Taxonomies in WordPress are a way to group posts based on specific relationships. By default, WordPress includes two standard taxonomies: Categories and Tags. These taxonomies are used to organize and classify content on your website, making it easier for visitors to find related posts. However, you can modify or add new taxonomies to suit your needs.
Taxonomies & Terms
In WordPress, taxonomies and terms have a parent-child relationship. Think of taxonomies as the parent and terms as the children. For example, if you have a taxonomy called “Recipes” for the “Food” post type, you can create multiple terms such as “Vegetarian,” “Fresh,” and “Easy Cooking.” This helps categorize your content into smaller, more focused chunks, making it easier to organize and navigate.
New Taxonomies & Terms
Starting from WordPress version 2.3, you can create custom taxonomies for your website or blog. This can be done with a small amount of code, allowing you to define specific taxonomies tailored to your content. Once the taxonomies are created, you can also add unlimited terms within the WordPress dashboard user interface.
Extending Taxonomies
Depending on your theme and plugins, you can extend the functionality of taxonomies and their terms. This allows you to enhance the categorization of your content. For instance, you can create taxonomy-specific templates in your theme to customize the display of posts belonging to a particular taxonomy. Additionally, you can add new filtering options in the WordPress dashboard, enabling you to search and filter posts based on specific taxonomies and terms.
By utilizing taxonomies effectively, you can organize and structure your content to improve navigation, discoverability, and user experience on your WordPress website.
