Custom taxonomies let you create your own ways to group listings, such as Fuel, Body type, Brand or Make, without writing code. Each taxonomy gets its own term pages with search and map, can be used in Add Listing Forms and Search Forms, and can be shown on the listing page wherever you place it. You create them in Listeo Editor → Taxonomies.

Before You Start

You need Listeo theme, Listeo Core, Listeo Forms & Fields Editor and Listeo Elementor 2.3 or newer. Update them together

What Custom Taxonomies Do

Listeo comes with Categories, Features and Regions. Many sites need more: a car site wants Fuel, Body type and Transmission, a real estate site wants Property type and Heating. Until now you had to fake these with Select fields. A taxonomy is often the better choice:

Select field (Listing Fields) Custom taxonomy
Own page per value No Yes, for example /fuel/electric/, with search and map
Values managed as terms Options typed in the field Terms with name, slug, description and icon, like categories
Linked to another list (Make → Model) No Yes, with a parent taxonomy
Search filter Yes Yes, as select, checkboxes, drilldown or chained select
Good for Numbers and free text (Year, Mileage, Power) Things visitors browse by (Fuel, Make, Body type)

A simple rule: if a visitor would want a page that lists “all electric cars”, make it a taxonomy. If the value is a number or unique per listing, keep it a field.

Where to Find It

Go to WP Admin → Listeo Editor → Taxonomies. The All Taxonomies tab lists your custom taxonomies with their Name, Internal name, URL base, Listing types, Parent taxonomy and number of Terms.

The terms of each taxonomy are managed in WP Admin → Listings → Categories, in the Custom Taxonomies section. Click Manage Terms on a taxonomy card.

Step 1: Create a Taxonomy

  1. Go to Listeo Editor → Taxonomies and click Add New Taxonomy (or + Add taxonomy in the tab bar).
  2. Fill in the form (see the table below).
  3. Click Create Taxonomy.

You see “Taxonomy created. You can now add its terms and place it in Add Listing Forms and Search Forms.”

Setting What it does
Name Singular, for example “Fuel”.
Plural Name For example “Fuels”. Used as the menu and form label.
Internal name Starts with lt_, for example lt_fuel. Lowercase letters, numbers and underscores, at most 32 characters, and it cannot end with _category. It is stored with every term and used in form element names and search addresses (tax-lt_fuel). It cannot be changed after creation.
URL base The first part of the term page address. With fuel, the Electric term page is yoursite.com/fuel/electric/. It must not be used by another taxonomy, post type, page or Listeo address.
Hierarchical On: terms can have parent terms inside the same taxonomy, like categories. Off: a flat list, like tags. This is not the same as a parent taxonomy (Make → Model), see Step 5.
URL Base Translations Shown when the site has more than one language (WPML, Polylang, TranslatePress or several WordPress languages). Leave a language empty to use the URL base above.
Listing types The taxonomy is offered in the Add Listing Forms of the checked types. Leave all unchecked to use it for every type.
Column in the admin listings list Adds a column with the terms to Listings in wp-admin.
Parent taxonomy In the Relation block. Links this taxonomy to another one, so its options depend on what is chosen there. See Step 5.
Visibility Rules Show this taxonomy when and Where this taxonomy applies. See Step 6.

Tip Choose the internal name carefully, for example lt_fuel or lt_body_type. You can rename the taxonomy (Name, Plural Name) and change its URL base later, but never its internal name.

Step 2: Add Terms

  1. Go to WP Admin → Listings → Categories.
  2. In the Custom Taxonomies section, click Manage Terms on the Fuels card.
  3. Add the terms, for example Petrol, Diesel, Electric, Hybrid, LPG.

The term screen is the standard WordPress one, with the same icon settings as categories. A term icon is used when the taxonomy is shown as a row, tags or a box on the listing page.

Step 3: Add It to Your Forms

Add Listing Forms

  1. Go to WP Admin → Listeo Editor → Add Listing Forms and open the form of the listing type.
  2. In a section, click Add new field and pick the taxonomy (for example Fuels).
  3. Choose a field type, for example Select taxonomy or Taxonomy checkboxes.
  4. Click Save Changes.

The taxonomy is offered only in the forms of the listing types set in Listing types. If a form still uses it for another type, the editor shows a warning: the form neither shows nor saves it there.

Search Forms

  1. Go to WP Admin → Listeo Editor → Search Forms and open a form.
  2. In Available Elements → Taxonomies, click the taxonomy to add it.
  3. Open the element and pick its Type: Checkboxes in column, Checkboxes in row, Select Taxonomy, Drilldown Taxonomy or Chained select.
  4. Click Save Changes.

The search sends the selected terms as tax-lt_fuel. See the Search Form Elements Reference for every element type.

Step 4: Show It on the Listing Page

A new custom taxonomy is not shown on the listing page automatically. You choose where it goes:

  • Among the fields (recommended). Go to Listeo Editor → Listing Fields and open the listing type tab. The box Taxonomies you can add to this list shows each taxonomy that is not placed yet and where it shows now (Now: in its usual place, Now: checkbox list (Single settings) or Now: not shown). Click Place, or use Add taxonomy. Drag it under a headline and save.
  • As a checkbox list. Go to Listeo Core → Single Listing and select it in Show taxonomies as list of checkboxes on single template.

A placed taxonomy has these options in its side panel:

  • On the listing page show as: Row in the details list, Tags or Own box (as before).
  • Show on listing cards, and Show the label on cards.
  • Remove from list: the taxonomy leaves the details. A custom taxonomy is then shown only in the checkbox list of the Single Listing settings, if you selected it there.

A car can then read “Basics: Make, Model, Year, Fuel” in one section instead of a separate box per taxonomy. More layout options are in the Listing Details Layout article .

Elementor The Listing Taxonomy Checkboxes widget has the switch Hide taxonomies placed in Listing Fields, on by default, so a placed taxonomy is not shown twice.

Step 5 (optional): Link It to a Parent Taxonomy

Use Parent taxonomy when the options of this taxonomy depend on another one: Make → Model, Country → City. With a parent set, the Chained select element shows only the models of the chosen make. This has its own article: Related Taxonomies and Chained Select .

Step 6 (optional): Visibility Rules

A taxonomy can have the same rules as a Listing Field:

  • Where this taxonomy applies: only for some categories, for example Fuel only for Cars and Motorcycles. Subcategories count.
  • Show this taxonomy when (or Hide this taxonomy when): depending on another field or taxonomy.

The rules apply in the Add Listing Form, in search forms and on the listing page. The lists in the rules follow the listing types you saved, so save the taxonomy once after changing Listing types. Field rules can also read a taxonomy. Example: a Battery capacity field with the rule “Fuel has any of Electric”. The operators for a taxonomy are has any of, has none of, is empty and is not empty. Details are in Field Visibility Rules .

Warning When a taxonomy is hidden by a Show this taxonomy when rule, its terms are removed from the listing on save. A taxonomy hidden only by Where this taxonomy applies keeps its terms.

Deleting and Restoring a Taxonomy

Open the taxonomy and click Delete. Only the definition is removed:

  • The terms stay in the database.
  • Forms that use it stop showing it.
  • If other taxonomies use it as their parent, their terms are kept, but their options no longer load by parent until you choose another parent.

To bring it back, add a taxonomy with the same internal name. The terms come back with it.

Moving Taxonomies to Another Site

Custom taxonomies are part of Listeo Editor → Export & Import, in the Taxonomies group. The export contains the definitions (names, URL bases, listing types, parent, rules), not the terms. Add the terms on the new site, or use the CSV import for related taxonomies . The import checks every definition first. An entry whose URL base is already used on the target site is skipped and listed in the preview.

Limitations

  • Listing types are enforced in the front-end Add Listing form only. The WordPress editor screen and the REST API still accept terms for any type.
  • URL base translations are used for the current language only.
  • WPML: translated terms with a different slug do not match visibility rules.
  • A custom taxonomy is not shown on the listing page until you place it (Step 4).
  • Terms are not included in Export & Import.

FAQ and Troubleshooting

  • The Taxonomies screen says nothing can be saved

  • The term page returns a 404 error

  • I added terms, but the taxonomy is not on the listing page

  • The taxonomy is missing from the Add Listing Form editor

  • Should I convert my existing Select fields into taxonomies?

  • Can I change the internal name?

Related Articles

  • Related Taxonomies and Chained Select
  • Field Visibility Rules
  • Adaptive Search Filters and Result Counts
  • Unlimited Listing Types

For Developers

  • Definitions are stored in the option listeo_custom_taxonomies, keyed by internal name. Read them with Listeo_Core_Custom_Taxonomies::get_all() or Listeo_Core_Custom_Taxonomies::get( 'lt_fuel' ).
  • The taxonomies are registered on init for the listing post type, public and with show_in_rest.
  • listeo_core_custom_taxonomy_args ( $args, $name, $definition ): the register_taxonomy() arguments.
  • listeo_core_custom_taxonomy_rewrite_slug ( $slug, $name, $definition ): the URL base in the current language.
  • listeo_core_custom_taxonomy_reserved_names ( $names ): internal names that cannot be used.
  • listeo_core_listing_taxonomies ( $taxonomies ): the taxonomies whose term pages use the listings archive. Custom taxonomies are added here.
  • In URLs and search forms a custom taxonomy is tax-{internal name}, for example ?tax-lt_fuel=electric.