Want to transform your existing WordPress categories into powerful custom taxonomies? Categories and tags are the default tools for organizing content, but custom taxonomies provide greater flexibility for complex sites. In this expert guide, we'll walk you through a straightforward method to migrate categories seamlessly—no manual post edits required.
WordPress uses categories and tags as its built-in taxonomies to group and classify content by topics.
Beyond these defaults, you can create custom taxonomies tailored to specific post types or custom post types. For deeper insights, see our detailed article on when to use custom post types or taxonomies in WordPress.
As your site scales, repurposing categories into a custom taxonomy saves time. Imagine a 'Topics' category with numerous subcategories—reassigning every post individually would be tedious.
Fortunately, you can bulk-convert categories to a new taxonomy efficiently.
Start by installing and activating the Taxonomy Switcher plugin. Refer to our step-by-step guide on installing WordPress plugins for details.
Once activated, head to Tools » Taxonomy Switcher in your WordPress dashboard.
Select 'Categories' as the source taxonomy and 'Topics' (or your custom one) as the target.
Click 'Change Taxonomies' to convert all categories at once. You'll get a confirmation message upon success.
For specific categories, enter their IDs in the Comma separated list of term IDs to change field. Learn how in our guide on finding category IDs in WordPress.
To exclude child terms, add parent category IDs in the 'Limit taxonomy change to child terms of a specific parent' option. Hit 'Change Taxonomy' to apply.
Post-conversion, old category URLs will trigger 404 errors. If your site is live, this risks losing SEO traffic from indexed pages.
Redirect visitors to the new taxonomy archives instead.
Install and activate the Redirection plugin (see our plugin installation guide).
Go to Tools » Redirection. Enter /category/.* as the Source URL and your custom taxonomy base as the Target, e.g., /topics/$1.
Enable the 'Regex' checkbox and click 'Add Redirect'. This handles all category traffic—use only if ditching categories entirely.
For individual redirects, follow our beginner's guide to WordPress redirects.
This process ensures a smooth transition. Next, explore how to style individual categories differently in WordPress for custom taxonomy templates.
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