How to Create Custom Taxonomies in WordPress

Organizing your WordPress content is easy with categories and tags. But sometimes, they aren’t enough to organize everything the way you want. That’s where custom taxonomies come in.

With custom taxonomies, you can create your own ways to sort and group content. This gives you more control and flexibility over how your posts, products, or any other content are categorized.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to create custom taxonomies in WordPress, whether you use a plugin or prefer to do it manually.

What is a WordPress Taxonomy?

A WordPress taxonomy is a way to organize groups of posts and custom post types.

By default, WordPress comes with 2 taxonomies called categories and tags. You can use them to organize your blog posts.

However, if you use a custom post type, then categories and tags may not look suitable for all content.

For instance, you can create a custom post type called ‘Books’ and sort it using a custom taxonomy called ‘Topics.’ Then, you can add topic terms like ‘Adventure,’ ‘Romance,’ ‘Horror,’ and other book topics you want.

This would allow you and your readers to easily sort and filter books by each topic.

Taxonomies can also be hierarchical, meaning that you can have main or parent topics like ‘Fiction’ and ‘Nonfiction.’ Then, you’d have subtopics, or children, under each category.

For example, the parent category ‘Fiction’ could have ‘Adventure,’ ‘Romance,’ and ‘Horror’ as children.

Now that you know what a custom taxonomy is, let’s learn how to create custom taxonomies in WordPress.

While creating custom taxonomies is powerful, there’s a lot to cover. To help you set this up properly, we have created an easy table of contents below:

Ready? Let’s get started!

Creating Custom Taxonomies With A Plugin (The Easy Way)

The first thing you need to do is install and activate the Custom Post Type UI plugin. For details, see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

In this tutorial, we’ve already created a custom post type and called it ‘Books.’ So make sure you have a custom post type created before you begin creating your taxonomies.

Next, let’s head over to CPT UI » Add/Edit Taxonomies in the WordPress admin area to create your first taxonomy.

On this screen, you will need to do the following:

• Create your taxonomy slug (this will go in your URL)
• Create the plural label
• Create the singular label
• Auto-populate labels

Your first step is to create a slug for the taxonomy to use in the URL and in WordPress search queries. Do note that a slug can only contain letters and numbers, and it will automatically be converted to lowercase letters.

Next, you will fill in the plural and singular names for your custom taxonomy.

From there, you have the option to click on the link ‘Populate additional labels based on chosen labels.’ If you do this, then the plugin will auto-fill in the rest of the label fields for you.

Now, you can scroll down to the ‘Additional Labels’ section.

In this area, you can provide a description of your post type.

These labels are used in your WordPress dashboard when you edit and manage content for that particular custom taxonomy.

Next up, we have the settings option. In this area, you can set up different attributes for each taxonomy you create. Each option has a description detailing what it does.

In the screenshot above, you’ll see we chose to make this taxonomy hierarchical.

This means our taxonomy ‘Subjects’ can have sub-topics. For instance, a subject called ‘Fiction’ can have sub-topics like ‘Fantasy,’ ‘Thriller,’ ‘Mystery,’ and more.

There are many other settings further down your screen in your WordPress dashboard, but you can leave them as-is for this tutorial.

You can now click on the ‘Add Taxonomy’ button at the bottom to save your custom taxonomy.

After that, you can edit the post type associated with this taxonomy in the WordPress content editor to start using it.

Creating Custom Taxonomies Manually (with Code)

This method requires you to add code to your WordPress website. If you have not done it before, then we recommend reading our guide on how to easily add code snippets in WordPress.

We don’t recommend directly editing your WordPress files because any tiny mistake can break your entire site. That’s why we recommend that everyone use WPCode, the easiest and safest code snippet plugin available.

To begin, you will need to install and activate the free WPCode plugin. For detailed instructions, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

1. Creating a Hierarchical Taxonomy

Let’s start with a hierarchical taxonomy that works like categories and can have parent and child terms.

Once you’ve installed and activated WPCode, you can navigate to Code Snippets » Add Snippet in your WordPress dashboard.

From here, you can hover your mouse over ‘Add Your Custom Code (New Snippet)’ and click ‘Use Snippet.’

Next, you will be taken to the ‘Create Custom Snippet’ page.

Simply name your new code snippet and paste the following code into the text area:

//hook into the init action and call create_book_taxonomies when it fires
 
add_action( 'init', 'create_subjects_hierarchical_taxonomy', 0 );
 
//create a custom taxonomy name it subjects for your posts
 
function create_subjects_hierarchical_taxonomy() {
 
// Add new taxonomy, make it hierarchical like categories
//first do the translations part for GUI
 
  $labels = array(
    'name' => _x( 'Subjects', 'taxonomy general name' ),
    'singular_name' => _x( 'Subject', 'taxonomy singular name' ),
    'search_items' =>  __( 'Search Subjects' ),
    'all_items' => __( 'All Subjects' ),
    'parent_item' => __( 'Parent Subject' ),
    'parent_item_colon' => __( 'Parent Subject:' ),
    'edit_item' => __( 'Edit Subject' ), 
    'update_item' => __( 'Update Subject' ),
    'add_new_item' => __( 'Add New Subject' ),
    'new_item_name' => __( 'New Subject Name' ),
    'menu_name' => __( 'Subjects' ),
  );    
 
// Now register the taxonomy
  register_taxonomy('subjects',array('books'), array(
    'hierarchical' => true,
    'labels' => $labels,
    'show_ui' => true,
    'show_in_rest' => true,
    'show_admin_column' => true,
    'query_var' => true,
    'rewrite' => array( 'slug' => 'subject' ),
  ));
 
}

Be sure to change the ‘Code Type’ to ‘PHP Snippet’ and toggle the switch to ‘Active.’

Then, you can go ahead and click ‘Save Snippet.’

Don’t forget to replace the taxonomy name and labels in the snippet with your own taxonomy labels. You will also notice that this taxonomy is associated with the Books post type. You’ll need to change that to whatever post type you want to use it with.

Next, you’ll want to scroll down and be sure that ‘Auto Insert’ and ‘Run Everywhere’ are selected in the Insertion box.

Once that’s done, you can scroll back to the top and click the ‘Update’ button to push your changes live.

2. Creating a Non-hierarchical Taxonomy

To create a non-hierarchical custom taxonomy like tags, you will use WPCode and follow the exact same steps as above.

Only, you will use this code instead:

//hook into the init action and call create_topics_nonhierarchical_taxonomy when it fires
 
add_action( 'init', 'create_topics_nonhierarchical_taxonomy', 0 );
 
function create_topics_nonhierarchical_taxonomy() {
 
// Labels part for the GUI
 
  $labels = array(
    'name' => _x( 'Topics', 'taxonomy general name' ),
    'singular_name' => _x( 'Topic', 'taxonomy singular name' ),
    'search_items' =>  __( 'Search Topics' ),
    'popular_items' => __( 'Popular Topics' ),
    'all_items' => __( 'All Topics' ),
    'parent_item' => null,
    'parent_item_colon' => null,
    'edit_item' => __( 'Edit Topic' ), 
    'update_item' => __( 'Update Topic' ),
    'add_new_item' => __( 'Add New Topic' ),
    'new_item_name' => __( 'New Topic Name' ),
    'separate_items_with_commas' => __( 'Separate topics with commas' ),
    'add_or_remove_items' => __( 'Add or remove topics' ),
    'choose_from_most_used' => __( 'Choose from the most used topics' ),
    'menu_name' => __( 'Topics' ),
  ); 
 
// Now register the non-hierarchical taxonomy like tag
 
  register_taxonomy('topics','books',array(
    'hierarchical' => false,
    'labels' => $labels,
    'show_ui' => true,
    'show_in_rest' => true,
    'show_admin_column' => true,
    'update_count_callback' => '_update_post_term_count',
    'query_var' => true,
    'rewrite' => array( 'slug' => 'topic' ),
  ));
}

Notice the difference between the 2 code snippets. Under the register_taxonomy() function, the value for the hierarchical argument is set to true for the category-like taxonomy and false for tags-like taxonomies.

Also, in the labels array for non-hierarchical taxonomies, we have added null for the parent_item and parent_item_colon arguments, which means that nothing will be shown in the UI to create a parent item or taxonomy that can have sub-topics.

Again, be sure to edit the code to include your own custom taxonomy labels.

Displaying Custom Taxonomies

Now that we have created custom taxonomies and have added a few terms, your WordPress theme will still not display them.

To display them, you’ll need to add code to your WordPress theme or child theme. Specifically, this code must be added to template files where you want to display the terms.

You can manually add this snippet to your theme files, such as single.php, content.php, archive.php, or index.php. To figure out which file you need to edit, you can see our guide to WordPress template hierarchy for step-by-step instructions.

However, if not done correctly, this can break your site, so we once again recommend using the free WPCode plugin.

You will need to add the following code where you want to display the terms:

<?php the_terms( $post->ID, 'topics', 'Topics: ', ', ', ' ' ); ?>

Then, you can simply follow the steps above to paste the snippet into WPCode.

But under Insertion, you want to click the dropdown next to ‘Location’ and select where you want to display the taxonomy, such as before the post, after it, or even between paragraphs.

For this tutorial, we will select ‘Insert After Post.’

You can see in the image below how it will appear on your live site.

Adding Taxonomies For Custom Posts

Now that you know how to create custom taxonomies, let’s put them to use with an example.

We’re going to create a taxonomy and call it ‘Non-fiction.’ Since we have a custom post type named ‘Books,’ it’s similar to how you’d create a regular blog post.

In your WordPress dashboard, you can navigate to Books » Subjects to add a term or subject.

On this screen, you’ll see 4 areas:

• Name
• Slug
• Parent
• Description

In the name field, you’ll write out the term you want to add. You can skip the slug part and provide a description for this particular term.

Lastly, click the ‘Add New Subject’ button to create your new taxonomy.

Your newly added term should then appear in the right column.

Now, you have a new term that you can use in your blog posts. You can also add terms directly while editing or writing content under that particular post type.

Simply go to Books » Add New to create a post.

In the post editor, you’ll find the option to select or create new terms from the right column.

After adding terms, you can go ahead and publish that content.

All your posts filed under that term will be accessible on your website using their own URL. For instance, posts filed under the ‘Fiction’ subject would appear at the following URL:

https://example.com/subject/fiction/

Adding Custom Taxonomies to the Navigation Menu

Now that you have created custom taxonomies, you may want to display them in your website’s navigation menu.

You’ll want to head over to Appearance » Menus and select the terms you wish to add under your custom taxonomy tab that appears on the left side of the screen.

Don’t forget to click on the ‘Save Menu’ button to save your settings.

You can now visit your website to see your menu in action.

For more details, you can refer to our step-by-step guide on how to create a dropdown menu in WordPress.

Video Tutorial

If you prefer to watch and learn how to create custom taxonomies, check out our video tutorial:

Bonus: Take WordPress Taxonomies Further

Custom taxonomies allow you to do tons of things. For instance, you can show them in a sidebar widget or add image icons for each term.

You can also for custom taxonomies and allow users to subscribe to individual terms. That way, your readers will only receive updates about the specific content that matters to them.

If you want to customize the layout of your custom taxonomy pages, then you can check out SeedProd. It’s the best drag-and-drop WordPress page builder and theme builder that allows you to create custom layouts without any coding.

To learn more, you can check out our article on how to create a custom page in WordPress.

We hope this article helped you learn how to create custom taxonomies in WordPress. You may also want to see our guides on how to add taxonomy images (category icons) in WordPress and how to properly change, move, and delete WordPress categories.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.