How to use Categories in WordPress
Categories are a taxonomy in WordPress, they are great for grouping like objects together for better organization.
At Restored 316, our categories include Business Tips, Website Tips, Design Tips, Tutorials, and Overcomer Series. When a post is assigned a category, that post will then appear on the corresponding category page. You can see what a category page looks like on our site by clicking any of the highlighted links above. It’s helpful in maintaining good SEO practices to use no more than 5 categories on your site, otherwise, Google gets confused as to what your site is about. The 5 main categories will be the 5 main subjects your website is about.
How to add categories
There are two places to add a new category in WordPress.
- The first is in the post editor. You can locate the box below in the right-hand sidebar. Simply click the “+Add New Category” link and a box will pop open so that you can type in the new category name.
- The second is located on the left-hand side of your dashboard. The toolbar to the left is visible no matter where you are in the backend of your WordPress website. Click on the word “Posts” in the menu and then click the “Categories” option. You will be directed to the “Categories” page. Which looks like the image you see below.mThis is where you can add a new category name and click “add category” which will add it to the list on the right.
How to add text to the top of a category page
You can add text, images, and a headline to the top of your category pages.
- Click on the name of the category in the list featured in the image above.
- Add the headline, image, or text you want to be displayed in the category archives settings fields.
Check to make sure it displays on your category page
Each theme may display the headline, image, and text a little differently. If you don’t see anything on that page after going through these steps, make sure your server side cache, browser cache, and any CDN you may have are all cleared. Then re-check to see if the text appears.
How to add a category to the menu bar
You can create a menu item that directs your readers to a specific category archives page.
- Find “Appearance” in the left-hand menu. Next, click “Menus”.
- Select the menu you would like the category to display on.
- Click on the category, and “Add to Menu”.
- Don’t forget to click “Save Menu”.
Watch the Video Below to How to Use Categories on Your WordPress Website
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Hi Lesley,
thanks for this helpful post. I just learned that I can add these pieces of information to my category pages! Will try that soon!
Maybe you have some advice on another “category matter”. If I use categories AND subcategories will I add a post to both of them or only to the subcategory? I always wonder what the best way is when creating a blog post. Thanks in advance.
Best wishes
Carolin
Hi Carolin,
You can use both categories and subcategories for one post. The main category is going to be very broad like “decor” then the sub category could be something like “holiday” your tags would be “Easter, Christmas, Valentine’s Day”.
I’M HAVING DIFFICULTY IN A FEW AREAS- I WOULD LIKE TO ADD AN ABOUT ME PAGE- I TYPED SOMETHING UP BUT IT DOESN’T SEEM TO BE MINIMIZING-LIKE CLICK ON TO READ MORE-THE WHOLE POST IS SHOWING UP- ALSO, I WOULD LIKE TO ADD A LETS CONNECT FOR PEOPLE WHO VISIT SITE CAN PUT THEIR EMAIL IN-HOW DO I DO THIS?
Hi Allison,
Thank you for choosing our Market theme for your website.
Can you please submit a support ticket so we can provide assistance to you?
Thank you!
this is helpful thank you.
How do you only display featured image and not excerpts from the post under the category ?
Hi Shrilatha,
This would require a bit of code change. Go ahead and submit a support ticket and we can help you with this!
Is there a way to customize the title and paragraph font in the category description? I have the Glamour Kadence.
Sure! You can adjust this under Appearance > Customize > Posts/Pages Layout > Archive layout. Then go to the Design tab and you’ll see options to adjust the fonts there!