WooCommerce: Redirect Product Category Pages

Maybe because you have only one product category and therefore search engines would find duplicate content (Shop page = Category page) and penalize your website.

Or maybe because you use advanced product filters and you prefer customers to see the filtered view “by category” (e.g. “example.com/shop/?_product_category=tables“) as opposed to the default category pages ( “example.com/product_category/tables” ).

Either way, it is possible to programmatically redirect all product category pages to a given page or to a relevant URL with parameters – and here’s the fix. Enjoy!

PHP Snippet 1: Redirect All Product Category Pages to Shop Page

/**
 * @snippet       Redirect To Shop @ WooCommerce Category Pages
 * @how-to        Get CustomizeWoo.com FREE
 * @author        Rodolfo Melogli
 * @compatible    WooCommerce 7
 * @community     https://businessbloomer.com/club/
 */

add_action( 'wp', 'bbloomer_redirect_cats_to_shop' );

function bbloomer_redirect_cats_to_shop() {
	if ( is_product_category() ) {
      wp_safe_redirect( wc_get_page_permalink( 'shop' ) );
      exit;
   }
}

PHP Snippet 2: Redirect Each Product Category Page to A Relevant URL With Parameters

/**
 * @snippet       Redirect To URL + Parameters @ WooCommerce Category Pages
 * @how-to        Get CustomizeWoo.com FREE
 * @author        Rodolfo Melogli
 * @compatible    WooCommerce 7
 * @community     https://businessbloomer.com/club/
 */

add_action( 'wp', 'bbloomer_redirect_cat_to_relevant_filter' );

function bbloomer_redirect_cat_to_relevant_filter() {
	if ( is_product_category() ) {
		$term = get_queried_object();
		$url = $term && $term->slug ? '/shop/?_product_category=' . $term->slug : wc_get_page_permalink( 'shop' );	
         wp_safe_redirect( $url );
         exit;
   }
}

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

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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