Complete Guide to Creating a Custom WordPress Categories Template (2023)

Are you looking for a way to create custom categories on your WordPress site?

Categories are an essential part of every website because they help organize your content and make it easier for visitors to find what they are looking for. When a site visitor clicks on a specific category on your site, they’ll get taken to a dedicated category page where they can view all of the content related to that category.

WordPress themes typically have built-in templates to showcase your category pages, but not all themes handle your category pages equally well, which is why you may want to create a WordPress category template of your own or tweak the way your content is displayed.

Depending on your website, you might even want to customize the way each category page looks, which means you’ll need to amend or create a new category template. This article will show you how to create a custom category page in WordPress.

Why would you want to create a custom WordPress categories template?

Your WordPress theme will determine the way your default categories page template looks – and it may not be to your taste or even suited to your content.

You may find yourself in a position where you’d like to keep your theme, but you want to change one element on your categories page. Here’s where creating a custom category page in WordPress comes into play. You may want to: 

• Add a banner image above the category list 
• Add an image next to each category title to improve navigation and discoverability
• Redesigning the category list
• Add features like drop-down menus to select different categories or sub-categories 
• Change the colors of the category list or add a background image
• Display different category lists on different pages of your website
• Add a description of specific categories on their site 
• Change a selected category template to look different from the others

Ultimately, customizing your categories template can help you improve the look and feel of your website and can help you improve the user experience of your website since users will have a better time searching for content by category.

But the usefulness of a custom categories template doesn’t end there.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) benefits

Custom templates allow you to optimize your category pages for search engines and improve the user experience, which can positively impact your search engine rankings. Let’s unpack this.

• Improved on-page SEO: Custom templates enable you to optimize the on-page SEO elements, such as meta titles, meta descriptions, and header tags, for each category. This can help search engines understand the content and relevance of your category pages better.
• Content organization: Custom templates allow you to structure category pages in a way that makes sense for your specific content. Organized categories help users and search engines navigate your site more easily.
• Keyword optimization: You can target specific keywords and phrases for each category, optimizing the content, headings, and meta information accordingly, which can help your category pages rank higher for relevant search queries.
• Schema markup: Schema markup can provide search engines with additional information about your content, potentially leading to rich snippets in search results, which can improve click-through rates. Custom category templates make this easy.
• Faster loading speed: By designing a custom template with performance in mind, you can ensure that your categories page loads quickly. Page speed is a known ranking factor for search engines, and a faster website can provide a better user experience.
• Mobile responsiveness: Custom templates allow you to create a responsive design that works well on mobile devices. Since mobile-friendliness is a significant SEO factor, this can positively impact your search rankings.
• Canonicalization: Custom templates give you control over how category page URLs are structured. You can set canonical tags to prevent duplicate content issues and indicate which version of a page should be indexed by search engines.
• Structured data: Custom templates can make it easier to implement structured data for specific categories, enabling you to provide more detailed information about your content, which can enhance search engine visibility and boost rankings.

It’s important to note that while custom templates can provide these SEO benefits, the actual impact on your website’s search rankings may vary depending on various factors, including the quality of your content, the competitiveness of your niche, and the overall SEO strategy. 

Custom templates are just one element of a comprehensive SEO strategy, so it’s essential to combine them with other best practices, such as high-quality content and backlink building, to maximize your SEO efforts.

Other advantages

• Design control: With a custom template, you have full control over the design and layout of your category archive pages. You can create a unique and visually appealing design that aligns with your website’s branding and style.
• Improved user experience: Custom templates allow you to tailor the user experience to meet the specific needs of your audience. You can display category-specific information, related posts, or additional navigation options to help users find content more easily. A positive user experience can even lower bounce rates and boost engagement, which can indirectly affect your SEO.
• Content highlighting: You can showcase featured or popular posts within a category, making it easier for users to discover important or trending content within that category.
• Consistency: Custom templates ensure consistency throughout your site. You can maintain a consistent look and feel for category archives, which contributes to a cohesive user experience.
• Custom widgets and features: You can add custom widgets, features, or calls to action specific to each category, enhancing engagement and conversions. For example, you could include category-specific subscription forms or product recommendations.
• Load time optimization: By designing a template optimized for performance, you can ensure that your category pages load quickly, which can improve user satisfaction and SEO.
• Adaptation to niche sites: If you run a niche website with unique content and requirements for different categories, custom templates can help tailor the design and functionality to suit those niches.
• Better analytics: Custom templates can provide better insights into user behavior within specific categories, allowing you to make data-driven decisions for content and website improvements.
• Monetization opportunities: If your website relies on advertising or affiliate marketing, custom templates can help you strategically place ads or affiliate links on category pages, potentially increasing revenue.
• Enhanced branding: Custom templates allow you to emphasize your brand within category pages, helping to reinforce your brand identity.

How to Create a Custom Categories Template in WordPress

Now that you’ve grasped the importance of a customer categories template for your site, It’s time to get to take action.

We’re going to show you how to use different methods to create a custom categories page in WordPress. Some of these will be more complex than others, depending on your technical knowledge.

Please note that before doing any modifications, make sure to back up your entire site before you do anything, just in case something breaks by accident. It’s also good practice to use a child theme instead of editing your actual theme files.

Method 1: Modifying template files

WordPress generates individual category pages for all of your categories, which generates a URL like this: https://example.com/category/fashion

First, determine which page in the template Hierarchy you want to change.

WordPress looks for a template in a pre-defined hierarchical order: category-slug.php → category-id.php → category.php → archive.php → index.php.

WordPress will look for each of these files in turn when trying to load a category page, and if it can’t find it, it moves up the hierarchy. It will start with a category-slug template first (e.g., category-fashion.php) in the above example. 

If it can’t find a category-slug template, it will move up the hierarchy to find a template with the category ID number (e.g., category-2.php). After that, it will look for a generic category template called category.php. 

If WordPress can’t find a generic category, it will look for an archive template like archive.php. If that doesn’t exist, it moves to index.php to display the category. 

If you want to alter a specific category template, you’ll need to:

1. Identify the Category ID and amend the category-id.php file or use the slug to make your edits or additions.
2. Alter the category.php file to amend the template for all categories while also using conditional tags within the category.php file to edit the template for one specific category without having to create individual files. We’ll show you how to do this later on.
3. Locate the correct file you want by going into WordPress > Appearance > Themes > Theme File Editor. From the list of theme files on the right, click on category.php. If you can’t find the category.php file there, look for the archive.php or index.php files.

1. You can create any missing files you want (such as category-slug.php) using SFTP. 

If you’ve followed these steps but can’t locate the correct file, you are probably using a WordPress Theme Framework, so these tips won’t apply to you. 

If you can find the files above, copy the contents into a text editor to make amendments. You can make edits directly in WordPress, but that could easily break your whole site with a PHP error, so it’s not recommended. It’s best to download the file from SFTP and then upload the amended version. 

The way you upload the new file back to WordPress will depend on your host’s file management system. Managed hosts may have a custom dashboard where you can upload files, while other hosts may offer a common file manager like cPanel. FTP is a common option for uploading files to your WordPress backend. 

Most well-managed WordPress hosts, like Kinsta, will have a staging feature where you can upload your amended categories template file and see whether you implemented the changes correctly. If your host offers this feature, you should always use it just to be on the safe side. 

Connect to your WordPress host using your FTP client, and then upload your amended category-slug.php file to the theme directly. Any changes you’ve made to your template will only appear on this category’s archive page. 

If you use this method, you can create templates for as many categories as you want; just make sure to name your field correctly.

Here are a few ways you can edit your category pages:

Adding Text Above Posts

If you want to add static text above your posts (e.g., text that stays the same, regardless of which posts are displayed below), you need to add the following code snippet above the Loop section of your Template file: 

<p>
This is some text that will display at the top of the Category page.
</p>

Adding the Category Name on the Top of the Page 

If this isn’t already part of your template, you can add this code above the Loop: 

<p>Category: <?php single_cat_title(); ?></p>

Displaying Images Linked to Full Posts

If you want to replace post content with images that link to full posts, you need to put featured images into the Excerpt Sections of your post. Then put this code in the template instead of the _content: 

<a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>">
<?php the_excerpt_rss(); ?>
</a>

Method 2: Adding Conditional Tags 

Whenever you create templates for your theme, you should determine whether or not you really need a separate template to do what you want to do. Sometimes the changes you’ve envisioned aren’t too complicated, and you can implement them by adding conditional tags inside a generic template (e.g., category.php). 

Conditional tags can be used in your template files to change which content is displayed and how that content is displayed on a particular page, depending on what conditions are matched to that page.

You can use the conditional tag method for various scenarios, such as: 

• Displaying a line of text only for a particular category.
• Showing a number of posts for a particular category.
• Showing the oldest content first for a particular category.

WordPress supports several conditional tags, e.g., the is_category() tag. You can use this to change templates to display a different output if the condition is matched. 

For example, if you have a category on your site called “Fashion”, you can add the is_category(‘Fashion’) to your template file and then use additional code to determine what should happen when this category is selected. This could include displaying a picture of a dress or fashion week on this category page. 

Here’s a step-by-step tutorial on how to do this:

1. From your WordPress admin panel, go to Appearance and select Theme File Editor. If you’re using a Block Theme, then navigate to Tools > Theme File Editor instead.
2. On the right-hand side, you will see a list of template files within your theme. Select the template file where you want to add the conditional tags. For this tutorial, we’ll use the category.php file. If you can’t find it, just create it.
3. Inside category.php, locate the area where you want to insert the conditional tags. These tags should be placed in the appropriate location to control the display of content based on certain conditions.
4. Add your conditional tag. For example, if you want to check if the category is ‘Fashion’, you can use the is_category(‘Fashion’) conditional tag. Here’s an example of how you can use it:

This code will only execute the code within the first block if the category is ‘Fashion’; otherwise, it will execute the code in the else block or any other code you specify.

5. Save your changes by clicking the Update File button at the bottom.
6. Test your changes by visiting your website and navigating to the category you applied the conditional tag to (in this case, ‘Fashion’). Make sure that the conditional code works as expected and that the default code is displayed for other categories.

That’s it! You’ve successfully added conditional tags to your WordPress theme template.

Method 3 (Recommend): Use Codeable

Both of these methods are doable if you are quite tech-savvy. The advantage of coding yourself is that you can customize your category templates to look exactly the way you want them to.  However, if you aren’t familiar with coding, it’s probably best not to experiment with making changes on your own. 

You can use the WordPress site editor as a quick fix, but it’s very limited in what you can do, and you probably won’t be able to create a category page that meets your exact specifications. 

The best solution is to use Codeable, a WordPress freelancer platform. Codeable makes finding and hiring a WordPress developer accessible and affordable for everyone, so you can easily find a developer with the knowledge and experience to modify your categories page templates as well as other areas of your store, such as customizing your WooCommerce shop page. 

Codeable only uses vetted WordPress freelancers, which you can access in three easy steps: brief, connect, and collaborate. 

To use Codeable, visit the site and submit your project by describing what you need. It takes an average of 3-5 hours to hear back from Codeable. At this point, you’ll be matched with 1-5 WordPress developers who can complete your project for you. 

You can chat with each developer to see which one is the best fit for your project. You’ll receive a single price estimate, which makes it easier to make a hiring decision based on quality (rather than choosing the cheapest option right away). 

The developer you choose will create a custom category page in WordPress according to your exacting standards.

Quick solutions for some creating custom WordPress categories template issues

Design and layout

Designing a custom layout that aligns with your site’s aesthetics and user preferences can be challenging, especially if you lack design skills.

Solution: Utilize page builder plugins like Elementor or Divi, which provide a visual interface for designing custom page layouts without needing extensive coding or design expertise.

Displaying category content

Displaying posts, images, and other content from specific categories in an attractive way requires customized templates and queries.

Solution: Create custom templates for category pages (e.g., category.php) and use custom queries to fetch and display category-specific content. Plugins like Category Posts Widget or Content Views simplify the process of showing posts.

Custom styling

Ensuring that your custom categories page matches your site’s design might require additional CSS work.

Solution: Create custom CSS to style the elements on your categories page, such as fonts, colors, and layout. Many themes also offer options to customize the styling through the WordPress Customizer.

Navigation

Implementing user-friendly navigation to help visitors explore your categories can be complex.

Solution: Add category links to your main navigation menu. Additionally, you can employ sidebar menus, breadcrumbs, or custom widgets to guide users efficiently through your categories.

Performance

Fetching and displaying category-specific content can slow down your site’s performance.

Solution: Optimize your site for speed by using caching plugins, optimizing images, and ensuring efficient code. Consider implementing lazy loading for images to improve load times.

SEO

Ensuring your custom categories page is SEO-friendly involves optimizing titles, meta descriptions, and SEO settings.

Solution: Install an SEO plugin like Yoast SEO or Rank Math to optimize category page SEO settings. Use descriptive titles, meta descriptions, and alt text for images.

Mobile responsiveness

Making your custom categories page look and function well on mobile devices is essential for user experience.

Solution: Use responsive design techniques in your custom page’s layout. WordPress themes with built-in mobile responsiveness help ensure that your content adapts to various screen sizes.

Dynamic content

Displaying dynamic content within categories, such as featured or recent posts, can be problematic.

Solution: Implement custom queries in your category templates to display dynamic content. Alternatively, use plugins like Category Posts Widget to showcase recent posts within specific categories.

User experience

Providing a seamless user experience requires optimizing load times and navigation.

Solution: Continuously test and optimize your categories page for user experience. Minimize page load times, simplify navigation, and gather user feedback for improvements.

Content updates

Managing and updating content within categories can be time-consuming.

Solution: Create templates that automate the process of displaying and updating content from specific categories. Regularly update and curate category content to keep it fresh and relevant.

Compatibility issues

Custom code or plugins may conflict with your theme or other plugins, leading to compatibility issues.

Solution: Keep WordPress, themes, and plugins up to date. Test your custom categories page after each update to identify and resolve compatibility issues.

Security

Custom pages can be vulnerable to security threats if not properly secured.

Solution: Ensure your WordPress installation is secure with strong passwords, two-factor authentication, and security plugins like Wordfence. Regularly update themes, plugins, and WordPress core to patch security vulnerabilities.

By addressing these challenges with the provided solutions, you can create a custom WordPress categories page that not only looks good but also functions efficiently and offers a positive user experience.

Create a custom WordPress categories page with Codeable

If you want to improve the UX of your site, encourage visitors to check out specific content, or just improve upon a less-than-ideal default template design, you will need to create a custom category page for your WordPress.org site at one stage or another. 

This is especially important if you like the WordPress theme but don’t like the categories template – your only option is to create a custom template. 

If you are confident in your coding skills, you can make these edits yourself. But if you are a novice, Codeable is the best way to find WordPress developers at an affordable rate to build custom pages for your categories.

Your WordPress developer will create a template that looks exactly the way you want it to look. There’s no risk of causing a code error that will crash or destroy your page entirely. 

Why not submit your project and get your free quote today? You’re just a few steps away from getting a custom categories page that fits your exact requirements.