Categories – Do they all need to appear in the menu?

Hi Naomi, to answer your question:

I would like to know whether all the categories I create on my blog site need to appear in my Primary Menu at the top?

No. What you place on your menu is totally up to you. Most websites do not show all pages/categories etc. in their primary menu. Once again, its totally up to you as to what you want to place in your Primary Menu.

In terms of your second question. You can absolutely create additional categories (including parent/child categories) and place your blog posts in any category you think is logical.

Once again, you can create categories for your blog posts, and they will not show up in Primary Menu unless you choose to show them.

Thank you Tolga, but am I doing something useful by assigning extra categories to the post? Will it help in terms of SEO?

Hello Naomi. Then, I believe you are on the right track by assigning extra categories which is due to them being more meaningful to the visitor. So therefore an example would be:

Site is about Fashion > Clothes > Tops > you can place any Product Here.

Having said this: do keep in mind this critical factor about SEO.

You rank for individual URL’s and content that is found on those URL’s.

When you categorize your WordPress site, how it help SEO is to let search engines better “crawl, as in follow links” to understand the structure of your website.

So to simplify your question. Create logical categories and place your products accordingly. Then work on Product URL optimization (unique engaging content, image/s, Title, and anything else)

SEO Tip for you to consider as an example:

Title = PRODUCTNAME Custom Made T-Shirts – Clothes You’ll Love

image file name = PRODUCTNAME-tshirt-by-yourbrandname-clothes.jpg

Content: PRODUCTNAME etc. etc.

Having said this: I would keep things simple on the site in terms of categories. Because as your website grows it can be cumbersome to manage if there are too many multiple categories.

Site about Fashion:

category could be Clothes
category could be Tops
category could be T-shirts
category could be Casual > T-shirts
category could be Clothes > Casual
category could be Tops > Casual etc. etc.

Although you can place T-Shirts in any (or all) of these categories. Ideally, you must answer this question for SEO and search engine ranking.

Example: which keywords you really want to rank for. Is it:

Tshirt Tops PRODUCTNAME, OR

Casual Tops PRODUCTNAME, OR

Casual Tshirt PRODUCTNAME etc. etc.

Once you answer this, then, where to place Products/Pages/Posts become more easier.

Meaning, although you could target and rank multiple keywords. It is wise to place URL’s under a category accordingly to target keywords.

IF PRODUCTNAME was a tshirt for casual wear. Then, category could be:

casual-tops > tshirt > PRODUCTNAME

But its great that you are asking this question Naomi, because having the right foundation is better in the long term (also helps search rankings). I hope this clarifies the question and that your WordPress built site is destined for greatness online. SEO Tip: make sure to publish blog posts regularly because you can link back to your Product URL’s

For example:
Top Ten Custom Made T-Shirts Designs in 2021.

Share your insights….. include images, make it easy to share the post, and also ask readers to share the Blog Post. Within the content use keywords-to-internal-link back to yoursite DOT COM / casual-tops / tshirt / PRODUCTNAMEWHICHTHENISATSHIRT

Long term results and better rankings basically assured ??

Thank you so much for this details explanation Tolga.
I understand that more categories is a good thing but the only thing is, all of the categories I assign that one blog post will show:

a) at the top of the blog post on my Home Page and at the top of the blog post itself when you click into it

b) down the side bar on the Home Page where all the categories are listed

If I create lots of detailed categories such as Clothes-> T Shirts-> Casual, wont it be so much text everywhere? I don’t intend to have ‘Casual’ in my Primary Menu at the top of my Home Page. It will be Clothes as the parent, then T Shirt as a sub.
I hope Im making myself clear, Im new to all this so trying to get my head around it!