WordPress: How to change the Category “Archives”

I don’t know about you, but I hate seeing the “Archives” word on my browser tabs:

I want to show something more helpful like “Articles” or “Area” since people relate the word “Archives” to something old and outdated. For most cases, this is far from the truth since some articles are only days old.

To change it, it’s quite easy, but for that, you need to have the “Administrator” role attributed to your user.

The easy way – Add a plugin

There’s a plugin to do that. You can find it here, but you can find many other similar plugins in the directory. Just pick one, install it, and follow the instructions. In my testing, I got some mixed results, so please test all installed plugins to ensure you get the desired results. Be aware also that plugins can perform similar actions, and these may conflict with each other, Be sure that you understand the features of all your plugins before making any changes.

The easy way – If you’re using Yoast SEO plugin

You can change this easily if you’re using this plugin. Just go to:

  1. “SEO”
  2. “Search Appearance”
  3. “Taxonomies”
  4. Change the “SEO Title” to something else. In my case, I just removed it.

The final result is this. Much nicer.

The hard way – Change the Theme’s code

I like to call this the not-recommended solution. Using too many plugins can bog down your site. If you don’t want to use plugins, you’ll have to change the theme’s code, and this has a set of disadvantages if you don’t control it like, for example, if there’s an update, all files will be replaced, and all your changes will be gone. If you still want to go for it, you can find tutorials here and here with solutions. Proceed with caution and at your own risk.

Have a suggestion of your own or disagree with something I said? Leave a comment or interact on Twitter and be sure to check out other WordPress-related articles here.

Featured Image by Mr. Cup / Fabien Barral on Unsplash

Manuel Gomes

I'm a previous Project Manager, and Developer now focused on delivering quality articles and projects here on the site. I've worked in the past for companies like Bayer, Sybase (now SAP), and Pestana Hotel Group and using that knowledge to help you automate your daily tasks

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