Categories in WordPress: what you need to know to better manage your website

In web development, especially on platforms such as WordPress, effective content organisation is crucial for navigability and search engine optimisation (SEO).

Categories in WordPress offer a powerful way to structure and classify your blog posts or website pages, making it easier for users and search engines to find and understand your content.

I am Javier Chiva, a web development specialist with more than 5 years of experience in web development with WordPress.

In this post I would like to show you the basics and advanced techniques for managing categories in WordPress, ensuring that your site is not only functional but also optimised for better search rankings.

What are categories in WordPress?

Definition and usefulness of categories

Categories in WordPress are one of the default taxonomies that allow you to group related content under a common term.

This not only helps your site's users to quickly navigate and access specific topics of interest to them, but also allows search engines to understand the structure and hierarchy of your content, which is vital for SEO.

Unlike tags, categories are intended to group your posts into broad, meaningful segments.

For example, a technology blog might have categories such as "Hardware", "Software" and "Tutorials", each containing posts that address specific topics within those broad fields.

Differences between categories and labels

While categories classify content into broad, hierarchically organised groups, tags are generally specific keywords that describe the details of a post and help in searching for very specific topics within your site.

Tags are more flexible and can be used without the hierarchical structure that characterises categories.

How to manage categories in WordPress

How to create a new category

Creating a category in WordPress is a simple but essential process to keep your website organised. Here's how you can do it step by step:

1. Access the WordPress Dashboard: Log in to your WordPress administration panel.
2. Navigate to Entries > Categories: In the side menu, you will find the option 'Entries'. When you hover your mouse over this option, a submenu will appear where you must select 'Categories'.
3. Add details of the new category: On the Categories page, you will see a form for "Add new category". Here you must:
   • Name: Write the name of the category. Choose a name that clearly reflects the type of content it will group.
   • Slug: This is the URL-friendly version of the category name. It is usually generated automatically from the name, but you can edit it for SEO optimisation.
   • Parent category: If you want to create a subcategory, select the main category here. If it is a main category, leave this blank.
   • Description: Although optional, providing a description can help both users and search engines understand what type of content they will find under this category.
4. Save the category: Click the 'Add new category' button to save your new category.

How to edit and delete categories

Modifying or deleting an existing category is also a straightforward process:

1. Edit a category:
   • From the same Categories page, hover over the category you wish to edit and you will see the 'Edit' option.
   • Click 'Edit' and modify the details you need to change. Once you have made your changes, click 'Update'.
2. Delete a category:
   • Similarly, when hovering over a category, the 'Delete' option will appear.
   • Click 'Delete'. Note that when you delete a category, the posts that were classified under it will not be deleted, but will be reassigned to the default WordPress category.

These steps ensure that you can manage your categories effectively, keeping your site structure organised and coherent, which is crucial for a good user experience and SEO optimisation.

Advanced use of categories in WordPress

How to add categories to a menu

Adding categories to your WordPress site's menus is a great way to improve the navigability and structure of your content. Here's how to do it:

1. Access the menu customiser:
   • Navigate to 'Appearance > Menus' in the WordPress administration panel.
   • Select the menu you wish to edit or create a new one by entering a name and clicking 'Create Menu'.
2. Add categories to the menu:
   • On the left side of the Menus page, you will see several boxes including Pages, Posts, Categories, etc.
   • Click on 'Categories' to expand this option.
   • Select the categories you want to add to the menu by checking the box next to each one.
   • Click on 'Add to Menu'.
3. Organise your menu:
   • Once the categories are in your menu, you can drag and drop the items to rearrange them according to your preferred structure.
   • You can also edit each menu item to change, for example, the navigation label which is the text that users will see.
4. Save your changes:
   • Don't forget to click 'Save Menu' to ensure that all your changes are applied correctly.

Display category entries on a page

To have the entries of a specific category displayed on a dedicated page, you can follow these steps:

1. Create a new page:
   • From the Dashboard, go to 'Pages > Add new'.
   • Title the page with the category name or any other relevant title.
2. Insert category entries using a block:
   • In the page editor, use the 'List of entries' block or 'Most recent entries' if you are using the block editor (Gutenberg).
   • Configure the block to filter by the desired category. This usually involves selecting the specific category in the block options.
3. Customise the display:
   • Adjust other parameters such as the number of entries displayed, the inclusion of featured images, and more, according to your needs.
4. Publish the page:
   • Once everything is set up, publish the page so that it is accessible to your website visitors.

This functionality is particularly useful for sites that have a large amount of content and wish to make it more accessible and easily navigable for their users.