Quick answer: Each WooCommerce product category is a landing page for your highest-volume buyer searches. Add a short intro (100 to 150 words) above the product grid and a fuller buying guide (200 to 400 words) below it. WooCommerce only shows its default description above the grid, so getting content below the grid takes a theme that supports it, a plugin, or a small code snippet. Write it to help shoppers choose, not to hit a word count, and keep the category page indexed while you noindex thin filter pages.
You already know category pages matter. You have read that each product category is its own landing page targeting broad, high-volume searches, and that most stores waste them as bare grids. So you went to add a description, and hit two walls. One: WooCommerce only lets you put the description above the products, and you have read that the good SEO content belongs below the grid. Two, the bigger one: what do you actually write?
This is the build companion to why your WooCommerce category pages are not indexing, which covers the diagnosis. Here we do the writing and the placement, including the part WooCommerce makes annoyingly non-obvious. It is one spoke of our complete WooCommerce SEO guide.
Why category pages are worth the effort
Category pages target category-level searches: “ergonomic office chairs,” “men’s running shoes,” “linen bedding.” These carry more volume than any single product term, and the person searching is shopping, not idly browsing. There is also a durability advantage specific to categories: individual products come and go, but a category persists, so a well-optimized category page builds ranking authority over years rather than months.
And the bar is low, because most stores leave these pages empty. A category with no text is, to Google, a grid of thumbnails structurally identical to thousands of other WooCommerce stores selling the same products. Adding genuinely useful content is what turns that interchangeable archive into a page worth ranking.
The mistake that makes people avoid this
The wrong instinct comes in two forms. The first is leaving the category description blank, which is the single most common WooCommerce category mistake. The second is overcorrecting: dumping a long, keyword-stuffed block above the product grid, which pushes your products below the fold and wrecks the experience for the majority of shoppers on mobile.
The fix is neither. You want enough genuinely useful content to establish what the page is and help someone shop it, split so it does not bury the products. Not a token sentence, not a wall of text. The reframe that matters: stop asking “how many words” and start asking “what does a shopper landing here need in order to choose.” Answer that, and the SEO follows.
What to actually write
This is the part worth slowing down on, and the part the generic guides skip with “add a unique description.” Strong category content does a few specific jobs. You will not need all of them on every category, but the good ones pull from this list.
Say what the category is and who it is for. One or two lines, specific. This is your above-grid intro, and it should orient a shopper in three seconds.
Help them choose between the options. This is the highest-value content and the part competitors skip. When someone lands on a category, they are deciding between products. Give them the criteria. For ergonomic office chairs: the difference between mesh and foam, when lumbar adjustment matters, what to look for if you sit eight hours a day. You are doing the thinking the shopper would otherwise spread across ten product tabs.
Answer the real buyer questions. What people actually ask before buying this category, as a short FAQ below the grid. For office chairs: weight capacity, assembly, warranty, whether it suits a smaller frame. These also map to the People Also Ask queries around your category, which widens the page’s reach.
Point to the standouts and subcategories. Link from the content to your best products and to relevant subcategories, with descriptive anchors. This helps shoppers and tells Google which products and groupings you consider important.
Here is that compressed into a real example, for an “Ergonomic Office Chairs” category.
Above the grid (short, orienting):
Office chairs built for full days at the desk, from breathable mesh task chairs to fully adjustable executive models. If you sit for six hours or more, start with the chairs offering adjustable lumbar support below.
Below the grid (the deciding content):
Choosing the right chair. Mesh chairs run cooler and suit warm rooms or long sitting sessions; cushioned chairs feel plusher but retain more heat. The feature that matters most for all-day comfort is adjustable lumbar support, followed by seat depth and armrest adjustment. If you are tall or petite, check the seat height range before anything else.
Common questions. Most chairs here support up to 130kg and arrive flat-packed with 15-minute assembly. Warranty ranges from two to ten years depending on the model, which is usually a good proxy for build quality.
Notice it never stuffs the keyword, but “ergonomic office chairs,” “lumbar support,” and the buyer’s real questions are all there because that is how you genuinely explain the category. The test: it would read as helpful even with the SEO goal removed. If your category content would embarrass you as advice to a friend, it is filler. This is the same search-and-persuasion overlap that product copywriting lives in, at the category level.
Where to put it: above and below the grid
The split is what top-ranking stores use, for mobile-first reasons. A short intro above the grid orients shoppers and Google immediately. The fuller content goes below the grid so products stay front and center.
A workable division: 100 to 150 words above, 200 to 400 below, for 300 to 600 total. For genuinely competitive category keywords, the below-grid content can run longer, up to around 1,000 words, to outcover competitors. Treat these as guidance, not targets. Above the grid especially, less is more, because every extra line pushes your products down.
How to add content below the product grid in WooCommerce
This is the WooCommerce-specific hurdle, and where the generic advice goes quiet. WooCommerce’s default category description (set under Products, then Categories, then Edit) renders in one place only: below the category title and above the product grid, depending on your theme. There is no native field for below-grid content. You have four ways to add one, from easiest to most technical.
1. A theme that supports split descriptions. Some WooCommerce themes natively offer both an above-grid and a below-grid content area. If yours does, this is the no-effort option. Check your theme’s category or shop settings first.
2. A dedicated plugin. Lightweight plugins exist specifically to add a bottom description area to product categories, tags, and attributes, with styling controls and no coding. This is the simplest route for most non-technical store owners who want below-grid content without touching their theme.
3. Your SEO plugin or page builder. Some setups let you inject content at a chosen position on the category archive, and page builders like Elementor Pro can template category layouts. One real gotcha to watch with page builders: it is easy to accidentally apply the same below-grid content to every category at once, which is the opposite of what you want, since each category needs unique content. Make sure whatever method you use lets you write per-category text.
4. A child-theme snippet or custom field. For developers, adding a second description field to the category edit screen and rendering it below the grid (via a custom hook, or an Advanced Custom Fields field) gives you full control. This is the most flexible route and the right one for a custom build, but it is code, so back up first or hand it to someone who does this daily.
For a handful of categories, the plugin route is usually fastest. For a large catalog on a custom theme, the child-theme approach scales better. Either way, the goal is the same: a clean above-grid intro and a fuller below-grid section, each unique to the category.
Do not bury your products: pagination and load
Two WooCommerce-specific settings affect how your category content performs. First, products per page. Too few (under 12) creates excessive pagination that scatters your category across many URLs; too many (over 48) slows the page and hurts Core Web Vitals. Most stores land well around 24 to 36 per page, set in your theme settings or a snippet. Second, lazy-load product images below the fold so the initial load stays fast while you still show a full selection. Speed is a ranking and conversion factor on category pages just as on product pages, covered in WooCommerce speed optimization.
Large categories need subcategories
If a category holds hundreds of products, it probably needs subcategories. A 500-product “Lighting” category is both hard to navigate and a weaker SEO bet than well-organized subcategories like “Pendant Lights,” “Floor Lamps,” and “Outdoor Lighting.” Subcategories improve navigation for shoppers and create additional pages that can rank for more specific, often higher-intent keyword variations. Each subcategory then gets its own content using the framework above.
Keep category pages indexed, noindex the filters
One distinction that trips people up. Your category pages should be indexed, because they target valuable broad keywords and are exactly the pages you want ranking. The pages you noindex are different: the filtered result URLs your product filters generate, and thin tag archives that duplicate your categories. Confusing the two, and accidentally noindexing your category pages while leaving filter pages indexed, is a real and costly mistake. The full handling of which WooCommerce URLs to index versus consolidate is in WooCommerce duplicate content.
The basics, handled quickly
Do these and move on. Set a unique SEO title (about 50 to 60 characters, category keyword near the front) and meta description through your SEO plugin’s controls on the category edit screen. Use the category name as a single H1. Structure the below-grid content with H2s and H3s. Keep the category slug clean and keyword-relevant. For structured data, BreadcrumbList clarifies your structure and ItemList can describe the products. You can mark up your FAQ block, but do not count on FAQ rich results, since Google narrowed those to mainly authoritative sites in 2026; the FAQ still earns its place by helping shoppers and answer engines.
Mistakes to avoid
- Leaving the category description blank. The most common WooCommerce category mistake, and the easiest to fix.
- A wall of text above the grid. It buries products on mobile, which is most of your traffic.
- The same content on every category. Boilerplate with the category name swapped in is duplicate-adjacent and adds nothing. Each category earns its own thinking, even with page builders.
- Noindexing category pages by mistake. Index the categories, noindex the filter pages.
- Ignoring products-per-page. Too few bloats pagination, too many slows the page.
Frequently asked questions
Do WooCommerce category pages need descriptions to rank?
Not strictly, but adding genuinely useful content reliably improves rankings for category-level keywords. Without text, the page is just a grid of thumbnails identical to countless other stores, giving Google nothing distinctive to rank.
Should the category description go above or below the products?
Both, split. A short orienting intro above the grid, the fuller buying-guide content below it. This keeps products visible first while still giving Google substantial content. WooCommerce only provides the above-grid spot by default, so the below-grid section needs a theme feature, plugin, or snippet.
How many words should a WooCommerce category description be?
Around 300 to 600 total, split between a 100 to 150 word intro above the grid and a 200 to 400 word guide below it. Competitive keywords can justify up to about 1,000 words below the grid. Usefulness matters more than the count.
Should WooCommerce category pages be indexed or noindexed?
Indexed. They target valuable broad keywords and are pages you want ranking. The pages to noindex are filtered result URLs and thin tag archives, not your categories.
How do I add content below the products on a WooCommerce category page?
Four options: a theme that natively supports a below-grid area, a dedicated bottom-description plugin, an SEO plugin or page builder that injects content at that position, or a child-theme snippet or custom field for developers. The plugin route is simplest for most stores.
Category pages are the rare SEO job that pays in rankings and revenue at once, because the content that ranks the page is the content that helps someone choose what to buy. Write the deciding content, split it above and below the grid using whichever method fits your setup, keep the categories indexed while the filters are not, and you have turned a bare archive into one of your strongest organic assets. When you want category coverage built out across the catalog, category page SEO is the service for exactly that.
Want your WooCommerce category pages written and structured to rank and convert, without wrestling with theme code? Book a free ecommerce SEO audit and get a prioritized plan for your store.
About the author
Mustajab Haider Bukhari is the founder of Organic Cart Studio, an ecommerce SEO and conversion agency specializing in Shopify and WooCommerce stores. He works hands-on across category and product page SEO, technical fixes, and conversion copywriting. Connect on LinkedIn.
Read Also: WooCommerce Speed Optimization: Why Your Store Is Slow and How to Fix It