How to add custom prefix before category base for category page URL?

This can be easily done from WordPress settings.

Go to the admin panel of your WordPress site (also known as the Dashboard), and from the left menu, go to Settings ⟹ Permalinks:

WordPress permalink settings

From there, you’ll see the Category base input field.

Use the prefix you want in this input field, e.g. my-custom-prefix/category and then Save Changes.

If this is a new site, then this should be enough, no need to do any code change. After this change, your category Page URL sample.com/category/top-10 will become sample.com/my-custom-prefix/category/top-10.

If this is an old site with old category links, then in addition to the above step, it’s better to redirect the older category links using either a redirect plugin or .htaccess.

Following are a couple of links with some additional details about categories that may be helpful to you:

  1. https://wordpress.org/support/article/posts-categories-screen/
  2. https://make.wordpress.org/support/user-manual/categories-and-tags/categories/

Related Posts:

  1. How do I use the same post slug for different Categories?
  2. Plural Category Base Slug On Category Archive Page
  3. Duplicate Category and Page URL loads Category instead of the Page
  4. wordpress sub-category ( lowercase letters + non-latin characters ) = 404
  5. The default code for “posts_nav_link” on category.php isn’t working
  6. Mod_Rewrite to show only last subcategory in URL
  7. Use the category name instead of category slug in permalinks
  8. A different permalink structure for different categories
  9. How to remove category name for only one category?
  10. Include a page’s “category” in its URL
  11. hierarchical taxonomy in permalinks? using same slug
  12. How to get category slug link? ( include parent categories)
  13. Remove parent category from permalink? Basically only have the child category?
  14. Custom permalink structure leads to be 404 on pagination
  15. How to get permalinks with category base working with sub-categories
  16. Use category base slug in posts’ permalink
  17. Category archive by year with permalink support /category/YYYY
  18. Add a URL prefix to permalinks of one category of posts only
  19. Catch 404 after changing permalink structure from /%postname%/ to /%category%/%postname%/
  20. Filtering categories in the permalink structure
  21. Allow duplicate permalink slugs for posts in different categories
  22. Force WordPress to Show Pages Instead of Category
  23. How do I get the category URL from get_the_category?
  24. Rewrite rule page url with category
  25. How to remove category from wordpress url?
  26. Multiple post categories – single permalink
  27. How to create a custom url for a category [closed]
  28. How to change the category in URL for posts in multiple categories?
  29. How to exclude uncategorized from permalink structure /%category%/%postname%/
  30. How to get the url to tag & category base set by the user?
  31. How to control which category will be picked for the slug of a post?
  32. Create terms when registering taxonomy?
  33. 404 error on subcategory pages
  34. Categories’ hierarchy in URL
  35. How to create non-unique sub-category slugs?
  36. Rewrite category slug
  37. Changing the category permalink structure
  38. How to Include the Parent and Child Category in the Permalink if the Post is Added to Both
  39. Category links suddenly started giving 404 errors
  40. Using same slug name for a page and category
  41. Add category to custom post type automatically, using category slug
  42. Best and Cleanest way to remove /category/ from category permalinks? [duplicate]
  43. Exclude subcategories from the url
  44. How to display only the parent category in the permalink
  45. Root level category, tag, author and archive pages to work
  46. I use same slug name for category and page
  47. Divi change project slug based on category
  48. Removing the number in a category slug
  49. Categories and Tags returning 404 on the sidebar when using ugly permalinks
  50. Add custom taxonomy terms to WordPress menu dynamically & append #slug to url
  51. Archive pagination causing 404 with permalinks structure
  52. Permalinks – Different structures for different categories?
  53. custom permalinks for category archive ( custom base and no parent slug )
  54. Return category slug / title from category ID
  55. WooCommerce change category url and product base
  56. Removing category base form links messes up the parent-child behavior
  57. Put a link to a category round a hard coded A HREF
  58. New categories are now going to 404s
  59. Best way to programmatically link to multiple categories (union/intersection) [closed]
  60. Default category link for a custom category is a broken link
  61. Category slug $_SERVER[‘REQUEST_URI’];
  62. 403 forbidden on one page only
  63. How to set up Author archives with sub category URL
  64. Allow dot in wordpress permalinks (only for categories)
  65. Get the name an the description of a link category
  66. Using a portfolio_category slug in wordpress URL
  67. wordpress wp_list_categories
  68. How to get category URL with the slug?
  69. Categories vs. Page Site Organization
  70. WooCommerce duplicate sub categories and product slugs
  71. How to filter posts by format and category via url?
  72. How to Filter categories in the permalink structure
  73. Specifying multiple categories in URL (permalink)?
  74. Possible to make a subdirectory that loops through a single category?
  75. Need to pull parent category and slug – only pulling daughter category
  76. WordPress subcategories return 404 in custom template
  77. force category base – archive pages work WITH & WITHOUT category base slug in url?
  78. How get permalink for the current category or tag?
  79. Add “page-a” slug to category link if user visit category link from “page-a”
  80. Redirect category to url with /category
  81. Changing permalink from /postname/ to category/postname/
  82. Pagination for category slug returns 404 when page >= 2
  83. Displaying a full post instead of a slug per category?
  84. One Specific Category To Permalink
  85. Category being displayed without base parmalink
  86. Removing post category base giving Error 404
  87. Categories showing page not found
  88. How to disable default category linkbuilding?
  89. Read GET parameters in APACHE Mod Rewrite rules for WordPress categories in Posts
  90. Have different permalinks based on category
  91. Show parent category in URL of subcategory archive page
  92. Permalinks: display just one kind of wp category in the posts url
  93. Multiple URL’s based on category for one post
  94. Same base for category and post
  95. category permalinks
  96. Hide uncategorized when no category set
  97. Remove subcategory and category with some rules from permalink
  98. Sub Categories Keep Redirecting to Pages With Same Slugs
  99. How to rewrite the post URL according to the category?
  100. WordPress URL Rewrite for dynamic and customized URL
File not found.