WooCommerce: Override Product Category Page Title

This is an interesting WooCommerce customization – as you know WordPress menus and widgets read whatever product category name and display it in the frontend.

Let’s say your product category title is “Tables”. This will show up in the navigation menu if you have set it up that way, in te breadcrumbs if you have any, in the sidebar category widgets, and as a title on the single product category page.

This is great and all, but what if your product category name is “Red Round Tables By Whatever Brandname“? As you can imagine, displaying this in a sidebar or navigation menu may be a little too much, while it’s fine to use it as a H1 on the single product category page for SEO reasons and enhanced readability.

So, the question is – how do we define an “alternative” product category name, so that this can be used on the product category page as custom title, while using the default one for other smaller locations such as menus and widgets?

Well, this is how it’s done – enjoy!

As you can see from this screenshot, I’ve assigned an alternative product category name of “Business Bloomer Club: A Private Community for WooCommerce Developers” to the “Business Bloomer Club” category. Now, the custom name appears as H1 on the single product category page, while the original name is preserved in the breadcrumbs, navigation menu items, sidebar widgets and product loop items.

PHP Snippet: “Alternative” Product Category Name

/**
 * @snippet       Second Category Title @ WooCommerce Product Category
 * @how-to        businessbloomer.com/woocommerce-customization
 * @author        Rodolfo Melogli, Business Bloomer
 * @compatible    WooCommerce 6
 * @community     https://businessbloomer.com/club/
 */

add_action( 'product_cat_add_form_fields', 'bbloomer_add_category_alt_name' );

add_action( 'product_cat_edit_form_fields', 'bbloomer_edit_category_alt_name' );
 
function bbloomer_add_category_alt_name() { 
	echo '<div class="form-field">';
	echo '<label for="ctitle">Alternative title</label>';
	echo '<input type="text" id="ctitle" name="ctitle">';
	echo '</div>';
}

function bbloomer_edit_category_alt_name( $term ) { 
	echo '<tr class="form-field">';
	echo '<th for="ctitle">Alternative title</th>';
	echo '<td><input type="text" id="ctitle" name="ctitle" value="' . get_term_meta( $term->term_id, 'ctitle', true ) . '"></td>';
	echo '</tr>';
}

add_action( 'edit_term', 'bbloomer_save_category_alt_title', 10, 3 );
add_action( 'created_term', 'bbloomer_save_category_alt_title', 10, 3 );
 
function bbloomer_save_category_alt_title( $term_id, $tt_id = '', $taxonomy = '' ) {
	if ( 'product_cat' !== $taxonomy ) return;
	if ( isset( $_POST['ctitle'] ) ) {
		update_term_meta( $term_id, 'ctitle', $_POST['ctitle'] );
	} else {
		update_term_meta( $term_id, 'ctitle', '' );
	}
}

add_filter( 'woocommerce_page_title', 'bbloomer_edit_cat_page_title' );
 
function bbloomer_edit_cat_page_title( $title ) {
   if ( is_product_category() ) {
	   $term = get_queried_object();
	   $title = get_term_meta( $term->term_id, 'ctitle', true ) ? get_term_meta( $term->term_id, 'ctitle', true ) : $title;
   }
   return $title;
}

Where to add custom code?

You should place custom PHP in functions.php and custom CSS in style.css of your child theme: where to place WooCommerce customization?

This code still works, unless you report otherwise. To exclude conflicts, temporarily switch to the Storefront theme, disable all plugins except WooCommerce, and test the snippet again: WooCommerce troubleshooting 101

Related content

Rodolfo Melogli

Business Bloomer Founder

Author, WooCommerce expert and WordCamp speaker, Rodolfo has worked as an independent WooCommerce freelancer since 2011. His goal is to help entrepreneurs and developers overcome their WooCommerce nightmares. Rodolfo loves travelling, chasing tennis & soccer balls and, of course, wood fired oven pizza. Follow @rmelogli

17 thoughts on “WooCommerce: Override Product Category Page Title

  1. Hello!
    Unfortunately, this hook does not work with the Kadence theme (((

    1. There is always a way! Have you talked to their support team?

  2. Hi, how can i add the page number in the H1? For example when i am in the category the H1 must be “title” + Page 2. This will help to not have duplicated h1 titles when some category have multiple pages. Thank you!

    1. Hello Stanimir, thanks so much for your comment! Yes, this is definitely possible, but I’m afraid it’s custom work. If you’d like to get a quote, feel free to contact me here. Thanks a lot for your understanding!

  3. Hi – many thanks for this!

    Just what I was looking for, but how do I get an alternative title to also be displayed and not just be in the HTML code?

    ie ‘Breadcrumb category title ‘Alexandra Theatre’ (and internal links display this)
    (displayed as the H1 page title on the product Category Page)
    ‘Alexandra Theatre Shows Booking Now’

    1. Sorry Neil, not sure I follow?

  4. very good
    I always used your nice functions.
    How can I use this code also for the tag? Both product categories and product tags.

    1. Thank you! This is not too difficult, just change any “product_cat” to “product_tag”, and “is_product_category” with “is_product_tag”. Good luck!

      1. Yes it worked properly, thank you again

  5. Hi Rodolfo, you have been a savior to us many times. We however have a specific Q. We want to replace the term_title (product_cat, product_tag, both) with a function. We could replace the product_title by using “add_filter(‘the_title’, ‘custom_function’)”. How can we accomplish the same for the term_title?

    1. Hello Ravi, not sure I follow. Does this snippet work for you?

  6. Hello. I would like to ask you how can i keep both titles. I need one Name title and after that the alternative title. Thanks in advance.

    1. Of course! Just replace the last snippet with this:

      add_filter( 'woocommerce_page_title', 'bbloomer_edit_cat_page_title' );
        
      function bbloomer_edit_cat_page_title( $title ) {
         if ( is_product_category() ) {
            $term = get_queried_object();
            $title .= get_term_meta( $term->term_id, 'ctitle', true ) ? get_term_meta( $term->term_id, 'ctitle', true ) : '';
         }
         return $title;
      }
      

      You may also need to wrap the second title in an HTML tag in order to send it to the following line

  7. Can we do this for breadcrumbs?

    1. Hi Mustafa, thanks so much for your comment! Yes, this is definitely possible, but I’m afraid it’s custom work. If you’d like to get a quote, feel free to contact me here. Thanks a lot for your understanding!

  8. Thank you for this one, this really is a problem in some categories. Very helpful. Can’t wait to see more! 🙂

Questions? Feedback? Customization? Leave your comment now!
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