How To Manage WordPress Category Pages

WordPress doesn’t offer you the power to file static pages in a category however it does allow you to group your posts into categories so you can easily manage similar content. Categories help your readers find similar content like a books table of contents and produce better navigation for your blogs readers.

Each new blog post needs to be assigned to a specific category or it will be filed under uncategorized. You’ll find a list of your categories under posts on the left hand side of your WordPress dashboard. This assumes you have already created your categories. If you haven’t, i suggest using keyword research to find the most popular words related to your sites content which you can use as categories.

Be careful NOT to create the same category name which is already used as a page title or post tag as you will create a problem.

All title tags for Pages, Categories and Post Tags need to be unique.

WordPress Categories

You can create categories using the above screen or you can create them as you go by adding a unique category every time you write a new post. You can also assign a post under multiple categories if you wish.

These category archive pages list posts which contain content related to that category and aid in navigation for my readers. This helps my site visitors find the content they need easier and faster. When your site visitors click on one of your category links, an archive page with all your posts filed under that Category, will be displayed.

http://wpsites.net/wordpress-setup/wordpress-categories-how-to-manage-wordpress-category-pages/

Each category contains a slug (in blue) which is the name used in the URL (Unique address to that particular category). The category slug can be edited and changed to another name if needed as long as that term or terms are not already in use by a Page, Category or Post Tag.

Read more about changing, moving & deleting categories in WordPress.

By default it will be the same as the category title unless you change it. Example: This category slug is wordpress-setup as the category name is WordPress Setup.

You can also create sub categories if you wish and create a parent category to an unlimited number of sub categories.

To avoid overwhelming you blog visitors with clutter, i suggest you create introductory content for your WordPress category pages. Showing your readers what they can expect to learn from a particular category and what posts that category contains is a great way to welcome your readers rather than throwing them into the deep end.

Note: Not all WordPress templates offer you the flexibility to add introductory content to your category archive pages.

Using a combination of WordPress Categories and introductory content in your category archives, helps your blogs readers navigate to the content they need which will increase page views and time on site.

Add New Categories

Adding a description to each category creates introductory content which is not only helpful for your readers but good for search engine optimization.


Comments

12 responses to “How To Manage WordPress Category Pages”

  1. Andy L. Avatar

    Hi Brad,

    Thanks so much for providing such valuable insight regarding category organization and its value to site visitors and search engines..

    Towards this end, I’m trying to include a category table of contents where all posts within the same category will be listed. At present, the category page includes the name of the category, description, and the posts (title with excerpts). I’m hoping that a TOC can appear right before the first post/excerpt is listed.

    I just activated the Table of Contents Plus category and it works very well for standard pages and posts. However, I’m not sure how to use it for category pages. I tried to use: [sitemap_categories] underneath text in the description box but that did not work. (Of course, I may be using the plugin improperly.)

    I’ve been searching for hours hoping to find that elusive plugin or obtain manual directions to get a simple Wikipedia-like table of contents to appear on a give category page where all category post links can be identified and potentially clicked. Brad, can you please offer any viable solution..

    (Obviously, I can list the post titles and link to them internally to each post but I was hoping for a better option.)

    Thanks so much for any feedback regarding this matter.

    Best Regards,
    Andy

    1. Brad Dalton Avatar
      Brad Dalton

      Andy

      There’s different ways to do this.

      Take a look at this method.

      http://wpsites.net/wordpress-tips/display-a-list-of-posts-in-specific-category-in-any-theme/

      1. Andy L. Avatar

        Hi Brad,

        Thanks so much for your timely response. I read the referred article with interest but I’m confused about the display option.

        I’m not using a child theme so can I just place the following display code:
        at the end of the index template?
        (On the other hand, it indicates not to edit this template.)

        I truly appreciate any further insight.

        Best Regards,
        Andy .

        1. Brad Dalton Avatar
          Brad Dalton

          You need to create a child theme and the code may need modifying depending on what you want to display and exactly where you want to display it.

          1. Andy L. Avatar

            Hi Brad,

            Thanks for the further direction. I’ll see what I can do as I’m hoping the learning curve will not be too steep.

            Thanks again,,
            Andy

  2. Kristie Hill Avatar
    Kristie Hill

    Hi Brad. My slugs for categories are showing “category” in the slug. Any suggestions on how to get rid of it?

    For example, yours i : http://wpsites.net/wordpress-setup/wordpress-categories-how-to-manage-wordpress-category-pages/

    But mine would be: http://wpsites.net/category/wordpress-setup/wordpress-categories-how-to-manage-wordpress-category-pages/

    I don’t want category to be there. Sorry if i missed a post about this subject already. PS I like the new blog design.

    1. Kristie Hill Avatar
      Kristie Hill

      I should probably also note that I use Genesis

    2. Brad Dalton Avatar
      Brad Dalton

      Hello Kristie

      What happens if you change the Permalink structure to postname?

      I would backup your database first as well.

      You could test this locally first before making the switch on your live site.

      Another option is to try Yoasts Permalink tool https://yoast.com/change-wordpress-permalink-structure/

      1. Kristie Hill Avatar
        Kristie Hill

        hmm… my permalink structure is already set to postname. It’s weird, because when I was using the Jane theme, the category permalinks didn’t have “category” in them. I switched to the framework, and now they do. I’ll have to check out Yoasts recommendations, thanks!

  3. Noor Mustafa Avatar
    Noor Mustafa

    Hi, do you know how to increases WordPress limits for adding categories, currently it support up to 9K categories… help must be appreciated

    1. Brad Dalton Avatar
      Brad Dalton

      Good question.

      I think stackexchange would be the best place to ask this question.

      Sorry i don’t have an answer for you.

  4. […] may also assign each new posts to a category, add tags, and use all the features displayed on the edit post screen to customize each […]

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