WooCommerce Featured Products Not Displaying? Here’s How to Fix It Fast
Table of Contents
- Introduction & Fundamentals
- What Are Featured Products in WooCommerce?
- Common Reasons Featured Products Don’t Show Up
- How to Set Featured Products Correctly
- Fixing “WooCommerce Featured Products Not Displaying on Homepage”
- Fixing “WooCommerce Featured Products Not Appearing in Shop”
- WooCommerce Featured Products Disappeared? Here’s What to Do
- Conclusion
Introduction & Fundamentals
If you’re using WooCommerce, featured products are a great tool. They help promote special items on your homepage or shop page. But sometimes, these products don’t show up where they should. This can be confusing and frustrating for store owners.
You might have set a product as “Featured” but it’s not visible. Maybe your homepage looks empty or the shop page is missing key items. In some cases, it seems like featured products just disappeared.
This is a common issue in WooCommerce. And yes, it’s fixable.
In this guide, we’ll explain why WooCommerce featured products are not displaying. We’ll walk through all the reasons they go missing. You’ll also learn how to bring them back.
What Are Featured Products in WooCommerce?
Special items in your WooCommerce store are called featured products. To make them stand out from the others, you mark them. They often show on your homepage, in widgets, or special product sliders.
Featured products are used by store owners to:
- Highlight bestsellers
- Promote deals
- Showcase new arrivals
- Increase visibility for certain items
You can mark a product as “Featured” in the dashboard. Just go to Products → All Products. Next, select the item you wish to highlight by clicking the star icon next to it.
This sounds simple. But sometimes, WooCommerce doesn’t display them even after you’ve set them. That’s when issues start.
This is due to a number of factors:
- Wrong visibility settings
- Out-of-stock status
- Caching issues
- Plugin conflicts
Many users report a “WooCommerce set featured product error.” It means the product is selected but doesn’t show up.
To make featured products display correctly, you must:
- Set them properly in the admin panel
- Make sure they’re in stock and visible
- Use a compatible theme or plugin
Understanding how WooCommerce handles these products is the first step. You must know how and where they should show up.
They typically show in:
- Homepage sections (using blocks or widgets)
- Sidebar widgets labeled “Featured Products”
- Custom sections built with page builders
If they don’t show in any of these places, something is wrong.
Common Reasons Featured Products Don’t Show Up
Even when you set a product as featured, it may not appear. This is a common issue in many WooCommerce stores. The most frequent causes of your WooCommerce featured products not showing up are listed below.
- Product Is in Draft or Not Published
If the product is in draft mode, it won’t show anywhere. WooCommerce only displays published products on the frontend.
Check this by:
- Going to Products → All Products
- Verifying that “Published” is selected as the product status
- Product Is Out of Stock and Hidden
WooCommerce hides out-of-stock products if that setting is enabled. If your featured product is out of stock, it may be hidden from the homepage and shop page.
Fix this by:
- Going to WooCommerce → Settings → Products → Inventory
- Unchecking the “Hide out of stock items” option
- Wrong Product Visibility Settings
Sometimes, product visibility is set to “Hidden” by mistake. This prevents the product from appearing anywhere on your site.
To fix this:
- Edit the product
- In the “Publish” section, click “Edit” next to “Catalog Visibility”
- Make sure it’s set to “Shop and search results”
- Product Is Not Actually Set as Featured
This occurs more frequently than you might think. You may think a product is marked as featured, but it’s not.
To double-check:
- Go to Products → All Products
- To designate a product as featured, click the star icon next to it.
If you’re facing a WooCommerce set featured product error, this might be the cause.
- Caching Issues
Your site may be showing a cached version without the featured products. Caching plugins, browser cache, or even server-level cache can be the issue.
To troubleshoot:
- Clear your site’s cache
- Clear your browser cache
- Deactivate cache plugins temporarily to test
- Theme or Plugin Conflict
Some themes override WooCommerce templates. This can block featured products from showing. The same goes for certain plugins, especially page builders.
Solution:
- Use a default theme, such as Storefront.
- To identify the conflict, deactivate each plugin individually.
How to Set Featured Products Correctly
It’s simple to set a product as featured in WooCommerce. But missing just one step can cause it not to appear. Let’s go through how to do it the right way.
Step 1: Go to the Products Page
Go to your WordPress dashboard and log in first. From the menu, click Products → All Products. This will open a list of all products in your store.
Examine the star icon that appears next to every product. The product is already featured if the star is full. If it’s empty, click the star to mark it as featured.
This simple step sets the product as a featured item.
Step 2: Check Product Status and Visibility
Next, you must make sure the product is published. Featured products that are still in draft mode won’t display anywhere.
Also check the visibility setting.
To do this:
- Select “Edit” from the product menu.
- Navigate to the right-hand Publish section.
- Click Edit next to Catalog visibility
- Choose “Shop and search results”
This ensures your featured product appears on all public pages.
Step 3: Make Sure the Product Is in Stock
Out-of-stock products often don’t display. WooCommerce hides them if the setting is enabled.
To check stock:
- Scroll down to the Product Data section
- Click on the Inventory tab
- Verify that there is stock.
- Or uncheck “Manage stock” if not using it
Step 4: Clear Your Cache
Sometimes, everything is set up correctly but still not visible. This might be a cache issue.
Try these steps:
- Use a caching plugin to clear the cache on your website.
- Clear your browser cache
- If possible, disable caching temporarily to test
By following these steps, you avoid the WooCommerce set featured product error. It ensures your featured products are correctly set up and ready to display.
Fixing “WooCommerce Featured Products Not Displaying on Homepage”
Customers frequently visit your homepage first. Store owners like to feature products here to grab attention. But sometimes, even properly marked featured products don’t show up.
Let’s look at the common reasons and fixes.
- Your Theme Doesn’t Support Featured Product Blocks
Some themes do not have a featured products section by default. It might not show them immediately if you’re using a custom theme.
What to do:
- Use a theme that fully supports WooCommerce (like Storefront)
- Add a Featured Products block manually using the Block Editor
- If using Elementor, insert the “Products” widget and filter by “Featured”
- Homepage Not Set Up Correctly
If your homepage is set to display blog posts, products won’t appear. You need to set a static homepage in the WordPress settings.
Steps:
- Go to Settings → Reading
- Choose A static page
- Select a page you built for your homepage
Now, you can customize that page with featured product blocks.
- Featured Products Block Not Configured Properly
Even if you add the block, it may not pull any products. That happens when the filter isn’t set to “Featured.”
To fix:
- Click on the Featured Products block
- Make sure it’s set to show “Featured Products”
- Update the page after making changes
- Caching and Plugin Conflicts
Sometimes plugins or site cache stop new changes from showing. Even if you’ve added products, they may not appear.
Try this:
- Clear all website caches
- Deactivate any page builder plugin temporarily to test
- Check your site on a private or incognito browser window
The issue of WooCommerce highlighted products not showing up on the homepage should be resolved by following these instructions.
Fixing “WooCommerce Featured Products Not Appearing in Shop”
Another common issue is when featured products don’t show in the main shop page. This may be confusing because many users expect them to appear there automatically.
- Shop Page Doesn’t Filter Featured Products by Default
The WooCommerce shop page shows every product by default. It doesn’t highlight featured items unless you add custom code or use filters.
To display only products that are highlighted, you can:
- Make use of an application such as “WooCommerce Product Filter.”
- Customize the shop page using hooks or builders
- Use shortcodes like [featured_products] on a custom page
- Theme Overrides or Custom Templates
Some themes create custom shop templates that ignore featured filters. They display products based on recent uploads or categories instead.
To fix this:
- Switch to the Storefront theme and test
- Check if your theme includes a custom archive-product.php file
- Override or edit the template using a child theme
- Use Shop Filters for Featured Products
Add filters to your shop sidebar so users can choose “Featured.” This gives them the option to view only highlighted items.
You can do this with the Product Filter – WooCommerce plugin or similar tools.
WooCommerce Featured Products Disappeared? Here’s What to Do
If your WooCommerce featured products disappeared, it usually points to a system change.
Here are the most common causes:
- WooCommerce or Theme Updates
When WooCommerce updates, it may reset settings or override theme templates. The same can happen when updating your theme.
Fix it by:
- Checking if the featured flag was removed from your products
- Re-adding the Featured status if necessary
- Reviewing your theme’s WooCommerce templates after updates
- Plugin Conflicts
Some plugins can interfere with how products are displayed. This is especially true for product filters, page builders, or custom layout tools.
To troubleshoot:
- All plugins should be deactivated except WooCommerce.
- Reactivate each one individually to identify the conflict.
- Change or replace the incompatible plugin.
- Caching or CDN Problems
Your cache might be showing an outdated version of the page. CDNs (Content Delivery Networks) can also serve old content if not properly cleared.
Quick fixes:
- Clear your site cache using your caching plugin
- Clear your browser cache
- Purge cache from your CDN if you use one (like Cloudflare)
Plugins, Themes, and Compatibility Checks
Not all themes or plugins play well with WooCommerce. Some override WooCommerce templates. Others block certain product queries like “Featured.”
Here’s what to check:
Use a Compatible Theme
Themes like Storefront are built for WooCommerce. To determine whether the problem is theme-related, try using Storefront if you’re using a different theme.
Check Plugin Compatibility
Page builders, optimization plugins, and filter tools can all cause issues.
To diagnose plugin problems:
- Use the Health Check & Troubleshooting plugin
- Enable “Troubleshooting Mode” to isolate issues without affecting visitors
Review Template Overrides
Some themes override key WooCommerce files such as:
- archive-product.php
- content-product.php
- product-archive.php
If these are outdated, WooCommerce might not display featured products properly. Update or adjust these files in a child theme if needed.
Conclusion
WooCommerce featured product issues can be frustrating. However, the majority of issues stem from basic errors or configurations. Sometimes, deeper issues like plugin conflicts or outdated themes are the real cause.
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