Approaches to the Structure of a Product Catalog
A proper catalog structure is the foundation of convenient navigation for customers and effective SEO promotion. Online stores use a hierarchical structure: products are grouped into categories and subcategories, forming a logical tree of sections. A well-designed hierarchy allows visitors to quickly evaluate all options at each level and choose the right direction.
Category Typology
Product grouping in a catalog is built based on one or several principles. In practice, three main approaches are used:
By Product Type
A classic option is to divide the assortment by product type. A furniture store creates sections such as “Sofas”, “Wardrobes”, “Armchairs”, “Tables”. A clothing store creates “Dresses”, “Trousers”, “Skirts”, “Outerwear”. This aligns with the logic of the niche and is familiar to customers.
By Purpose or Use Case
Products are grouped by target audience or purpose. In a pet store, this might be categories like “For Cats”, “For Dogs”, “For Fish”, “For Birds”. In a furniture store, categories may include “Living Room”, “Bedroom”, “Hallway”, regardless of the specific type of furniture.
By Brand
This approach fits stores with a wide portfolio of brands. For example, in the “Faucets” section, subcategories may be organized by manufacturer. This logic works in highly specialized or multi-brand stores where choosing a specific brand is critical for the customer.
How to Choose the Right Logic
Category names at each level must be clearly distinct and understandable to the user. Avoid placing similar sections next to each other, such as “Lamps”, “Light Fixtures”, and “Chandeliers” — this creates confusion.
Use commonly accepted product names and group names, even if you have your own terminology. Competitor analysis shows that categories across stores in the same niche are often named similarly — and this is not a coincidence; it is simply more convenient for customers.
Your goal is not to copy someone else’s catalog but to adopt effective naming patterns and avoid common mistakes. If competitors have many small subcategories with 1–2 products or one monstrous category with hundreds of items and no filters — do not repeat these decisions.
Multiple Rubricators — When It Works
A store can offer several navigation approaches for the same assortment. A pet store may show products by function (food, toys, accessories) and by type of animal (for cats, dogs, birds) — two parallel rubricators, each with its own hierarchy. With this approach, every product must be present in all relevant categories so the shopper can find it through any path.
However, do not complicate the menu with an excessive number of categories. When there are too many overlapping sections, the structure feels chaotic. Usually, one primary catalog schema is enough, complemented by filtering and special collections like “Sale” or “Seasonal New Arrivals”.
Why Hierarchy Remains the Foundation
Regardless of the grouping principle, the hierarchical tree structure is the base framework of any catalog. Other models (fully network-based or tag-only structures without hierarchy) are almost nonexistent in e-commerce. Tags and cross-links are used as auxiliary tools but do not replace the catalog. Users are accustomed to nested categories and perceive them as a guide through the store.
Depth of Nesting and Number of Category Levels
Catalog depth is one of the key structural parameters. Optimal depth is limited to three levels: category → subcategory → sub-subcategory. For example, in a children’s goods store: “For Boys” (category) → “Clothing” (subcategory) → “Trousers” (sub-subcategory). This three-tier hierarchy is optimal from both UX and SEO perspectives.
The “three-click rule”: a customer must be able to reach the desired product in no more than three transitions from the catalog page. A structure with 2–3 levels of depth satisfies this requirement (section → subsection → product list or product page).
Why Excessive Depth Is Dangerous
Excessive nesting complicates navigation and worsens indexation. If a visitor must pass through 5–10 menu levels, they are more likely to leave the site without finding what they need. Search engines struggle to crawl and rank pages located more than four clicks from the homepage. Yandex explicitly warns that deeply buried pages negatively affect ranking.
More than three levels make sense only for very large stores or highly specialized catalogs where the assortment requires it. Even then, depth is usually limited to four levels, and all pages at level five and deeper must be included in the XML sitemap to ensure crawlers do not miss them.
If deep hierarchy is unavoidable, strengthen internal linking (breadcrumbs and links to important sections) and optimize URL structure. To improve indexation, connect a sitemap and create additional crawl channels — for example, by sharing deep links on social networks.
Number of Categories at a Single Level
Do not overload users with too many choices at one step. UX research shows that people comfortably perceive about 7±2 list items at a time. For the top catalog level, 5–7 sections are enough. Seven is optimal — the user can capture all sections at once.
If you end up with ten or more main categories, introduce intermediate groups. When a single level contains more than 10 categories, break them into 2–3 larger groups. For example, instead of showing a list of 15 subcategories, create 2–3 broader categories and distribute the subcategories among them — otherwise, the user struggles to mentally distinguish so many menu items.
Avoid “Empty” Categories
Every catalog section must have enough products. There is no point in creating a separate category for 3–4 products — this only lengthens the search path. If a section has fewer than five products, merge it with a related one.
Ideally, a category should contain at least 7–9 product positions — then it feels justified. If there are too many categories with only a handful of items, the catalog looks empty or confusing.
Balance and Distribution of Products Across Sections
The catalog structure must be balanced. Different sections at the same level should have comparable weight and depth. Each top-level category should contain roughly the same number of subcategories, and each subcategory should include a relatively similar number of products.
Absolute equality is impossible, but avoid extremes where one section expands into many branches while a neighboring one consists of a single subpage. If one category contains hundreds of products and others only a dozen — this is a sign to review category boundaries. Split excessively broad categories into thematic subcategories or introduce more granular filters.
The 100-Product Rule
No more than 100 products per category. If there are significantly more, most shoppers will not scroll through such a long list — they will prefer a subcategory or filter. A huge 200–300 item list without subdivisions is useful only for Ctrl+F searches, not for browsing.
When Balance Can Be Broken
Balance is relative, and exceptions exist. In some niches, users tolerate an unbalanced catalog if it provides direct access to the needed product.
For example, in online pharmacies, most items are medications — dozens of subcategories by therapeutic groups. Other products (medical devices, supplements, personal care) occupy only a few sections. This is justified: pharmacy shoppers are highly motivated to find a specific medicine, so it's better to show them a long list of 30 subcategories rather than a deeply nested tree.
If your target audience naturally tolerates imbalance and it simplifies the search — you may deviate from strict rules. But such choices must be supported by user-behavior analysis. In most stores, especially smaller ones, an imbalanced structure without clear necessity is a mistake that leads to confusion.
Cross-Categories: One Product in Several Sections
Can a product appear in multiple catalog categories? Yes — this is common practice. Many products have multiple properties or use cases that justify placing them in several sections.
A classic example: a sofa in a furniture store may belong to “Sofas” (product type), also appear in “Living Room” (room category), and “Upholstered Furniture”. The customer will find the product regardless of whether they search by type or by purpose. Another example: a multifunction kitchen appliance may appear in both “Blenders” and “Food Processors” if it combines features of both.
Risks of Duplication
Duplicate placement requires caution. If every product is duplicated across many categories, users become disoriented. It may appear as though the site contains many repeated products, damaging trust. Search engines also dislike duplicate content — a single product page available via multiple URLs may be treated as a duplicate.
The “one product — several categories” approach is justified only when it truly improves UX: when a product genuinely fits multiple logical groups or when you want to highlight it in special sections such as “New Arrivals” or “Promotions”. Do not place a product in more than 2–3 categories at once and avoid cases where an entire subsection duplicates another. If many products belong to two sections simultaneously, reconsider your grouping logic.
Multiple Rubricators on One Site
A special case is when a site offers multiple catalogs based on different principles. If you provide several navigation paths, all products must appear in each relevant rubricator. A user choosing any navigation path must be able to reach the desired product.
For example, an electronics site may allow browsing by device type (smartphones, laptops, cameras) or by brand (Apple, Samsung, Xiaomi). A product like “iPhone 13” must appear both in “Smartphones” and in “Apple” — otherwise, the user will not find it when browsing by brand.
Modern CMS platforms support assigning a product to multiple categories. The key is to ensure URL conflicts do not arise and to define which category is the “primary” one (usually achieved through canonical URLs).
Filters and Tagging as a Complement to the Catalog
Categories and subcategories define the basic navigation, but this is often not enough for customer convenience. When the assortment is large, it is useful to implement a system of filters within each category based on key product attributes. Filters allow the customer to narrow the results to a relevant group — for example, filtering smartphones by memory size, color, and price, or selecting only shoes of a particular size and material in the “Footwear” section. Well-configured filtering speeds up product discovery and increases conversion.
How to Choose Filter Parameters
Developing filters begins with identifying important product attributes. These include universal characteristics (relevant to almost all products in the category and used primarily for filtering) and additional attributes.
For the “Televisions” section, universal parameters include screen size, panel type, resolution, and brand, while additional ones may include body color or stand type. Universal parameters should be placed at the top of the filter list; additional attributes may be hidden or grouped to avoid cluttering the interface.
Do not overdo it: too few filters are useless, while too many overwhelm the user. Find a balance where 2–5 of the most important attributes are available for quick filtering.
Tagging — Horizontal Connections Between Products
Filters are often represented by sets of tags or checkboxes. In some systems, these mechanisms are used to create tags: products are assigned labels such as “new”, “sale”, “exclusive”, or more specific ones like “100% cotton”, “handmade”. Tags can be displayed on the product page and made clickable — when a user clicks a tag, they see all products with the same label.
Tagging creates horizontal connections between products outside the catalog hierarchy. Unlike main categories, tags are usually not displayed in the menu, but appear as a “tag cloud” or as links on product pages. This tool is useful for connections such as “items from the same collection” or “items of a particular style” that do not fit neatly into a category tree.
SEO Benefits of Tags
Tagging is also beneficial for SEO: tag pages serve as landing pages with a narrow set of products that often match specific search queries (e.g., the tag “black Adidas Yung sneakers” leads to a page with all black sneakers of that model).
Combining a hierarchical catalog structure with a flexible system of tags and filters enables a wide range of search queries to be covered.
Rules for Working with Tags and Filters
- Structure the tags themselves: if you use tag clouds for different parameters, separate them. Do not mix color, size, and brand tags in one “cloud” — the user must understand what they are filtering.
- Consider the logic of combining several tags: show products that match all selected tags simultaneously. Disable or hide incompatible filters — this is better than showing empty results.
Filters are a powerful structuring tool that complements navigation through sections but does not replace it. The catalog should be usable even without filters, while filtering improves the experience for advanced users or stores with very large assortments.
Impact of Catalog Structure on SEO
The structure of a catalog directly affects the search visibility of an online store. A well-designed site architecture helps search engines more easily index pages and understand their relative importance. Every product must be placed in a category and have internal links from other pages — this is a technical requirement from search engines.
Yandex states that a site must have a strict linking structure where each page belongs to a specific section and has an incoming link from another page (i.e., there are no “orphan” pages). Search robots appreciate breadcrumbs and an HTML sitemap, which reflect the catalog hierarchy and simplify crawling.
Depth of Nesting and URLs
For SEO, it is critical that important product pages are not buried too deeply. A page that requires 5–6 clicks to reach will be indexed worse, and its ranking is likely to decline.
Structure also affects URLs: when the catalog is organized logically, this is reflected in human-readable URLs. Google recommends short, clear URLs with a logical folder hierarchy and advises against long ID parameters. For example, the URL /catalog/phones/smartphones/ tells both the user and the crawler that the page is in the “Smartphones” section inside the “Phones” category. If a URL looks like /cat?id=527&prod=12345, neither the user nor the search engine will understand its meaning.
Category Names and the Semantic Core
The catalog structure must take search demand into account. Category names must match popular user queries, meaning they should be based on a semantic core. Collect keywords related to your topic and reflect them in category names.
If users search for “shower cabins” more often than “shower boxes”, name the category “Shower Cabins”, even if the terms are technically equivalent — this way you will gain more traffic. A semantic approach means: each category = a potential landing page for a group of queries.
Low-frequency queries (highly specific ones) can be addressed through narrow subcategories or a combination of category + filter (for example, “buy red polka-dot dress” may correspond to the “Dresses” category page with active filters for “red” and “polka-dot”). Many CMS platforms allow such filtered pages to be indexed or enable creating curated landing pages for important tags. This increases SEO reach.
The key is not to overdo it: creating too many thin categories without enough content may lead to internal competition between your own pages in search. Empty sections or pages with only one product send a negative signal.
Key Principles of Catalog SEO Optimization
- Logical and convenient structure = better behavioral factors. If users easily find products, do not get confused, and do not return to search, behavioral metrics improve, which indirectly influences ranking.
- Shallow and well-connected architecture = good indexation. Bots can find all pages by following categories and internal links and treat your site as a structured resource rather than a chaotic set of URLs.
- Alignment with search demand = high-quality relevant traffic. A catalog built “for the user from search” attracts more visitors directly from SERPs. Semantic-based catalog design (choosing sections based on key query clusters) simplifies SEO and reduces external SEO costs.
Avoiding technical errors is essential. Typical mistakes include:
- No unique URLs (for example, a product available at different URLs without proper canonical tagging)
- Lack of internal linking between pages
- Unreadable URLs
All these harm both SEO and UX. Each product must clearly belong to a category, and each category must be reachable from the homepage via a clear link chain. Check for duplicate sections (this sometimes happens when category logic overlaps and the CMS is misconfigured).
Following these principles creates a strong foundation for site promotion. The catalog structure is the core of any online store, and mistakes here may cause you to lose a significant portion of potential customers who either do not find your site or get confused and leave.
Planning the Structure: From Idea to Implementation
Early Planning
Work on the catalog structure should begin at the earliest stages of building an online store. If you first create the site “as it happens”, fill it with products, and only later decide to redesign the structure — it will require far more resources. It is much more effective to lay out the correct structure from the start.
During the prototyping phase, answer questions such as: what will the main sections be? How many levels of nesting? How will products, filters, and menus be displayed? Keep in mind that the structure affects the navigation design (e.g., dropdown menus must support the required number of levels and fit the screen). Careful planning here prevents costly redesigns later.
Assortment Analysis
Start with an inventory of what you sell. Which product groups do you currently have and which are planned for the future? How do they differ (by characteristics, target audience)?
Use the “card sorting” method: write the names of all product groups on individual cards (or sticky notes) and try grouping them into sections yourself first, then let several other people do the same. If 10–20 people who are not connected to your business produce roughly the same structure (with ~20% variance), this is a good sign. Items that people classify differently should be examined carefully — where do they logically belong? This exercise helps you view your assortment through the eyes of a customer.
Semantic Core
In parallel, study how users search for your products online. Collect relevant search queries — from high-frequency to narrow and specific ones — using tools like Yandex Wordstat, Google Keyword Planner, and Key Collector.
Group the resulting keyword list into clusters: each cluster represents a potential category or landing page. For example, within the topic “garden equipment”, if you see many queries for “lawn mowers”, fewer for “lawn aerators”
Steps to Building the Structure
- Analysis of the Niche and Audience
Identify who your customers are and how they tend to classify products. Consider niche-specific patterns: for example, in fashion retail, it is logical to divide products by clothing type and collections, while in an auto parts store, structure is typically based on car brands and vehicle systems. - Competitor Research
Visit the websites of major competitors and market leaders. Examine how their catalog is structured — how many levels they use, what category names appear. The goal is not to copy them blindly but to understand industry standards and identify their mistakes. Note what you like in their structure and what seems inconvenient. - Semantic Core Collection
Compile a list of key search queries for your product groups. Pay special attention to mid- and low-frequency queries — they often correspond to narrow categories or filters that you can implement. - Grouping Keywords by Themes
Cluster the collected queries — this becomes a draft of your structure. Each query group should logically match a potential section or page. - Creating a Mind Map (Catalog Map)
Turn lists into a visual plan. Draw a diagram by hand, use sticky notes, or employ mind-mapping software. Visualization helps you spot flaws — unnecessary nodes, imbalance, unclear sections. Try alternative versions and compare which structure appears simpler. - Approving the Structure and Implementing It on the Site
Choose the optimal version and implement it in your CMS. Create categories and subcategories, set nesting according to the plan. Many platforms (Shopify, InSales, Bitrix) support catalog editors, menu templates, and file import — use these tools to speed up the process. - Filling and Testing
Add some products, assign them to categories, and verify that navigation works, links lead correctly, and no pages are empty. Walk through the store as a customer: is it easy to find a product, is it clear where you are (check breadcrumbs, headings). Set up filters where necessary and test their behavior. - Monitoring and Adjustments
After launch, track analytics: which sections are popular, where users abandon browsing, which queries bring traffic. If a section underperforms (e.g., users rarely visit it), consider reorganizing the products. Catalog structure is not permanent — it must be optimized over time based on usage data.
Avoiding Common Mistakes
The final structure must be checked for typical errors often made by inexperienced store owners:
Copying Someone Else’s Catalog
Blindly adopting the structure of a competitor or supplier is a bad idea. Suppliers often provide a very general product list that does not reflect your specifics, or a warehouse-oriented grouping that is inconvenient for customers. For example, a supplier may group products by internal product lines or seasons, but this carries no meaning for shoppers.
Your structure must reflect your business and your customers’ logic, not someone else’s. An internal catalog in a system like 1C may group shoes by supplier or year of production, while on the website you should organize them by type and style — the backend structure must not dictate inconvenience to the user. Studying supplier catalogs is useful for understanding the full assortment, but you must adapt and refine that information for your site.
Ignoring Product Specifics
Every business has its nuances: for some products, size is critical; for others, compatibility or seasonality matters. Ignoring these factors leads to an illogical catalog. For example, combining “sofas” and “armchairs” into a single category may be appropriate (as upholstered furniture), or it may not — depending on how customers purchase these items (often together or separately).
Follow strict logic, not subjective opinions of individual employees. What is logical for the store must be logical for the customer.
Overloading the Structure
This happens when too many levels or subcategories are created “for completeness”, but there is no real content. Or when every tiny nuance is considered and dozens of categories with only two products appear. This excessive fragmentation only gets in the way.
Less is more: unnecessary subdivisions should be moved into filters. The structure must be simple and clear — this principle is more important than trying to anticipate every possible category that may someday be needed. New sections can always be added later when enough products and search demand accumulate.
Lack of Filters in a Large Assortment
The opposite situation: the catalog is flat and simple, but no detailed navigation is offered. A user enters a section with a hundred products and cannot filter by key parameters — likely, they will leave for a more convenient site.
If you have 50–100+ products in a category and they differ significantly in attributes, filters or subcategories are needed. Otherwise, you lose “warm” leads — users who are ready to buy but do not want to manually scroll through a long list.
Poor Internal Linking and Navigation
Ensure that the user always understands where they are and how to go back. Breadcrumbs, a well-designed menu, and links to related sections help. If there are many sections, add blocks like “You may also be interested in” with links to related categories.
Never allow visitors to end up in a dead end or on an isolated page. Every important page (homepage, key categories) must have inbound links from other pages. This helps both users and search engines, as internal linking strength influences SEO.
Ignoring Mobile Experience
A significant share of shoppers now browse on mobile. If your structure is too complex for small screens (e.g., multi-level dropdown menus that are hard to tap), you risk losing up to half of your audience.
Check how the catalog appears and functions on a smartphone: you may need to limit the number of levels or switch to an “accordion” navigation where subcategories expand on tap. Responsive design is mandatory — even the most logical structure is useless if it cannot be used on mobile.
A product catalog is a balance between customer convenience, business logic, and technical requirements. There is no universal formula — each niche has its own nuances. But the guidelines above represent market-proven best practices.
A well-structured catalog will help your store showcase its assortment effectively, simplify the customer’s path to purchase, and create a foundation for long-term growth and scalability. Remember that a catalog is a living instrument: monitor user behavior, collect feedback, and do not hesitate to iterate. The result will be a catalog that is both customer-friendly and search-optimized — a direct path to higher sales.