Categories are a core feature of WordPress that help you organize your blog posts into topics. Not only do categories make it easier for visitors to find related content on your site, but they also provide SEO benefits by creating keyword-rich pages that can rank in search engines.
However, the default category functionality in WordPress is quite basic. Luckily, there are many hacks and plugins available that can supercharge your categories and make them even more user-friendly and effective.
In this post, I‘ll share 10 of the most wanted category hacks and plugins for WordPress in 2023. These will allow you to customize the appearance of category pages, display related posts, add images, restrict access, and much more.
Whether you‘re a beginner looking for some simple tweaks or an advanced user who wants maximum control over categories, you‘ll find plenty of helpful tips here. Let‘s dive in!
1. Add Category Images
Visual content makes your site more engaging, and category images are a great way to spice up your category pages. The Categories Images plugin makes it easy to upload an image for each category.
After installing the plugin, go to Posts → Categories and click the "Edit" link under a category. You‘ll see an option to upload or select an image.
Once you‘ve added images to your categories, you can display them by adding this code to your category template file:
<?php if (function_exists(‘z_taxonomy_image_url‘)) {
$category_image = z_taxonomy_image_url();
if (!empty($category_image)) { ?>
<img src="<?php echo $category_image; ?>" alt="" />
<?php }
} ?>
2. Create Separate RSS Feeds for Categories
Did you know that each category has its own RSS feed? The URL format is:
http://example.com/category/categoryname/feed/
But what if you want to display a link to the category feed on the category page? Here‘s a quick code snippet that adds RSS feed links to your category list:
function wpb_categories_with_feed() {
$args = array(
‘orderby‘ => ‘name‘,
‘feed‘ => ‘RSS‘,
‘echo‘ => false,
‘title_li‘ => ‘‘,
);
$string = ‘<ul>‘;
$string .= wp_list_categories($args);
$string .= ‘</ul>‘;
return $string;
}
add_shortcode(‘categories-feed‘, ‘wpb_categories_with_feed‘);
To use it, simply add the [categories-feed] shortcode to any post, page or widget.
3. List Related Posts by Category
Showing related posts is a proven tactic to keep visitors on your site longer. With this code snippet, you can display a list of recent posts from a specific category:
function wpb_postsbycategory() {
$category_id = get_query_var(‘cat‘);
$args = array(
‘cat‘ => $category_id,
‘posts_per_page‘ => 5
);
$posts = get_posts($args);
$list = ‘<ul>‘;
foreach ($posts as $post) {
setup_postdata( $post );
$list .= sprintf(‘<li><a href="%1$s">%2$s</a></li>‘,
esc_url(get_the_permalink()),
get_the_title()
);
}
wp_reset_postdata();
$list .= ‘</ul>‘;
return $list;}
add_shortcode(‘related-posts‘, ‘wpb_postsbycategory‘);
You can add the [related-posts] shortcode to your category template to automatically show a list of related posts on each category archive page.
4. Restrict Access to Categories
Depending on your niche, you may want to restrict access to certain categories, so they are only available to registered members or paying customers.
The PublishPress Permissions plugin makes it easy to control access to your content. You can restrict viewing, editing and publishing permissions based on user role, individual users, or even custom member groups.
To restrict access to a specific category:
- Go to Permissions → Categories and select a category.
- Check the box next to "Default access denied" and select the user roles that should have access.
- Click "Update" to save your changes.
This is a great way to create premium content categories or personalized experiences for different segments of your audience.
5. Allow Readers to Follow Categories via Email
Building an email list is crucial for audience growth, and allowing visitors to subscribe to category-specific updates is a powerful way to segment your list.
The Mailchimp for WordPress plugin integrates with your Mailchimp account and lets you add opt-in forms throughout your site.
To create a category form:
- Go to MC4WP → Forms and create a new form.
- Select a category under the "Lists" settings.
- Customize the form fields and messages.
- Add the form to your category template using the provided shortcode.
Now when visitors subscribe through this form, they‘ll be added to a Mailchimp group for that specific category. You can send targeted emails just to that group to keep them engaged.
6. Display a Category Search Box
If you have a lot of categories on your site, adding a search feature can help visitors find what they‘re looking for more quickly.
Here‘s a simple code snippet to display a category search box:
function wpb_category_search_form() {
$form = ‘<form role="search" method="get" id="category-searchform" action="‘ . esc_url(home_url(‘/‘)) . ‘">‘;
$form .= ‘<div><label class="screen-reader-text" for="s">Search categories:</label>‘;
$form .= ‘<input type="text" value="‘ . get_search_query() . ‘" name="s" id="s">‘;
$form .= ‘<input type="submit" id="searchsubmit" value="Search">‘;
$form .= ‘<input type="hidden" name="category_name" value="‘ . get_query_var( ‘category_name‘ ) . ‘">‘;
$form .= ‘</div></form>‘;
return $form;}
add_shortcode(‘category-search‘, ‘wpb_category_search_form‘);
Add the [category-search] shortcode wherever you want the search box to appear, and it will only search within the current category.
7. Create Custom Category Templates
By default, WordPress uses the category.php template file to render all category archive pages. But you can also create a custom template for a specific category.
To do this, simply create a new file in your theme folder and name it:
category-{slug}.php
Replace {slug} with the actual slug of your category. For example, if you have a category called "Travel Tips", the file name would be:
category-travel-tips.php
Now you can customize the HTML markup and PHP code in this template to control exactly how that category page looks. Some ideas:
- Add a custom header image or banner
- Change the layout (e.g. grid vs. list)
- Show different meta data (e.g. author, date, tags)
- Include a newsletter signup form
- Display ads or other promotional content
Creating custom category templates gives you much more flexibility in the appearance and functionality of these key pages.
8. Generate a Category Word Cloud
A word cloud is a visual representation of the most frequently used tags or categories on your site. The WP Category Tag Cloud plugin lets you generate a colorful cloud widget based on your categories.
After installing the plugin, go to Appearance → Widgets and add the "Category Tag Cloud" widget to your sidebar or any other widget area. You can customize the number of categories to show, the font size, colors, and more.
Adding a category word cloud encourages visitors to explore more of your content and dive into your most important topics.
9. Show Related Categories on Posts
When viewing an individual blog post, it‘s helpful to display links to related categories, so visitors can easily find similar content.
Here‘s a code snippet that displays a list of categories assigned to the current post:
function wpb_related_categories() {
$categories = get_the_category();
if ($categories) {
$list = ‘<ul class="related-categories">‘;
$list .= ‘<li>Related Categories:</li>‘;
foreach($categories as $category) {
$list .= sprintf(‘<li><a href="%1$s">%2$s</a></li>‘,
esc_url( get_category_link($category->term_id) ),
esc_html($category->name)
);
}
$list .= ‘</ul>‘;
return $list;
}}
add_shortcode(‘related-categories‘, ‘wpb_related_categories‘);
Add the [related-categories] shortcode to your single post template where you want the list to appear. You can style it with CSS to match your theme.
10. Bulk Add Posts to a Category
If you need to assign a large number of posts to a category at once, doing it one-by-one in the WordPress editor would be tedious. The Bulk Move plugin allows you to move multiple posts to a different category in a few clicks.
After installing the plugin, go to Tools → Bulk Move. Select "Posts" as the source and destination, choose the category you want to move the posts to, and use the filters to select the posts you want to move (e.g. by date, status, or another category). Click "Move" and all the selected posts will instantly be assigned to the new category.
The Bulk Move plugin can save you a ton of time when you need to reorganize your content or merge categories together.
Bonus: Automate Category Assignment
Finally, here‘s a bonus category hack to put your content organization on autopilot. The Auto Tag plugin uses Artificial Intelligence to automatically assign relevant categories (and tags) to your posts based on their content.
To get started, install the plugin and go to Auto Tag → Settings. Enter your OpenAI API key and set a confidence threshold (e.g. 50%) for automatic category assignment. Now whenever you publish a new post, the plugin will analyze the content and assign appropriate categories from your existing list.
You can also use the "One-Time Tagging" feature to bulk tag existing posts. Just select the posts you want to tag and click "Auto Assign" to instantly categorize them.
While AI tagging isn‘t perfect, it can save you a lot of time and ensure a basic level of consistency in your content organization. Just be sure to review the results and make any necessary tweaks.
Wrapping Up
Categories are a major part of your WordPress site structure, so it pays to enhance them with the right hacks and plugins. With the tips in this post, you can:
- Make your category pages more engaging with images, search, and related posts
- Allow visitors to follow categories via email and RSS
- Restrict access to premium or personalized categories
- Customize the appearance of category pages with unique templates
- Save time organizing content with bulk editing and AI tools
- And much more!
I encourage you to implement a few of these category hacks and see how they improve the user experience and performance of your site. Do you have any other category tips to share? Let me know in the comments!
