How to Include Category and Subcategory in WordPress URLs

Recently one of our readers asked us how
to include category and subcategory in
WordPress URLs. Categories and
subcategories allow you to sort content on
your website. They also allow your users
to easily browse the topics they are most interested in. In this article, we will show
you how to include category and
subcategory in WordPress URLs.

Including Category to SEO Friendly
URLs in WordPress

WordPress comes with two built-in taxonomies to sort your content. They are called categories and tags.

Categories are typically used for more
broader topics and can have subcategories.

However, if you are using the default WordPress URL structure , then your categories and subcategories are not
included in the post URLs.

Some websites use categories and
subcategories in WordPress URLs for their
posts. For example, at WPBeginner we
include category in the URLs of our posts
like this:

http:// http://www.wpbeginner.com/plugins/7-best-wordpress-backup-plugins-compared-pros-and-cons/

Some websites that use subcategories
display both parent and child categories in
the URL.

http://example.com/news/national/article-title-here/

In this example, news is the parent
category and national is the child category.

Including category or subcategory to your
post URLs makes them more user-friendly.
It matches the breadcrumb navigation on your site and it includes more keywords
and text which is also helpful for SEO.

Having said that, let’s see how to easily
add category and subcategory in
WordPress URLs.

Adding Category and Subcategory in
WordPress Post URLs

First, you need to visit Settings » Permalinks page in your WrodPress admin. There you need to click on the
‘custom structure’ option under
common settings area.

Next, you need to add /%c a t e g o r y %/%p o s t n ame%/ in the field next to custom structure.

After that, don’t forget to click on the
save changes button to store your settings.

That’s all WordPress will now start
including category and subcategory in
WordPress URLs. You can see this in action
by editing a post or creating a new one.

File that post under a category (and
subcategory if you use them) and click on
the update button.

You will notice category and subcategory
included in the post’s permalinks.

Using Multiple Categories or
Subcategories

Let’s suppose you file your blog posts
into multiple categories or subcategories.
WordPress will only include one category
and one subcategory in the URL. If you
didn’t choose a subcategory, then it will
only show one parent category.

WordPress chooses the category
alphabetically. For example, if you file a
post in Apple and Technology categories,
then WordPress will include apple in the
URL because it comes first in alphabetical
order.

h t t p : / / e x amp l e . c om/ a p p l e / a r t i c l e – t i t l e – h e r e /

If you file a post in ‘Apple’ and a
subcategory under that called
‘Technology’, then it will include both of
them in the URL.

h t t p : / / e x amp l e . c om/ a p p l e / t e c h n o l o g y / a r t i c l e – t i t l e – h e r e /

If you selected a subcategory but didn’t
specifically select parent category, then
WordPress will still include parent
category in the URL.

Another scenario is when you have a
parent category, subcategory, and a sub-
subcategory. WordPress will include all
three of them in the URL.

h t t p : / / e x amp l e . c om/ a p p l e / t e c h n o l o g y / e v e n t s / a r t i c l e – t i t l e – h e r e /

We hope this article helped you learn how
to include category and subcategory in
WordPress URLs.