2.2 | Adding Types and Tags

In the Product organisation section of your product page (on the right), you will see;

• Product category
• Product type
• Vendor
• Collections
• Tags

As you are building your site you can add these to each product page as you go. If you have already built your site and are using this course as a refresher you can either edit these in each product or in the Bulk edit screen. Scroll to the end of this lesson for instructions about using the Bulk edit screen.

Product category

You will need to choose from the list of options - Shopify might default to something completely random but on the odd occasion it will get this right. This list is the same as Google uses to categorise products for Google shopping so it is helpful to spend time getting these correct.

You can find a link to the list here. The list is (very) long and not always logical so I find using the Ctrl + f function to search is helpful.

Product type

The product type can be thought of as a product heading (you can use tags for subheadings). We will touch on some tips for types and tags below.

Vendor

This is the brand name. This will appear on the collection page under the product name and on the product page by default (we can edit this as a later date). Most themes automatically make the Vendor field a clickable link which is helpful if a visitor to your website lands on a product page and wants to see more products from that brand.

Collections

As we have only just started adding products to the store (and haven't yet set up any collections) there will be nothing showing here. We will move onto collections in the next lesson, but there are two things that will happen here;

1. If your product meets the criteria for an automated collection it will be added to that collection and the collection name will show up in this section
2. If you have set up manual collections you will be able to add the product to this collection from the product screen by clicking on the dropdown and ticking the manual collection

Tags

Tags can easily become complicated but you should always try and keep these simple. Tags are used by visitors to your store to filter within a collection. These should be used for short (one or two word) terms that describe the product.

These should not be used for random keywords.

You might find, after test driving your online store, that you want to change product types or tags at any time. Be aware that this may cause them to drop out of an automated collection and therefore off your menu (meaning customers can't find what they are looking for). 

Type and Tag example

Types and tags will depend on your store and the number of products you have as well as the range of products you stock. It helps if you have some idea of how your menu and store will look before you start but you can update types and tags at any time (just make sure you also update your automated collections) using the Bulk edit screen.

If in doubt, take a look at what your competitors are doing...and thinking about how you could organise your products better!

Example one

You have a women's clothing store and your customers are likely to shop by type and then filter by style.

Types

• Tops
• Bottoms
• Outerwear
• Accessories

Top Tags

• Tees & Tanks
• Long Sleeve Tees
• Sweaters & Hoodies

Bottoms Tags

• Shorts
• Pants
• Jeans
• Skirts

Outerwear Tags

• Coats
• Jackets
• Shackets

Accessories Tags

• Scarves
• Handbags
• Shoes

Example two

You have a women's shoe store and your customers are likely to shop by style and then filter by colour.

Types

• Heels
• Flats
• Boots
• Sandals

Heels Tags

• High Heel
• Mid Heel
• Low Heel
• Pink
• Yellow
• Black
• Neutral
• etc

Flats Tags

• Lace Ups & Loafers
• Mules
• Ballet & Dress
• Casual & Sneakers
• Bone
• Tan
• Black
• Print
• etc

Boots Tags

• Ankle
• Calf
• Knee High
• Over The Knee
• Khaki
• Brown
• Black
• Beige
• etc

Sandals Tags

• Slides
• Flatform
• High Heel
• Bone
• Tan
• Black
• Cream
• etc

It's not always easy to envisage from the outset but adding different tags means you can offer different options for customers to shop online.

Example three

You have a skincare, haircare and cosmetics business and people like to shop by product type, by brand and by skin type. So you could add the skin type/s or hair type/s to each product and then create collections using those tags and add a "Shop by skin type" and "Shop by hair type" menu.

Using the Bulk edit screen

To get to the Bulk edit screen go to Products and click the box to the left of the product you want to edit. A window should pop up, choose Bulk edit.

You will need to click on Columns (top right) and choose the appropriate fields from the list.

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