How to Modify WooCommerce Breadcrumbs for Custom Category Pages
As an e-commerce business owner using WordPress and WooCommerce, having a well-structured and informative breadcrumb navigation is crucial for enhancing the user experience on your website. Breadcrumbs not only help users understand their current location within your site's hierarchy but also provide a convenient way for them to navigate back to higher-level categories or the homepage.
However, the default WooCommerce breadcrumbs may not always align with the structure of your custom category pages. In this article, we'll dive into the process of modifying the WooCommerce breadcrumbs to fit your specific needs, ensuring a seamless and intuitive browsing experience for your customers.
Understanding WooCommerce Breadcrumbs
WooCommerce, the popular e-commerce plugin for WordPress, comes with a built-in breadcrumb functionality that displays the current location of the user within your online store. By default, the breadcrumb trail follows the standard WooCommerce product hierarchy, which includes the shop page, product categories, and the individual product page.
The default WooCommerce breadcrumb structure looks something like this:
Home > Shop > Product Category > Product Name
While this default structure works well for many e-commerce stores, there may be situations where you need to customize the breadcrumbs to match your unique category structure or display additional information.
Overriding the WooCommerce Breadcrumbs
To modify the WooCommerce breadcrumbs, you'll need to override the default behavior by creating a custom breadcrumb template in your WordPress theme. Here's how you can do it:
-
Locate the WooCommerce Breadcrumb Template: In your WordPress theme, navigate to the woocommerce/global/
directory and locate the breadcrumb.php
file. This is the template file that controls the display of the WooCommerce breadcrumbs.
-
Create a Custom Breadcrumb Template: To override the default breadcrumb template, you'll need to create a new file in your theme's woocommerce/global/
directory and name it breadcrumb.php
. This file will contain your custom breadcrumb code.
-
Customize the Breadcrumb Code: Open the breadcrumb.php
file in your text editor and begin modifying the code to suit your needs. Here's an example of how you can customize the breadcrumbs for a custom category page:
<?php
/**
* Shop breadcrumb
*
* This template can be overridden by copying it to yourtheme/woocommerce/global/breadcrumb.php.
*
* HOWEVER, on occasion WooCommerce will need to update template files and you
* (the theme developer) will need to copy the new files to your theme to
* maintain compatibility. We try to do this as little as possible, but it does
* happen. When this occurs the version of the template file will be bumped and
* the readme will list any important changes.
*
* @see https://docs.woocommerce.com/document/template-structure/
* @package WooCommerce\Templates
* @version 2.3.0
* @see woocommerce_breadcrumb()
*/
if ( ! defined( 'ABSPATH' ) ) {
exit;
}
if ( ! empty( $breadcrumb ) ) {
echo $wrap_before;
foreach ( $breadcrumb as $key => $crumb ) {
echo $before;
if ( ! empty( $crumb[1] ) && sizeof( $breadcrumb ) !== $key + 1 ) {
echo '<a href="' . esc_url( $crumb[1] ) . '">' . esc_html( $crumb[0] ) . '</a>';
} else {
echo esc_html( $crumb[0] );
}
echo $after;
if ( sizeof( $breadcrumb ) !== $key + 1 ) {
echo $delimiter;
}
}
echo $wrap_after;
}
In this example, we've modified the breadcrumb code to include a custom category page. Specifically, we've added a new crumb element that displays the custom category name and a corresponding link.
// Add custom category breadcrumb
if (is_tax('product_cat')) {
$term = get_queried_object();
$breadcrumb[] = array($term->name, get_term_link($term));
}
This code checks if the current page is a custom product category page (using the is_tax()
function) and then adds a new crumb element to the breadcrumb array with the custom category name and a link to the category page.
- Save the Custom Breadcrumb Template: After making your modifications, save the
breadcrumb.php
file in your theme's woocommerce/global/
directory.
Now, whenever a user navigates to a custom category page on your WooCommerce-powered website, the breadcrumb trail will include the custom category information, providing a more accurate and user-friendly navigation experience.
Enhancing the Breadcrumb Trail
While the basic modification of the WooCommerce breadcrumbs is now complete, you can further enhance the user experience by incorporating additional customizations. Here are a few ideas:
- Display the Current Page's Title: In addition to the custom category information, you can also display the title of the current page as the final breadcrumb element. This helps users quickly identify their exact location on your website.
// Add current page title as the final breadcrumb
if (is_tax('product_cat')) {
$breadcrumb[] = array(get_the_title(), '');
}
- Adjust the Breadcrumb Separator: The default breadcrumb separator used by WooCommerce is the right-pointing angle bracket (
>
). You can change this to a different symbol or style to match the branding and design of your WordPress website.
// Customize the breadcrumb separator
$delimiter = ' / ';
- Improve Accessibility: Ensure that your custom breadcrumb trail is accessible to users with disabilities by adding appropriate ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) attributes. This includes adding
aria-label
attributes to the breadcrumb container and individual crumb elements.
// Add ARIA attributes for accessibility
$wrap_before = '<nav class="woocommerce-breadcrumb" aria-label="breadcrumbs">';
$before = '<span class="breadcrumb-item">';
$after = '</span>';
- Optimize for Search Engines: Breadcrumbs can also be beneficial for search engine optimization (SEO) by providing additional context about the structure and hierarchy of your website. Make sure to include relevant keywords in your custom breadcrumb elements to help search engines better understand the content of your pages.
By implementing these additional customizations, you can create a more polished and user-friendly breadcrumb navigation system that enhances the overall experience for your WooCommerce website visitors.
Conclusion
Modifying the WooCommerce breadcrumbs for custom category pages is a straightforward process that can significantly improve the user experience on your e-commerce website. By following the steps outlined in this article, you can easily override the default breadcrumb template and customize the breadcrumb trail to match your unique category structure.
Remember, a well-designed and informative breadcrumb navigation can help your customers quickly understand their location within your website, making it easier for them to navigate and find the products they're looking for. By taking the time to optimize your WooCommerce breadcrumbs, you're investing in a more intuitive and user-friendly shopping experience that can ultimately lead to increased conversions and customer satisfaction.
If you're looking for a comprehensive platform to help you identify and address technical issues that may be impacting your website's conversion rates, consider exploring Flowpoint.ai. Flowpoint's AI-powered analytics and recommendation engine can provide valuable insights and actionable suggestions to help you optimize your e-commerce website and drive more successful outcomes
Get a Free AI Website Audit
Automatically identify UX and content issues affecting your conversion rates with Flowpoint's comprehensive AI-driven website audit.