When we talk about taxonomy in relation to WooCommerce, what we’re referring to is how you classify and organize your products so that shoppers can find what they’re looking for quickly and easily.

There are three types of taxonomy used in WooCommerce:

• categories,
• tags, and
• attributes.

Categories are the broadest product classifications, followed by tags, and finally attributes, which are the most specific methods of organizing items. Using all three taxonomies allows shoppers to sort through and filter items broadly, then very specifically, depending on what they want to find.

For example, you might have a category named “shirts.” All of your shirts, regardless of their cut, sleeve length, fit, size, and so on fall under this broad classification.

The first solution to this problem is to create category pages that you link instead. Another option is to take advantage of the sub-menu option in WordPress, which allows you to create multiple choice menus that slide out or drop down (depending on your theme) of a given top-level link.

So let’s say that instead of only linking to a shirts category, you now want to link to T-shirts, sweaters, and dress shirts. No problem — you can simply add the three new categories as sub-menu items of the shirts category already present in your navigation. When a shopper hovers over “shirts,” the three additional items will show up for them to click on, too.

Adding tags to products in WooCommerce is a quick process: edit the product of your choice and type the tags you want to use into the “Tags” field, separated by commas. That’s it! (If you’re familiar with WordPress — yep, same deal.) To start filtering down the selection, a shopper could look at your tags. All shirts with short sleeves might share a tag of “short sleeved shirts.” Clicking on this tag would only show — you guessed it — shirts with short sleeves.

Finally, a shopper could then use attributes, which are typically specific product aspects like color, size, fit, and so on to only review the specific items they want. So your shopper could click “red” and look only at red short-sleeved shirts.

Now you should have a good idea of how you can use categories, tags, and attributes separately to help shoppers browse your store. But there’s something to be said about putting them all together, too, and the kind of magic that happens when your taxonomy matches up like pieces in a puzzle.

For starters, having a strong understanding of what should be a category, a tag, and an attribute will go a long way. In 99% of stores, there should be no overlap between these taxonomies.

Making better use of the taxonomy on your store — your categories, tags, and attributes — won’t just make your navigation look more professional (although it will!). Clearer taxonomy is one of the best ways to boost sales, and it takes very little time to make improvements in this area.