{"id":14105,"date":"2019-01-20T09:41:09","date_gmt":"2019-01-20T09:41:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/tutorials\/?p=14105"},"modified":"2025-08-28T03:42:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T03:42:12","slug":"wordpress-taxonomy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/tutorials\/wordpress-taxonomy","title":{"rendered":"What is WordPress taxonomy and how to create custom ones?"},"content":{"rendered":"

WordPress taxonomy is a grouping mechanism for all of your content. In short, it allows you to group your posts based on shared characteristics. <\/span><\/p>

Let’s say that you have a website about movies. Chances are you want to group the movies based on genre. Taxonomies allow you to do just that, thus helping users to navigate your site.<\/span><\/p>

Although the term “Taxonomy” does come from biology, in this article, we will explain what WordPress Taxonomy is, what Custom Taxonomies are, and how to create them.<\/span><\/p>

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What is WordPress taxonomy?<\/h2>

WordPress Taxonomy is a way of grouping and organizing content types into categories and tags, making it easier for users to navigate a website. Taxonomies in WordPress include categories, tags, and custom taxonomies, which can be customized to meet specific website needs.<\/p>

Types of WordPress taxonomies<\/h3>

In total, there are four taxonomies in WordPress<\/a> that you can use to group your posts.<\/span> Let’s take a look at each one.<\/span><\/p>

1. Category<\/b><\/h4>

The category taxonomy in WordPress lets you group your post into hierarchical categories. There are two different ways to group your posts via Categories.<\/p>

The first way is to log in to your Dashboard and head to <\/span>Posts<\/b> -> <\/span>Categories<\/b>. There, you can define your categories, as well as add in the WordPress slug<\/a> and define child categories.  <\/span><\/p>

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Adding categories and setting the parent-child relation.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>

The second option is to head to <\/span>Posts<\/b> -> <\/span>Add New<\/b>. You can add multiple categories directly from the panel next to your visual editor. While it is the easier option, it doesn’t let you define the slug and description.<\/span><\/p>

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2. Tag<\/b><\/h4>

Tags are similar to categories – it groups your posts. However, a tag is different from a category<\/a> as it doesn’t have a hierarchical structure.<\/span><\/p>

A tag is a single parameter that puts your similar posts together, but it focuses on smaller details of your content, rather than overall themes.<\/span><\/p>

Let’s say that you want to create genres and subgenres for your movie WordPress site. You can do that by using category like taxonomy, as it supports hierarchical structure. If you want to group movies of any genre with Brad Pitt as the main star, you can add tags.<\/span><\/p>

Creating WordPress tags<\/a> is similar to creating categories. You can do it either from <\/span>Posts<\/b> -> <\/span>Tags <\/b>or panel next to the visual editor. Slug and description can also be defined.<\/span><\/p>

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Adding tags from the visual editor<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>

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Pro Tip<\/h4>\n

While tags are optional, categories are mandatory for your posts. Every post needs at least one category. By default, WordPress will automatically put your post under “Uncategorized” category.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/p>

The other 2 taxonomies are not visible to visitors. Although rarely used, they are still worth mentioning.<\/span><\/p>