at the top right of the screen and make sure “Product categories” is checked.
4. Select the categories you want to add to the menu. You can select multiple categories at once.
5. Click “Add to Menu.”
6. Arrange the menu items by dragging and dropping them into the desired order. You can create sub-menus by indenting the category items under a parent category.
7. Click “Save Menu.”
Real-life Example: For an online clothing store, you might add these categories to the main menu:
This provides clear and direct access to the most important product categories right from the top of the website.
Method 3: Using WooCommerce Shortcodes
For more advanced control over how your categories are displayed, you can use WooCommerce shortcodes. Shortcodes are snippets of code that allow you to insert dynamic content into your pages or posts.
The most common shortcode for displaying product categories is `[product_categories]`.
You can use different attributes within the shortcode to customize the output:
To use a shortcode:
1. Go to the page or post where you want to display the categories.
2. Add a “Shortcode” block (in the WordPress block editor) or switch to the text editor and paste the shortcode.
3. Customize the shortcode with the attributes you need.
4. Save and preview your page.
Real-life Example: Imagine you want to showcase your featured product categories on your homepage in a grid format. You could use this shortcode:
[product_categories number="4" columns="2" hide_empty="true"]
This would display four of your product categories in a two-column grid, excluding any categories that don’t have products.
Method 4: Custom Code (For Advanced Users)
If you’re comfortable with PHP and WooCommerce templates, you can directly edit your theme’s files to customize the display of product categories. This gives you the most flexibility but requires more technical knowledge.
Warning: Always back up your website before making changes to your theme files. Also, it’s best practice to use a child theme to avoid losing your changes when the parent theme is updated.
Here’s a basic example of how to display product categories in a custom template:
'product_cat', 'orderby' => 'name', 'show_count' => 1, // Show product counts 'pad_counts' => 1, // Include empty categories in product count 'hierarchical' => 1, // Show hierarchical categories 'title_li' => '', // Remove "Categories" title 'hide_empty' => 1 // Hide empty categories );
echo ‘
- ‘;
wp_list_categories( $args );
echo ‘
‘;
?>
Where to put this code:
You could add this code to a custom page template, a WooCommerce template override (e.g., `archive-product.php`), or even a custom widget.
Important Considerations:
- Responsiveness: Make sure your category display is responsive and looks good on all devices (desktops, tablets, and smartphones).
- Accessibility: Ensure your category navigation is accessible to users with disabilities. Use semantic HTML and provide alternative text for images.
- Testing: Test your category navigation thoroughly to make sure it’s working correctly and providing a good user experience.
Final Thoughts:
Showing your WooCommerce product categories effectively is essential for creating a user-friendly and successful online store. By choosing the right method and customizing it to fit your needs, you can guide your customers to the products they’re looking for and boost your sales. Don’t be afraid to experiment and see what works best for your store! Good luck!
