Operating an online store is no walk in the park. The competition is fierce. This is why it is essential your e-commerce website is optimised. In this post, we look at the importance of classifying your products.
Catalogue of products
The product catalogue is a fundamental element in an online store since it is the set of products that the online store has for sale.
To be able to quickly access any product in the store, the catalogue must be classified.
In a traditional store, it would be equivalent to the different aisles and shelves with products classified (for example, in a traditional supermarket there are dairy products in one aisle, semi-skimmed products on one shelf and whole milk on another).
The system to classify products in an online store is different but has the same purpose as in a physical store; that the products are grouped, and classified, to be able to locate them quickly.
For the classification of the catalogue of a virtual store, it is best to use categories and subcategories. A subcategory is a category that depends on another.
For example, “Pants” could be a category and “Women’s Pants” a subcategory that would depend on “Pants”.
Structure and design of the menu to classify the catalogue of an online store
The design options in relation to the layout of the menu where the categories of the online store will be classified often depend on the website template used.
Some time ago it was very fashionable to use a vertical layout for the menu, but this is something that has become obsolete especially because of its low usability in mobile.
The usual is to use a horizontal menu in the header, which is always available even if you scroll on the page. That is, use a floating horizontal menu, also called a sticky menu.
The importance of the categories of an online store for SEO
Next to the home page, the categories are the most important pages of an online store.
When you visualise the page of a category of a virtual store, it shows a description of what can be found in that category and a set of products that belong to that category.
Why is this important? According to experts in web design in Bristol, when you perform a Google search for some type of product, the category pages are usually the ones that best position themselves in SERPS.
For this reason, you will have to carry out an adequate search of keywords and work on labels and text content.
To put more text content in the categories, it is best that the content appears under the product group of the category. Having a large amount of text at the top of a category page is not visually very attractive.
Optimising your e-commerce site is an intricate process involving many different aspects. But, once it’s fully done – the results are truly worth it, as it will help grow your business.