Categories

Categories are the foundation of how your products are organized. They help customers find their way around the store and improve search. This guide shows you how to create and manage categories.

Path: Catalog › Products › Categories › All Categories

Category list

The Categories page shows all categories as a tree — subcategories are indented under their parent and you expand them with the arrow at the start of the row.

What a row shows

• Checkbox — selects the category for bulk actions
• Status — a status dot; click it to activate or deactivate the category
• Name — click it to rename the category right in the list and confirm with the tick
• Slug — the URL identifier of the category, edited the same way
• Product count and subcategory count
• Actions — View Category (opens it in the store), Edit Category and Delete Category

Above the list is a search field (Search categories...) — results are shown as a flat list with the path to the parent category.

Category order

You can reorder categories with drag-and-drop. Grab a category, drag it to the new place and drop it. The order is saved automatically.

Bulk actions

When you tick one or more categories, a floating bar appears at the bottom of the screen with the actions Promote to main category (turns a subcategory into a top-level category) and Delete. Categories that contain products are skipped by the bulk delete.

Creating a new category

Path: Catalog › Products › Categories › All Categories › Add Category button

The category form is split into the tabs General, SEO, Header & descriptions, Product listing and Mobile. When you are done, click Create Category in the floating bar at the bottom.

Category name

The name of the category. Examples:

• Clothing
• Footwear
• Electronics
• Household

This field is required and is shown in the store navigation.

Slug

The URL identifier of the category (e.g. "clothing" or "home-electronics"). When the category is created, the system generates the slug automatically from the name. You can change it later when editing the category — the slug must not contain uppercase letters or spaces, and the Generate button regenerates it from the name.

Parent category

To create a subcategory, choose a parent category. For example:

• Parent: Clothing
• Subcategory: Men, Women, Kids

For a top-level category leave this field empty.

Category description

A detailed description of the category with formatting options. This text can be shown on the category page. Suitable content:

• A brief explanation of what the category contains
• Benefits of the products in this category
• Shopping tips

Category image

Upload a category image that is shown as a thumbnail in the menu and in category grids (e.g. on the homepage). It is not the background of the category page header — that is set in the Header & descriptions tab. The image should be:

• Properly proportioned (square)
• High quality (at least 500x500 px)
• Representative of the category

Meta title (SEO)

In the SEO tab. The category title for search engines (maximum 60 characters). Example:

• Name: Clothing
• Meta title: Quality clothing online | Merzio

Meta description (SEO)

The category description for search engines (maximum 160 characters). Example:

• Shop quality clothing for the whole family with fast delivery. A wide choice of brands and styles at Merzio.

Google category

Choose which Google category your category belongs to. This is used in product feeds (e.g. Google Merchant) when the feed has no mapping of its own for that category.

Editing a category

Path: Catalog › Products › Categories › All Categories › pencil icon (Edit Category) next to the category

The category editor has six tabs:

Tab	What you find there
General	Name, slug, parent category, description, category image, Active switch
Products	The list of products in the category — adding and removing (the number on the tab is their count)
SEO	Meta title, meta description, Google category
Header & descriptions	Category page header, top description and footer description
Product listing	Products per page, sidebar, quick category menu
Mobile	Listing settings for mobile devices

Save changes with Update Category in the floating bar at the bottom (undo them with Discard). If the form contains an error, the editor switches to the tab with the error and shows it at the top of the page. The View Category button in the header opens the category in the store.

Products tab

In the Products tab you see Products in this category and can manage them without opening each product:

• Add products — opens a picker where you find products by name or SKU and add them to the category
• Remove from category — takes the product out of this category (the product itself is not deleted)
• View all — opens the product list filtered to this category

INFO

Adding and removing products is saved immediately — you do not need to click Update Category.

Category page configuration

Every category has its own page in the store. In the Header & descriptions, Product listing and Mobile tabs you can set it up differently from the global Listing Configuration. Anything you leave empty is taken from the global setting. The Where does what appear? button opens a diagram of the category page with each part marked.

Inherit, always on or always off

The switches on the category page have three positions:

• Inherit from global setting — the category follows the global listing configuration; below the option you see whether the global setting is currently on or off
• Always on — on for this category regardless of the global setting
• Always off — off for this category regardless of the global setting

These work this way: Show Product Count, Show Top Description, Show Footer Description, Default Open (sidebar), Enable Quick Category Menu and on mobile Show Filter Button, Show Sort Button and Show Results Count.

Header & descriptions

• Header Background Image — the image behind the category heading
• Show Product Count — the product counter in the header
• Font sizes — heading and subheading size, separately for mobile and desktop
• Colors — heading and subheading colour
• Top Description — optional text (with a heading) above the product list, which can be shortened to a chosen number of characters
• Footer Description — optional text (with a heading) below the product list, also with shortening

Product listing

• Products Per Page — how many products are shown on one page
• Sidebar Type — Static (always visible) or Closable (toggle button)
• Default Open — whether the closable sidebar is open when the page loads
• Enable Quick Category Menu — a short subcategory menu on the category page
• Max. number of categories, position and colours — fine-tuning of the quick menu look

Mobile

• Products Per Page — number of products per page on mobile
• Sidebar Type — how the filters open on mobile (Drawer, Modal or Bottom Sheet)
• Sorting Type — Dropdown or Bottom Sheet
• Show Filter Button, Show Sort Button, Show Results Count — three-position switches (see above)

Listing design in Canvas

You adjust the look of the product listing (header, grid, cards, pagination) visually in Canvas — for all categories at once, or for one specific category that you open in the Canvas preview.

Subcategories

Subcategories are categories on the second and lower levels. The hierarchy looks like this:

Clothing (Main category)
├── Men (Subcategory)
│   ├── T-shirts (2nd level subcategory)
│   └── Trousers (2nd level subcategory)
├── Women (Subcategory)
│   ├── T-shirts (2nd level subcategory)
│   └── Trousers (2nd level subcategory)
└── Kids (Subcategory)
    └── Clothing (2nd level subcategory)

When creating a subcategory, choose the higher-level category in the Parent Category field.

Showing subcategories

In the category list, a category with subcategories has an arrow at the start of its row. Click it to show all its subcategories. You can also:

• Reorder them with drag-and-drop
• Edit or delete them
• Move them to the top level with Promote to main category

Activating and deactivating categories

The Status dot at the start of the row shows whether a category is active or inactive. Click it to activate/deactivate the category. You can set the same with the Active switch in the General tab.

• Active category — visible in the store navigation
• Inactive category — hidden from customers but still visible in the administration

Deleting a category

Delete a category in the category list — with the bin icon in the row (Delete Category) and confirming in the dialog. Delete several at once through the bulk actions; More actions ▾ › Delete All Categories in the header removes all categories.

WARNING

A category that contains products cannot be deleted. First move the products to another category or remove them from it in the Products tab.

Tips and tricks

Logical structure

Create a category structure that makes sense to customers. Example:

• Clothing > Men > T-shirts
• Clothing > Women > Dresses
• Electronics > Computers > Laptops

TIP

Up to 3 category levels are usually enough.

Naming

Use clear and simple category names:

• Good: Men's T-shirts, Women's Handbags
• Bad: Tshirts_01, Bags_men_summertogether

SEO optimization

For better search visibility create:

• A unique and descriptive Meta Title and Meta Description
• Keywords relevant to the category

Images

Upload a quality image for each category. It helps customers find their way around the store.

Minimum number of products

Aim for at least 5-10 products in each category. An overly fragmented category makes search worse.

Workflow: How to set up categories

Step 1: Plan the structure

First write down how you want your categories organized. Example:

• Clothing
  • Men
  • Women
  • Kids
• Electronics
  • Computers
  • Accessories

Step 2: Create the main categories

Create all top-level categories (Clothing, Electronics, etc.).

Step 3: Create subcategories

Create the subcategories with the parent category selected.

Step 4: Configure the category pages

Set up the look of each category (colours, typography, number of products).

Step 5: Assign products

When creating or editing a product, assign it the correct primary category — or add products in bulk in the Products tab when editing the category.

More information

• How to assign products to categories: Creating Products
• How to manage brands and labels: Labels, Brands & Tags