Categories organise related posts into collections that readers can browse. A small, clear category structure is easier to maintain than creating a new category for every article.
IN THIS ARTICLE
01 Plan names and hierarchy
Choose categories that describe recurring topics. For example, a company blog might use Product News and Tutorials, with a child category only when it adds a useful distinction. A category's name is its visible label; its slug is used in URLs. Changing an established slug may require redirect planning for links already shared publicly.
02 Create a category
- Open Posts > Categories using an account with permission to manage categories.
- Enter the category name and, if needed, a short readable slug. Leave the parent as None for a top-level category or choose an existing parent for a child category.
- Add a description where useful. Whether visitors see that description depends on your theme or archive template.
- Select Add New Category and confirm that the new entry appears in the list.
03 Assign posts and check the archive
Edit a relevant post, open its category settings, select the category and save or update the post. Existing posts can also be assigned through appropriate Quick Edit or bulk editing actions. Review the selection instead of automatically placing every post in every category.
Open the category archive after publishing at least one associated post. Check its title, post list and navigation access. Categories do not automatically appear in every menu; add a menu or Navigation block link if readers should reach the collection there.
Why does a category appear to be missing?
Check your permissions and whether you are editing a standard post rather than a page or custom content type. WordPress pages do not use post categories by default. Some widgets hide empty categories, so an unused category may exist in administration without appearing publicly. If the archive still shows older assignments, clear the relevant page cache after confirming the post changes were saved.