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Categories

Categories in WordPress serve as a primary taxonomy system for organising your content into broad topics or sections. Unlike tags which are non-hierarchical, categories can be structured in parent-child relationships, creating a hierarchical organisation that helps visitors navigate through a website's content in a logical manner. Categories are typically displayed prominently in a website's navigation, sidebars, or footer areas, making them crucial for both user experience and site architecture.

Creating a Category​

When creating and managing categories in WordPress, it is important to establish a clear organisational structure.

We recommend limiting top-level categories to 7-10 broad topics that encompass the website's main content areas, using subcategories for more specific divisions. Of course, similar to tags, more overall content warrants more categories, though they should be used judiciously. Choose intuitive, descriptive names that visitors would naturally search for, and maintain consistent naming conventions throughout your hierarchy. Avoid creating categories for temporary topics or those with only one or two posts, as this can fragment the architecture of your website.

In general, please ensure that each is assigned to at least one category (never leaving it in the default Uncategorized), but typically not more than 2-3 categories to prevent diluting their organisational value. Consider regularly auditing your category structure as your website grows, merging similar categories and restructuring as needed to maintain a logical, user-friendly navigation system that both visitors and search engines can easily understand. Unlike tags, categories are not automatically assigned to content.

There are two ways to create categories in WordPress, giving you flexibility in how you manage your content organisation.

From the Categories Page​

  1. In your WordPress dashboard, navigate to Posts → Categories in the left sidebar menu.
  2. You will see the Add New Category section on the left side of the page.
  3. Enter a name for your category in the Name field. This is how the category will appear on your website.
  4. Optionally, add a Slug - the URL-friendly version of the name (automatically generated if left blank).
  5. If you are creating a subcategory, select a Parent category from the dropdown menu.
  6. You can add a Description to explain what content belongs in this category.
  7. Click the Add New Category button to create your category.

You can add multiple categories by repeating this process.

While Creating or Editing​

  1. Create a new post or edit an existing one.
  2. In the right sidebar, locate the Categories panel.
  3. You will see a list of existing categories with checkboxes.
  4. Check the categories you want to assign to your post.
  5. To create a new category on the fly, click the Add New Category link.
  6. Enter the category name and select a parent category if applicable.
  7. Click Add New Category to create and assign it to your post.

You can add multiple categories by repeating this process.